Day 82: Barbs in Your Eyes

Today’s Scripture: Numbers 33:55,56

Central Thought: Old sinful habits that are brought into my new spiritual life will bring pain. I can trust Jesus to give me strength to rid myself of these habits

God told Moses to drive out all the inhabitants of the land. He said those ungodly people who were not driven out would ‘be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you” (Numbers 33:55). God wanted a holy people.

God wants me, too, to keep my body, mind, and spirit true to Him. To continue to knowingly indulge in former sinful habits after accepting Christ as my Savior means that I have not truly made Him Lord of my life. Correcting some sinful indulgences may take time, but other practices need radical and immediate surgery.

Paul encouraged the Ephesians to turn their backs on their former way of life—to ‘put off your old self” and ‘be renewed in the spirit [attitude] of your minds” and ‘to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God” (Ephesians 4: 22-24). We, too, can be made new in Christ. Purposefully dropping off sinful habits that we felt compelled to indulge in before our salvation brings us closer to Christ.

God will help me live in such a way that His presence will be recognized by me and those who know me well. It is only as I live in purity that God will live daily in me. He cannot dwell in an unholy temple.

Devotional Prayer: Lord, help me to discard the filthy baggage of my old sinful lifestyle and live a new life in You that is pure and sweet.

Today’s Bible Reading: Numbers 33:40-35:34; Luke 5:12-28; Psalm 65:1-13; Proverbs 11:23