Before you begin today’s reading and reflection, take a few minutes to create or find a “sacred space”. If you’re in your room, make yourself a small space with as few distractions as possible. Put aside any books, music, magazines; turn off your phone; get away from your email/facebook; turn off your music; etc.
Now, pull out your Bible, and as you take some deep breaths, pray this short prayer: “Lord, help me be still and listen to your voice now and throughout this day and the next. Amen.”
(You can choose to read the whole chapter, or just the passage that is shown)
11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Reflection
- Chapter at a Glance: Quarrels and fights spring from within and are fostered by worldliness; love of the world and love of God cannot coexist; Christians must resist the devil and draw near to God. Christians are not to criticize others and should be submit themselves humbly to God.
- Setting goals and making plans can be good. However, when we plan, we’d meet the temptation to think that we are in control of our lives and our future and pushes God away from our lives. When God is not at the centre of our planning and our lives, we are not in His will.
- If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, how would your attitude toward life today be different? What future plans do you often dwell on? In what area of your life do you need to turn your plans over to God’s will?
- If God were to intervene your life plan, and rearrange it for you, will you be willing? Are you willing to let go and let God take charge of your plan though you may face the unknown and follow the path laid out by God? In fact, it’s only when you allow God to direct your path, can you truly live out the abundant life God has planned for you.
Prayer & Journaling:
If you have a prayer journal, as you listen to God, write down a few thoughts, questions, words, names, drawings, or anything that has come to your mind during this time.
Proverbs for Today 27:21-24
21 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and a man is tested by his praise.
22 Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle
along with crushed grain,
yet his folly will not depart from him.
21 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and a man is tested by his praise.
22 Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle
along with crushed grain,
yet his folly will not depart from him.