Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 1 Peter 5:8-9.

Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. Philippians 2:14-15 NKJV.

I loved this today in My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers: “The Forgiveness of God, “In Him we have . . . the forgiveness of sins.” Ephesians 1:7. Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours. Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ.” In our chapter, Isaiah 65, Creator God – Father…Son…Spirit, shows us more of why that sacrifice was made necessary. We are so thoughtless in the lives we live. God is not thoughtless. I revealed myself to those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. To a nation that did not call on My name, I said, “Here am I, here am I.” All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations – a people who continually provoke Me to My very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of impure meat; who say, “Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for You!” Such people are smoke in My nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day. v. 1-5. The darkness of this world is great and who can understand it? God! And why do you think He warns us to choose life with Him? But as for you who forsake the Lord and forget My holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will fall in the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in My sight and chose what displeases Me. v. 11-12. Have we truly reached that point where we don’t care? God cares. See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in My people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more…For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of My people; My chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them. Before they call, I will answer; while they are speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, says the Lord. v. 17-19, 22-25. As we turn to God for understanding only He can bring, we see a difference. Darkness of this world steeped in sins causing great harm; and the blessing of the love of God that cost everything. Jesus knew exactly what would happen to Him as He turned His focus to Jerusalem. He knew the cost for He would pay it. Can we not see how costly sin is? God sees. Last night in prayer I kept wondering how could any being delight in evil? Can we truly not see the harm? Contrast that with the Love of God and you see the Cross of Christ.