“EVERYONE WHO PRACTICES RIGHTEOUSNESS HAS BEEN…”
Daily readings.. Judges 17,18. Isaiah 40. 1John 1,2.
What thought inspiring chapters we have in Isaiah and 1 John today! John told his readers that, as “little children” they should “abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. “ [ch. 2 v.28] John then adds, “If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.”
The truth has to be put into practice, it must so ‘live’ in our hearts, not simply in our minds, so that we sense, in wondrous awe, that we have been “born of him.” We then, as a result, have true spiritual “comfort” in our lives.
And now to chapter 40 we read today in Isaiah; it is a source of wondrous spiritual comfort for those who spiritually belong to God’s nation, probably more so today than for those who, by natural descent, belong.
The chapter starts, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.” How long now before this becomes a reality? Surely, when Christ returns!
The question in v.28 can surely be asked today – and certain will be when Christ returns! “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”
The more we know of the wonders of creation the more we realize this, indeed we are overwhelmed by sensing what the Creator must be. As a result of this realisation, he sees us and we are “born of him” and are among “everyone who practices righteousness.”
