【中英双语】你的信心放在哪里呢？

Reading

"'You have spoken arrogantly against me,' says the LORD. 'You have said, "It is futile to serve God."'" — Malachi 3:13-14

Devotion

Sometimes it can seem futile to serve God. These verses point out that sometimes arrogant people are blessed, evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge and test God seem to get away with it. It can seem that it's better to be bad than to be good.

Many people today make this same mistake and ask the same questions. It's not that they are mistaken in what they see; oftentimes arrogant, wicked, and brazen people do acquire more wealth and power than others. But the mistake the people are making is in what they consider a blessing.

In the Lord's Prayer, God's people pray for God's glory, his kingdom, their daily bread, forgiveness, and delivery from evil. The measure of success is not wealth, fame, and power. If we complain about the blessings that evil people receive, we are actually exposing the immaturity of our own faith. We show that we are still struggling with the desire to place our trust in material blessings rather than in Jesus Christ. That begs the question of how we might bend or break the rules if we have the opportunity to gain wealth or power. Maybe our hearts are not yet so different from those wicked people whose prosperity we covet.

What does it look like to covet God's kingdom and his will? Where do you place your trust?

Prayer

Dear Jesus, forgive our envy and jealousy. Wean our hearts from the desire for wealth and power. Replace that with the desire for your kingdom and glory. Help us to grow in our trust of your provision every day. Amen.

Verses

玛拉基书 3:13-15

Malachi 3:13-15

13耶和华说：“你们用话顶撞我，你们还说：‘我们用什么话顶撞了你呢？’
14你们说：‘事奉神是徒然的，遵守神所吩咐的，在万军之耶和华面前苦苦斋戒，有什么益处呢？
15如今我们称狂傲的人为有福，并且行恶的人得建立；他们虽然试探神，却得脱离灾难。’”