Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: Today's Passage

2 Corinthians 3:15-16

Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

Paul said that "whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." This is such wonderful truth! Often we try everything we can think of to take away our own veils by our effort. As Christians we have no joy and we're constantly bothered by sense of guilt. We can never, however, remove our veil and uproot our sin by our own effort; instead, we must let our hearts turn back to the Lord; when our hearts turn back to the Lord, the veil will be taken away. In fact, the veil of sin has already been taken away in Christ, so the veil inside us now is our own pride. As soon as we humble ourselves and turn back to the Lord, the veil will be taken away, and God's Spirit may freely move inside us to accomplish His work.

Why is it so hard for our hearts to turn back to the Lord? I believe the biggest reason is that we don't understand what God is doing inside us, thus we are hesitant to surrender ourselves to the Lord. A funny thing happened when my daughter was young. One time someone gave her a beautiful burgundy red jacket. We were all excited because her old jacket was really worn out and it's time to get a new one. My daughter, however, held onto the old jacket tightly and would not even try it on. A few days later, the weather turned cooler and the old jacket was being cleaned, so I told her: "It's cold out there, why don't you put on the new jacket to go to school?" She reluctantly put on the new jacket and went to school. When she came back from school, she was totally happy with the jacket because everyone said she looked beautiful in it, like a little princess. She came back in the house and wouldn't take the jacket off! I asked her what we should do with the old jacket, and she said "just give it to my little sister!"

Aren't we like that as well? We don't allow God to work on us because we don't understand how beautiful and precious our lives will become with God's work. We hold on to our old jackets and don't want to put on the new jackets that God gave us. As soon as our hearts turn back to God, our veils will be taken away. What is the old jacket in your life? Are you willing to turn your hearts back to God today?

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, I once again come before you and I want to put down any hindrance in my heart. Help me to understand that your way is higher than my way, and give me a willing heart to take on the path that you have prepared for me. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!