A Daily Devotional by Kenton Cheek
9 March 2024
Reading From Numbers 35-36
“Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites.”
–Numbers 35:33-34
Sin pollutes the land. Not following the Lord makes a mess of life and society and people have to live in their own mess. Life without God is filled with doubt, confusion, heartache and hopelessness, but with Him there is certainty, clarity, healing and never ending hope. “Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people.”[1] Continually going our own way leads to spiritual insensitivity. Rebellion against God cauterizes the heart and it becomes more and more difficult to receive guidance from Him.
As people are caught in the webs of sin, lies seem true, real truth is dismissed as opinion, and everything goes without regard for consequences. All the while, wickedness is compounded and defiles entire communities and nations. Our hope is found in Jesus Christ, who took all of our sins upon Himself and paid the penalty for all of it. By the same power that raised Him from the dead living within us, we can live and move and have our being in Him.
We have the power to resist temptation and live good lives filled with blessings. In Him we are the righteousness of God and His righteousness shining through people who have surrendered to His will changes the world around them. To say this has a positive impact on society is an understatement. The love of God changes hearts and changed hearts cannot help but radiate warmth in spiritual and temporal ways. The righteousness of God can clean up polluted land. The world is like a giant “Super Fund” site that the Kingdom of God is renewing one soul at a time.
“Lord God, please forgive me of my sins. Wash me clean in Your blood and replace sinful desires with righteous ones. May I want what You want. Change me from the inside out. Fill me to overflowing with Your life-changing power and let that power flow into lives around me. Amen.”
The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
–Psalm 92:12-15
[1] Proverbs 14:34
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