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December 9

Morning

To do righteousness and justice is more
acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. 

He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? § Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. § To love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

So you, by the help of your God, return; observe mercy and justice, and wait on your God continually. § Mary … sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word … “One thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Prov. 21:3; Mic. 6:8; 1 Sam. 15:22; Mark 12:33;
Hos. 12:6; Luke 10:39, 42; Phil. 2:13


Evening

The spirit will return to God who gave it. 

The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. § There is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. § The first man Adam became a living being. § The spirit of the sons of men … goes upward.

While we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord … We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. § With Christ, which is far better. § I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

Eccl. 12:7; Gen. 2:7; Job 32:8; 1 Cor. 15:45; Eccl. 3:21;
2 Cor. 5:6, 8; Phil. 1:23; 1 Thess. 4:13–14; John 14:2–3

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