Better than Life

Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.


God's commandments, God's words mean more than NECESSARY food. To honor God, to obey God is true life. Our life here and now is sustained physically by food, but what good is our physical life if we don't have the love God and the desire to live for God in our hearts? Are the words of God more important to you than life here and now?


Psa 17:1 A Prayer of David. Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.


How can our lips be feigned? We can speak all we want of God's love but if it's not real in our lives, if it's not real in our hearts then all we say and do is false and God's knows. People know too don't they? I mean really. People can look at 'so called' Christians and laugh, knowing that they profess something they don't truly live. The excuse of being human - you know the one- I'm only human so of course I'll still act ungodly and blame it on my humanity, that excuse people see through as well. Yes, that saying- 'Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven' is another excuse. It's true, but it's an excuse at the same time. There is a marked difference in those who follow God and those who follow the world. Instead of making any excuses a sinful Christian will seek to repent, to ask for forgiveness not try to lessen the blame of their actions. Our lips can be feigned and God knows the truth of all we say and do. We want God to hear us and He will, He does, and He knows the truth.


Psa 63:3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.


Better than life is God's lovingkindness and we need to praise Him more with that realization. We are so quick to blame God, to question God as life's problems surmount, but the truth is God's lovingkindness is better than life- the life we seem to think should be easy and without problems. We want our life and the lives of others to be endurable on a human level of what we consider relatively problem free. We place such great store on our lives and in doing so we often hold it higher than God. God's love is everything, God's lovingkindness is better than our life. Our lives are temporary here on earth and then temporarily in death's sleep in the grave until Christ returns. These temporary lives of ours are nothing compared to the love of God which lasts forever and is from forever. If anyone asks you what is better than life we can honestly answer- God's lovingkindness is better than life- all praise and glory to Him!


Psa 119:72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
Psa 119:131 I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.


The law of GOD'S mouth…. better than great amounts of gold and silver. Again, it is God who is important, all important, not anything material in our lives. We have to think about what we really believe is important in life- is it life itself or the way it's lived? Would we be willing to lose all things and still love God? Or would we rather keep all things and lose God? Ultimately God is everything, everything of God is important. To esteem God's word better than any riches at all you could ever possess is a good thing. To LONG for God's word, to PANT for God's commands to us shows a great desperation for the things of God. Do we have this desperation for the things of God? Is God truly THAT important to us? We have to question ourselves, we know we have to examine ourselves we have to answer for our lives and the way we live and the choices we make. The more we examine our lives the greater the realization our need of a Savior is revealed. The need for the grace of God is all encompassing. The understanding that it is only through the righteousness of Christ we truly live by His grace is so important.


Obviously I've been doing just a short study on the 'mouth and lips' and it's a study that can be undertaken in depth there is so much to learn. It is my prayer that God bless us with understanding, opening our hearts and minds to Him fully. May we be convicted of the importance of placing God first and foremost in our lives- even above our lives for He is all in all.


By His Grace.


Amen.