False religion and prosperity can both have an intoxicating effect on men and women.

In its extreme, false religion enables people to become suicide bombers, terrorists, and even radical defenders of abortion or gay rights. But there are other forms of false religion that can be just as dangerous to us personally.

Prosperity, on the other hand, can lull people into a materialistic stupor that renders them blind to what’s really important.

Also …

When we experience sorrow over sin, is it worldly sorrow or godly sorrow? This is important to understand because one leads to life and the other to death. And, finally, what do we have in common with lions, greyhounds, goats, and kings?

Welcome to “God’s Word Day by Day.” Before we get started, why not make the coming year the best ever when it comes to your understanding and enjoyment of Scripture by signing up for these daily devotionals? They will take you through the Bible in a year and provide valuable commentary that can help you apply the Scripture to your daily life. (If you are already receiving them, thank you so much! And there is no need to re-sign up.)

Today’s Readings:

Zechariah 7-9
Psalm 148.7-14
Proverbs 30.29-31
Revelation 18

The Intoxicating Appeal of False Religion & Prosperity

Revelation 18:

Drunk on False Religion

Yesterday’s reading in Revelation 17 speaks of a harlot on a scarlet beast representing false religion. Here in chapter 18, we see her effect on men and women. Verse 3:

For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.

Just as wine can entice and weaken the resolve of the one drinking it and can blind one to the truth, the wine of false religion can blind, as well. It can be legalism (believing that rules and sacraments can save you), new age spirituality, today’s version of religious tolerance (believing that all roads somehow lead to God), or any kind of religious fanaticism.

Whether a person is fanatically religious in a pseudo-Christian way, fanatically atheistic, fanatically pro-abortion, fanatically pro-LGBTQ+, a Muslim extremist, or a white supremacist, it has an appeal that can be intoxicating. This helps explain why men and women are willing to fly airplanes into buildings, strap on suicide vests, or turn a gun on strangers and co-workers alike. It also helps us understand why cults can be so appealing.

But we also need to be careful that we don’t get lulled into complacency by churches, religious leaders, or doctrines that sound good but leave out the gospel. The false religions of good works, sacramental salvation, or human tradition have no power to save (Matt. 7.21-23).

Prosperity’s Materialistic Stupor

And just as religious idolatry can make a person drunk, so too, can wealth. Abundance and a focus on material things can drug a person into a materialistic stupor, “the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.”

Eventually, the world’s false systems of religion and economics will come to an end, but we must guard against any vestige of them in our lives even now.

Ephesians 5 says:

15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.

God does not want us to be drunk with wine or religion or any earthly thing, but rather to be filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit. And when we do, just as drunkenness affects a person’s walk and life, the filling of the Spirit will affect the way we walk and live. Let’s pray for the fruit of God’s Spirit to be evident in ways that will allow others to see the light of Christ in us.

Note: I’m not saying that wealth or having material things is sinful. It’s the heart attitude about them that can be dangerous.

Today’s Other Readings:

Zechariah 7-9:

Broken and Repentant or Just Sorry?

Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests. ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me?’ (v. 7.5).

Fasting was a sign of repentance, humility, and recognition of sin. God was asking the people if their fasting was merely a religious exercise or done because they were broken over their sin and rebellion against Him.

Oftentimes, we express outward sorrow and regret over our sin, but we must ask ourselves, are we sorry merely because we don’t like the consequences of our sin, more like children who are about to be punished for some misdeed, crying, “I’m sorry; I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!” Or are we truly broken and repentant?

The first is worldly sorrow. It’s sorrow over the messes we make and the cost to us personally.

The second is godly sorrow. Godly sorrow leads to changes in our hearts, as well as our actions, not just outward expressions of sorrow. As Paul told the Corinthians:

⁸ I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. ⁹ Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. ¹⁰ For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. (2 Cor. 7.8-10 NLT).

How Can We Tell the Difference?

How can we tell if we are broken and repentant or just sorry about the consequences? Worldly sorrow is usually focused on us. Often with thoughts like, “I can’t believe I did that,” or “I can’t believe this is happening to me,” or “Why is God allowing this.” It usually involves self-pity and may even be accompanied by statements like, “I just can’t forgive myself.”

Godly sorrow is focused on God. It is brokenness over our rebellion against Him. It leads to humility and a recognition of our sinful condition and God’s mercy toward us.

So let’s pray for God to grant us genuine repentance over sin and as He does may we have a greater awareness of our need for the gospel and gratitude for His grace every day.

Psalm 148.7-14:

A People Near to Him

And He has exalted the horn of His people,
The praise of all His saints—
Of the children of Israel,
A people near to Him.

Praise the LORD! (v. 14).

When we are tender and broken, we will stay “near to Him.”

Proverbs 30.29-31:

Lions, Greyhounds, Goats, and Kings

Four things are mentioned in this passage: a lion, a greyhound, a male goat, and a king with his army. What can we learn from each of them?

Like the lion, we are to be bold, but not in our own strength or ability. As God’s blood-bought children, we can be bold as a lion (Prov. 28.1) knowing that God is on our side (Rom. 8.31).

A greyhound is fit and ready for the race ahead. We, too, need to prepare for the race that is set before us (Heb. 12.1), so that, like Paul, we will be able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4.7).

A male goat leads the rest of the flock. We, too, should want others to follow us as we follow Christ.

Of course, Christ is the King of kings, and He is the one who should fill our hearts with awe, but like a king with his army, we are surrounded by an army of other believers, which should encourage us to press forward in the battles that we face. Hebrews 12 says:

1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Coming Up:

In the next few days, we’ll talk about how to face tests and trials, the danger of believing lies, how the Bible is not 66 books, but one, and about the importance of giving our best to God. I hope you’ll join us.

Get Ready for the Coming Year

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Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥

Note about this post:

I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer. 

A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”

I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.

Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)

I sometimes LINKUP with these blogs.