Like some people can chase after money, I have chased after holiness. It has always eluded me to an extent. I never “get there” and it is always just out of my reach. As I have read Psalm 15 where David asks, ‘Who can abide with You?’ and then starts his answer with, ‘Those who walk uprightly, speak the truth in the heart and never slander with their tongue, do no evil to their neighbor and never expresses disapproval of…..
So David and his troops went up to Baal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there. ‘God did it!’ David exclaimed. ‘He used me to burst through my enemies like a raging flood!’ So they named that place Baal-perazim (which means ‘the Lord who bursts through’). The Philistines had abandoned their gods there, so David gave orders to burn them. The minute the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, the mobilized all their forces to capture him……
“They say to Jesus, ‘Sir, we know what an honest teacher you are. You always tell the truth and don’t budge an inch in the face of what others think, but teach the ways of God. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?’ He saw through their trickery and said, ‘Show me a coin. Whose portrait is on it? They replied, ‘Caesar’s—the Roman emperor’s.’ He said, ‘Then give to the emperor all that…..
“God replied [to Solomon], ‘Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you haven’t asked for personal wealth and honor, and you haven’t asked me to curse your enemies, and you haven’t asked for a long life, but for wisdom and knowledge to properly guide my people—yes, I am giving you the wisdom and knowledge you asked for!’” What are we asking God for? Why do we want it? What matters to us? What you seek with your…..