Sunday Devo -May 21, 2023

For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live; But do not seek Bethel, Nor enter Gilgal, Nor pass over to Beersheba; For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,  And Bethel shall come to nothing. Seek the Lord and live, Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, And devour it, With no one to quench it in Bethel— (Amos 5:4-6)

The solution to everything is “Seek the LORD and live” This idea of seek the LORD and live appears to be upmost in the mind of the apostle John’s mind when he wrote the gospel of John. His gospel is completely different from the others (Matt, Mark, Luke) which are called synoptic because they follow a similar pattern. It is believed that the other gospels had already been written, and the gospel of John was perhaps 50 years after the ministry of Jesus. John wrote this gospel in order to make a unique contribution to the record of Jesus’ life. You will find the words “believe” and “life” more than any other gospel. John 20:30-31 says “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
So here our text reinforces this simple concept: “Seek the LORD and live” and look at this same vs, the alternative “lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph” Now when the word says to Joseph, it refers to both his sons: Ephraim & Manasseh which constituted a major part of the northern kingdom to which the Holy Spirit addresses His message.
However we can easily apply this to our day today. Instead of the house of Israel we can insert the American Church.     -Bob