Devotion
All Are One
Frances Taylor
Wouldn't it be great if we lived this way! No one better than another, no prejudice, no discrimination, all the same! Unfortunately we seem to live in an "us" and "them" world. If you look like me and speak the same language you're one of us, if not, you are one of them. Think about what the world would look like if we only had green trees, green grass and green flowers. No reds, yellows, blues, purples; no trees that changed color in the fall, nothing but green! It would be pretty boring. What about only one tone of sound? No scale of notes, just one sound. How would we enjoy a world without music? We look at the beautiful nature around us, we listen to the birds chirp and the sounds of nature and we are amazed at God's glory in creation. Why is it that we don't appreciate seeing the beauty of God in all the faces he made??? We are not a one note world, neither is our planet limited to one color of face. In order to see the face of God, we need to turn to one another in the variety of colors around us as well as the face we see in the mirror and say, Thank you for showing me the face of the living God.
Prayer
We are one in you Lord; let us never forget that we only have to turn and look at our neighbor to see your face. Amen.
Night Prayer
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Inspiration
We despise the thought of a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. The outside is easy to clean; it's the caked-up residue on the inside that's so difficult to remove. Jesus compares the scribes and Pharisees with dishes that have been wiped clean on the outside while dirty inside. The Pharisees took exceptional care of their outward appearance and neglected their inward spirits. We are guilty of allowing our hearts to be left filthy as well. We look and act as we should while our souls are full of darkness. We must continue to converse with the Holy Spirit daily and trust His guidance to cleanse our sinful nature.
Prayer
Dear God, Please forgive our sinful nature. We yearn for cleansing from within, so we are genuine witnesses to Your name. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
