“May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.” Psalm 25:21.
It’s funny how being in your home town impacts you and demonstrates how far you are from being like Jesus. When I have been in other countries and “faraway” places, I generally haven’t given much thought to what I’m wearing, driving, or how I look, but today as I drove across Fayetteville in a borrowed 20+ year-old car I felt a bit sheepish. I was aware of myself in a way that I shouldn’t be.
As I ponder that fact I realize that my hope isn’t always in God and His provision for me. I all too often place my hope (and my identify) in stuff. Our culture preaches that it is easy to feel confident when one is driving a newer “hip” model of car. All the Labor Day sales proclaim that a new outfit will make us happier. Even the kind of coffee we drink is additive to our status as a chic American.
God, please help me to place my hope in you alone…. to have an undivided heart…. to be a man of righteousness and integrity. May my value and confidence come from being a son of the King of all kings, and never from buying a shirt, a car, or a cup of coffee.