A  few years ago I went on a ride-a-long with a police officer friend of mine. He worked the graveyard shift and I enjoyed a night with him patrolling the streets of Salem.

“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” — Galatians 5:9

Today I was reading through Revelation, and in the first three chapters, one particular word caught my attention. It appears six times in the chapters two and three. It’s the word, “repent”.

This is the part five of our series on knowing the will of God. Beginning with clear principles about purity, joy, prayer and thankfulness, we’ve come to understand that knowing and obeying God’s will is part of our identity as God’s children, and part of our worship as true believers. As our minds and lives are transformed by the work of God’s Word and Spirit, our understanding of God’s will is sharpened so that we can know and obey His will.

If you have put your faith in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection as payment for your sins, you are part of an epic battle that has been waging since Adam and Eve chose to eat the forbidden fruit. It’s a battle that exists inside each and every one of us who call on Christ, and it’s a battle we will be part of until our salvation is made complete and we enter the presence of God.

When’s the last time you were really mad? I don’t mean just a little upset that you got cutoff on the freeway on your way home. I mean when was the last time you were angry? Furious? All of us experience anger at some point; some more than others and some more quickly than others, but all of us have known the burn of anger.

But when’s the last time you were angry at the things that God gets angry at? In other words, when’s the last time you experienced that burning wrath toward sin?

Zephaniah, 36 of 66

We all have opinions.  In fact, we have so many opinions that there are people who pay A lot of money to hear them.  There are thousands of firms in America that make tens of millions of phone calls every year to get your opinion.  Your opinion on politics, sports, deodorant, windows, plumbing fixtures (we actually had this one at our house!), and your favorite candy bar flavors.

Everyone has an opinion and everyone wants their opinion to be heard.

Hosea, 28 of 66

The book of Hosea is a back and forth battle between what God wants from His children and what the children want for themselves apart from God.  Sometimes it sounds a lot like my life and struggles!

Lamentations, 25 of 66

Lamentations was written as the prophet Jeremiah reveals the depth to which Israel had fallen from her once blessed days as God’s glorious children.  Now those days are long gone and Jeremiah compares the nation to a virgin woman who has been raped, a woman widowed by the death of her husband and a mother whose children have been taken away.  All three of these conditions are horrible, three of the worst conditions any woman could find herself in and this is the condition Israel is in during the ministry of Jeremiah.

One of my favorite principles of Scripture is what I like to call the “put off, put on” principle.  Simply stated:  Whenever God tells us to take something out of our lives — to “put off” –, He also tells us what to put back in — “put on”.  Check it out for yourself.  Find passages of Scripture where God gives instruction about holy living and you’ll find this put off/put on principle at work.

Let’s rewind our story from John 8:1-11 and look at it from a new vantage point — that of the religious leaders of the day.  It’s good to read the story again, so start there before moving on:

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"  They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."  Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

"No one, sir," she said.  "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

All of our Tenthdots for this week come from John 8:1-11.  Read the story below before moving on to the next page!

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  At dawn He appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"  They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing Him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger.  When they kept on questioning him, He straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."  Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

"No one, sir," she said.  "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

I feel like God has put the issue of Body life front and center in my devotional reading and my Tenth Dot writing lately.  It’s funny how He themes things in our lives when we need them most, and I’m confident that’s what He’s doing right now.  But this TD isn’t about what we should do to enhance Body life, it’s about what we shouldn’t do to preserve it.

Check this out.

2 Samuel 11

 ¹ In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

First a question about David:

Why didn’t KING DAVID go off to war? This was the time that "kings go off to war."

Second a question about you:

Where are you supposed to be right now?

Jeremiah 18:1-9

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:   “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”   So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, SHAPING IT AS SEEMED BEST TO HIM.

Then the word of the Lord came to me:   “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? ” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."