Twice, God held up as a shining
example of righteousness and godly perfection, the very man that Satan had
determined to make his conquest and trophy. The Lord knows the heart of a man
and He recognises and upholds the integrity found within us, as a result of
being in close relationship with Him. Like the false comforters of his day, Job
still finds many critics today, who would malign him, his motives, his speeches,
and his responses to the difficulties he faced. It is from God Himself that we
can safely take our position on the kind of man Job was. God calls Him a
perfect and upright man, one that feared God and avoided sin and evil! He is
given a good character reference by the Lord, and we find him being praised and
rewarded as a faithful servant of God, at the end of his ordeal. We understand
that this does not make Job a perfect man in the absolute sense, but like many
of the men who faithfully obeyed and stood for God, he did so with the kind of
perfect heart and righteous spirit, that God honours. How desirable that we
also should live the kind of life of which God can be proud enough, to present it
as exemplary! Jesus instructed that the quality of our service to the Lord
should be such that men who see how we conduct ourselves, might be brought to
give God praise! Clearly we have a high calling to live up to, and should walk
worthy of our vocation. God wants us to bring forth a witness which glorifies
Him. We are His people, His children and He has invested in us His Spirit, His
righteousness and His holiness. When we walk faithfully and obediently with the
Lord, the world gets a taste of godliness and a glimpse of God through us! We
must remember however that when do not walk right with God, we still give forth
a ‘witness’. In this case a poor and damaging testimony. This could contribute
to the destruction of someone’s chances to believe and accept Christ as their
Saviour! This is a daunting thought and it should motivate us to make certain
that we align with Job in the quality of our service and faithfulness to God,
by being people who walk uprightly, and in purity of mind and heart before the
Lord!
http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion
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