Studying this morning's four readings from the St. James Daily Devotional Guide (click to subscribe), I examined myself with these questions. Where is your self-examination leading today?
Psalm 14:1-7. Verse 3, universality of sin, quoted in Romans 3:12. How can I go through this day mindful that any good in me is by God's grace, not my own merit?
Nahum 3:1-19. Why expect my city, my country, to have any better fate than Nineveh and Assyria? Do I identify too much as an American and too little as a citizen of heaven?
Revelation 11:1-14. Same question, different imagery but equally grim. Do I dabble in the worldliness that crucified Christ, verse 8? Am I listening for the call to come up, verse 12?
Luke 21:7-19. Same yet again, but with Jesus' promise to protect his own. Verse 19, "possess your soul," is this self-reliance or God-reliance? Which is my default mode?
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To go deeper, see interpretive notes by Bible scholar Patrick Reardon for many of this week's readings.