Today’s Scripture: Daniel 1:8

“Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself.”

In addition to an overall commitment to pursue holiness in every area of life, I find it helpful to make specific commitments in areas where we’re particularly vulnerable to sin. There’s great value in identifying those areas—either in what we do (for example, gossip) or in what we fail to do (such as loving our wives as Christ loved the church)—and then making specific commitments of obedience to God in those areas.

I urge you to list any areas of temptation wherein you need to make this specific commitment. Do you need to make a covenant with your eyes about what you look at (Job 31:1), or with your mouth about what you say, or with your mind about what you think? Is there a particular temptation or sinful practice that arises in your work environment that needs a commitment to fortify you against it? Write these commitments down on paper, for your eyes only, so you can review them and pray over them daily.

Perhaps there’s a particular area in your marriage or in your relationship with your children, your parents, a friend, or an associate at work where you aren’t demonstrating the Spirit’s fruit of love, patience, or kindness. Do you need to make a commitment that, in dependence on the Holy Spirit to enable you, you’ll seek to display that particular “fruit” toward that individual? If so, I urge you to make such a commitment. You may find the need to make several commitments—sins to put off or avoid and Christ-like traits to put on. If you don’t commit yourself to the pursuit of holiness in these specific areas of your life, you’ll find a tendency to vacillate in the face of these temptations.

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Today’s Scripture: Romans 8:15

“You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons.”

Paul told us that God sent his Son “to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Galatians 4:4-5, NIV).

This “full rights of sons” is a reference to the status of sons who have become full-grown young adults. We’ve not only been redeemed from a cell on death row but also brought into God’s family as fully adopted sons, with all the privileges included in that status.

All this is set against the dark background of the curse of the law for any disobedience, which, of course, affects us all. Just as the diamonds on a jeweler’s counter shine more brilliantly when set upon a dark velvet pad, so Christ’s redemptive work shines more brilliantly when contrasted with our sin and the consequent curse that was upon us.

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