Blameless not Faultless - Daily devotional October 22nd 2009

Daily Bible Reading - 2 Chronicles 16-17, Ezekiel 48, John 17-18

Blameless not Faultless

2 Chronicles 16:9 is one of my favorite verses and it reads, "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him". Throughout the Old Testament it says that God is looking for those who are blameless and in the New Testament we as believers are referenced as blameless. Colossians 1:21-22 says, "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him".

There is a big difference between blameless and faultless. Faultless means that I have no issues, faults or sins. Blameless means that I have all of those but they have been covered by the love and grace of Jesus Christ and therefor my faults will not be held against me. 1 Peter 4:8 says, "... love covers a multitude of sins". And in Colossians 2:13-14 it says, "And you, who were dead in your trespasses (faults) and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven (made blameless) us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross". WOW! Jesus in His love for us took our faults and nailed them to the cross making us blameless.

One of the keys in remaining blameless is to make sure we always rely on God and not on ourselves or others. In 2 Chronicles 16:7-10 we see that Asa the king of Judah stepped out from being blameless, because he stopped relying on God. 2 Chronicles 16:7-8, "the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, At that time Hanani "Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand." Because Asa stopped relying on God for His answers and provision he stepped out from God's grace and therefore was found with faults.

We must understand 2 Chronicles 16:9. God is not looking for perfect faultless people. He is looking for people that are blameless because they are relying on Him and trusting in him. He is looking for people who are living Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." We need to take note of this today and make sure that we are not stepping out from God's covering love and grace. We need to make sure that as the eyes of God look over the earth that when He sees you that He will find you blameless so that He can show Himself faithful to you.

As you look at your life today and understand this passage are you blameless and not faultless?

Tomorrows Bible Reading - 2 Chronicles 18-19, Daniel 1, John 19

Dream Big
Ben