A 90-Day Devotional for Walking with God
by George Cargill
Based on the teaching of Jesus, this devotional explores how we can walk the “straight and narrow path” with integrity by loving God supremely and loving others sincerely. The devotions are biblical, practical, and thought provoking, remaining with the reader long after completion of the book.
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I grew up with a lot of rules. Most of the grievous ones to me came from the church, “Don’t touch, don’t look, don’t go, don’t have the wrong fun in the world.” I do not think that these rules were given to me with wrong motives. The purpose was to define and clarify what they thought God wanted from me in the way of my conduct. But many of them seemed to me to be rules that were not in the Bible. Does God want me to refrain from bowling? Or is reading a newspaper on Sunday profaning the Lord’s Day? I have a real desire to please God with my conduct; to be a godly person. But that seems to be between me and the Lord and His commands. Jesus laid out a path that is difficult enough. This book came to mind because of insights I gained by studying two passages of Scripture.
“And one of them (Pharisees), an expert in the law, questioned him (Jesus) to test Him, ‘Teacher, what commandment is greatest in the law?’ And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your entire soul, and with all of your understanding. This is the great and first commandment. The second is similar; love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets.’” Matthew 22:35-40 (Author’s translation)
“All things, therefore, that you wish men to do to you, do also to them; for this is the law and the prophets. Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the highway that leads to perdition, and there are many entering it. How narrow the gate and narrowed the road that leads to life! And few are those finding it.” Matthew 7:12-14 (Author)
The “gate” and the “road” are obviously metaphors. The gate is Jesus Christ; we are saved by grace through faith in Him only. The road, or path, is how I walk everyday with Jesus in integrity and accountability. If I let other people define the “gate” and the “road” with rules of conduct, I take up an onerous burden. When I let myself define the narrow way, self-justification takes over and I miss the mark. When I learned from the teaching of Jesus and His apostles that every expectation of the Lord for my behavior is contained in loving God supremely and loving others sincerely, I found the “way,” and it is glorious! My hope is that this devotional will help the reader find the “way” of true godliness and joy in following Jesus Christ.
George Cargill
Print edition $15.99; Kindle $7.99 ($0.0 with Kindle Unlimited)