Ecclesiastes 9:3

³ This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of        evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 

The Lord through Moses had warned the Israelites before they entered the Land of Promise. He said in Deuteronomy 8:10ff, ¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery… ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

The generation who heard the warning of Moses, obeyed and served the Lord during the lifetime of Joshua and the elders who outlived him. And then, several years later, the next generation Israelites did whatever they wished to do, as they saw fit, but not according to the instruction of godly lifestyle that the Lord had commanded them. The life story of the Israelites when they kept on returning to their wicked ways was recorded as biblical illustration that humans are inclined to follow sinful tendency; and, Christians are not exempted.

Nevertheless, we can have lifestyle pleasing to God only by his grace, with the help of the Holy Spirit of Christ.

Almighty God, please fill me with your Holy Spirit and empower me to live a godly lifestyle pleasing to you.

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