Wednesday Writing by Diane Sutton.....1/25/17

Good Morning,

The writing today is by Diane Sutton and is titled, "Marching in Righteousness." The theme is a study of rights in our lives and how we should look at the assertions of our rights. Diane wrote, "Let us continue to feverishly pray for those who seek rights that they may know the righteousness of God and the freedom of the gospel. Let us march to the steps of righteousness so godly justice will flourish in our nation and around the world."

Have a wonderful "hump day," and please continue to pray for our country as the new administration finds its place in history,

God bless
Corinne & Diane
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Today's Devotional"Marching in Righteousness"

This past weekend most of the news attention was on women in the thousands who marched in Washington D.C. as an exercise of their right to protest against the newly inaugurated President of the United States and the protection of women’s rights.  In recent years, the “rights” of people have become the focus of many heated discussions on talk shows and the news.

The bible also addresses the subject of “rights”.  

Proverbs 31:8-9 says we are to... 

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, 

for the rights of all who are destitute. 

Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Biblically speaking, we are to not speak up for our own rights but for the rights of those who are unable to speak for themselves such as the unborn babies being legally killed in the name of abortion under the rights of women. We observe that worldly people usually speak for their own rights as if they are speaking for everyone else.

1 Corinthians 9:11-23 states, 

“ If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much 

if we reap a material harvest from you? 

 If others have this right of support from you, 

shouldn’t we have it all the more? 

But we did not use this right. On the contrary, 

we put up with anything 

rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.”

As believers we are to be careful that we do not put the “rights” of humanity above the Gospel. Our focus is to be on the Good News and the love of God, not on our “rights”.  Let the voices proclaiming human rights not overshadow the voices proclaiming godly righteousness and justice.

Paul spoke about his freedom and how it is to be used. He states that although he is free and belongs to no one, he made himself a slave to everyone, to win as many people to the Gospel as possible.  Paul says, “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law…I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel.”

1 Corinthians 8:9 warns us to be careful that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 

Human rights are worthy causes to fight for especially for those who are unable to speak for themselves like the sickly and weak or those who live in oppressive countries. While protest marches may seem a good way to speak on the behalf of others and is one of our American rights, let us remember that the most powerful way to speak on the behalf of others is on our knees before our Lord, Our Almighty God. Let us continue to feverishly pray for those who seek “rights” that they may know the righteousness of God and the freedom of the gospel. Let us march to the steps of righteousness so godly justice will flourish in our nation and around the world.

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Here is an uplifting graphic

for you to think about.

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Prayers are lifted up daily for 

you by the Devotional Writers 

and the Monthly Writing Staff

of Women's Focus Ministries.

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