June 20

 "His Voice Today"

June 20

🔸️ Let us live holy in our internal purpose than our deeds! 🔸️

The Old Testament emphasizes the apparent "deed" of humans. But the New Testament, emphasizes "every internal purpose" that leads us into an evil deed. The reason Lord Jesus placed so much emphasis on personal purposes was that God would not only judge our expressions and deeds on the last day but also judge each of our personal purposes.

 According to the Old Testament standards, God did not judge people according to the inner life. In Matthew chapter 19, Jesus explained why. In this chapter, the Pharisees came to Jesus and asked "Why did Moses command us to cast off the wife with the certificate of divorce?" Jesus replied, "Moses did so because of the hardness of your heart" (verse 7, 8). That is, their hearts were hardened because the Old Testament people did not receive Holy Spirit. That is why, God did not expect from them the highest quality in their personal life! This is why David began the process of keeping many wives, and God allowed many things in the Old Covenant. But now God has given us the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit takes the hardest heart in us and gives us a soft heart now. This is why now God expects a higher standard of living in us than the standard of living of the saints of the Old Testament.

Thus Lord Jesus pointed to those who live in the highest righteousness of the New Covenant, saying, "he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than the Old Testament saints." Yes, Jesus mentioned that he would be greater than John the Baptist, the last great prophet of the Old Testament!! (Matthew 11: 11,12).

 Prayer:

Loving Father! Thank you for giving us your pure spirit, looking forward to the highest quality in our private lives! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Author:

 Brother Zac Poonen

Translated version of the Tamil "Family Meditation Book"

From:-

https://t.me/hisvoicetoday