DAILY READING
Eat One Frog a Day
by Mary Kate Hipp
I will admit that when I read this passage in preparation for this devotion, I was less than excited. The two verses right before and the four directly after would have been much easier to "deal with." But maybe that is the point. What we read in Galatians 5:19-21 is a bunch of "gunk." The "gunk" that each and every one of us willingly chooses to partake in each day. Much like writing a devotional on this passage, it is not fun to deal with. We would rather skip to the good stuff--the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26) or learn how to walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-18). But to work through this gunk, our sin, what lies before us in this passage? Not so much fun.
We need to address the "gunk" in our hearts. Each week we confess our sins at church. The other six days of the week though it can be easy to forget to confess or to recognize our sins. Perhaps we even begin to excuse our sins because we confess them on Sunday anyways. Scripture is clear though: those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. In other words, those who live in unrepentant sin will not have eternal life (John 3:16).
Spend time today working through the gunk. I once read a book that used the metaphor "eat one frog a day." If each day a frog appears on a plate, we have two choices: let the frogs build up, ignore their croaks until we have 30 frogs to eat at once, or eat one frog a day. Eat one frog a day. Deal with the gunk/sin each day. Do not hide from the croaking of sin and deal with it all when you are overwhelmed. Come to Christ each day in all humility. Eat those frogs! It may not be fun at the moment, but oh how sweet is the freedom from bondage to sin found only through the blood of Christ!
PRAYER PRACTICE
God, we come to You today in awe of You. We praise You that Your blood has permanently washed away our sins. We thank You that because of the sacrifice of Your Son, we have eternal life, the Kingdom of God. We come to You now in confession because we are sure of this: that when we confess our sins, You who are faithful and just will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Amen.
