In all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility. Titus 2:7
RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE READING: Titus 2:1-9 “But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: 2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; 3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— 4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.6 Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, 7 in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility,8 sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.9 Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back.”
COMMENTS: What we say and what we do does matter. It matter both now and for eternity. It matters whether in public or in private. It matters to those who know us and also to those who don’t. IT ALSO MATTERS TO GOD MOST OF ALL!!
The above scriptures are a sampling of scripture commanding us to live Christ-like lives both privately when no one sees what we do and in public when they do. Today, when public people are running for office or being considered for influential positions, their lives are carefully scrutinized. Hidden sins or illegal actions committed as a foolish youth 20 or 30 or even 60 years ago, if discovered, can impact and prevent gaining the position or job sought even if conduct since has been unquestioned. Even unconfirmed accusations can and have carried such impact too, as has been demonstrated in recent news. I think it quite hypocritical to see those guilty of equal offenses making such accusations without regard for their own sins or offenses.
Well, truth is we are all equally guilty of sin and destined for eternal judgment at the throne of Christ. He will be our judge and the judge of everyone with the exception of those who accept His gift of forgiveness and redemption. If you have accepted His gift, you will be spared His judgment even though you actions and work will be judged.
But even though you and I, if we’ve accept His redemption, have fellowship with Him and walk with Him daily and enjoy His fellowship with His Holy Spirit, our lives and conduct and work and actions will still be judged. The work and its impact on the lives of others and even on our own lives will be judged. Work that won others to Grace will be judged and we will see the ripple compounding affect of that work. Revelation tells us crowns will be given for that work, but WE WILL LAY THEM ALL AT HIS THRONE TO HONOR AND WORSHIP AND PRAISE HIM!!
However, actions and idle work that did not honor and serve Christ will also be judged. No crowns will be given to us for that work, but He will then show how He transformed even those acts of sin and disobedience to honor and do His Work and fulfill His Plan. We will see how He worked in so many wonderful ways.
Purpose and conclusion of this time to come in heaven will be that He defeated satan and His Work was done and HE IS WORTHY OF OUR PRAISE AND WORSHIP!
Showing integrity and Christ inspired conduct will bring honor to Him and open opportunity of blessing to us. Unselfish conduct stands out and either puts to shame or inspires others to do so too. Daniel and Joseph and Noah and Job are perfect examples from the Old Testament. Esther and Ruth and Abigail are perfect examples as well. They all demonstrate faithfulness and integrity in all areas of their lives and all their lives that not only impacted their lives and provided ultimate success in midst of adversity or even tragedy. They showed us how to excel and not let adversity overtake us or let temptation overtake us. They showed us how to have and maintain a daily meaningful relationship with God both in good prosperous peaceful times as well as in dark times of devastation. They also showed us the impact such lives have far beyond what we can imagine or hope to accomplish. They all show us their goals and dreams become dwarfed and unimportant when God’s use and influence is added and followed.
When you and I are judged for our actions at His Throne, do you think we will be thinking about our goals and dreams we achieved or failed to achieve? Or do you think we will be thinking about what He has done for us and forgiven us from and respond with love and worship and praise directly exclusively and passionately towards Him?
Well then, should we not begin while we still have breathe and life and time to focus on His dreams and goals and Plan as our first priority and also focus on making our lives and conduct reflect those goals and follow His example. These are lofty and noble goals, but are also goals far beyond our reach but not beyond His reach or even ours if we put our hand in His and let Him help us as we walk daily towards those goals. Our humanity limits our capacity to achieve these lofty goals but we certainly can make significant progress and we can at least reach goals like other humans have reached with Him help. We can’t undo what we have done but we don’t need to let our past define our future. Our future is known to Him but not to us. Our future is not written and can be changed to a much better one than the one our past is leading us towards. AMEN? AMEN!!
“Integrity of heart is indispensable.” John Calvin
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 422 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.
My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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