February 12
Scripture of the day: "For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame." Hebrews 6:4-6
Thought of the day: Spiritual immaturity and atrophy are not cured by being saved again. That is impossible. Going back to the cross does not cure lack of obedience, poor Bible study habits, insufficient prayer, and immaturity. The problem is not that Jesus did an insufficient job in saving immature believers. It is not His failure ... it is their failure.
Challenge of the day: As a believer, don't put Christ to open shame by blaming your failures on Him. He saved you fully and completely. Imagine an athlete running a 100-meter race. At the 50-meter mark he is losing ... so he returns to the starting line to begin again. This time at the 40-meter mark, again doing poorly, he returns to the starting line. Repeating this again and again is not a solution. How are you doing in your race? You only have to go to the starting line once. Are you running your race with endurance? Press on to the finish line.
THIS DAILY BYTE OF THE WORD, COPYRIGHT 2014, WAS PRINTED LEGALLY FROM WWW.EBREAD.ORG. YOU MAY COPY IT, UNCHANGED, BUT ONLY WITH THIS SOURCE AND COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ATTACHED ... AND ONLY FOR FREE OR AT-COST DISTRIBUTION. BIBLE QUOTATIONS ARE FROM THE NEW AMERICAN STANDARD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.