When you attended school, did you ever get any D’s on your report cards? Most people wanted to avoid them, but some didn’t care. Most people wanted to get straight A’s.

by Rev. Jack Richards on March 18, 2020

SCRIPTURE

“He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” 2 Kings 8:18

SPOTLIGHT

When you attended school, did you ever get any D’s on your report cards? Most people wanted to avoid them, but some didn’t care. Most people wanted to get straight A’s.

2 Kings is a book that contains some great Bible stories. However, there is one sentence that is repeated approximately 50 times in various forms. 2 Kings 8:18 states, “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” It describes ungodly kings who led people to do ungodly things.

Although each man was unique, it can be said that all of them failed because they:

1. DELAYED obeying God’s commands
2. DENIED that God is almighty and deserving of worship
3. DEFLECTED responsibility
4. DISTORTED the truth of what is really needed

What a terrible life report card! All of these kings got four D’s.

How about your life report card? How many D’s are you getting? What is keeping you back from being a straight-A believer Christian? What is holding you back from honoring and obeying God? Believers regularly can get D’s.

Here are four possibilities:

The first “D” stands for DELAY. People regularly delay doing what is necessary to be done because it is uncomfortable or thought to be unnecessary. Perhaps it is delaying the raking of leaves in the fall, or putting out the garbage so that it will be picked up. A more important delay is often not apologizing to a person.

The second “D” stands for DENY. People regularly deny what is true. They refuse to admit to God, themselves and others what is true. Perhaps it is denying that something is really wrong.

The third “D” stands for DEFLECT. This is when you turn aside from the straight course that you should follow. People regularly deflect by practicing the ABC’s of deflection – attention, blame, conversation. A-People deflect attention from God and draw it to themselves when something great has been done. B-People deflect the blame onto somebody else rather than accepting the blame. C-People are regularly deflected by others to converse about other people in ways that they should not. (e.g., gossip, slander, etc.)

The fourth “D” stands for DISTORT. People regularly distort the facts by giving a misleading account of something, or by giving a false impression about someone. Stop failing! Trade your D’s for A’s.

1. ADMIT you are a sinner who needs God’s forgiveness.
2. ASK Jesus Christ to become your Savior and Lord.
3. ALLOW Jesus Christ to guide you in your life.
4. ASPIRE to live a life that pleases God and not you or others.

SOMETHING TO DO

1. Write down something that you continually delay/put off doing.
2. Write down something you are in denial about.
3. Write down something that you allow to deflect you from taking the straight and honest course in life. 4. Write down something that you have distorted when communicating information.Now ask the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness, strength and wisdom to change from doing these things.

SOUL TIME PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for showing me how I can avoid getting D’s and instead get A’s.

Tags: 2, your, how, life, report, you, kings, on, do, get, card, many d's


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