Bernard based his lifestyle on the... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2026

Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Galatians 3:24

Bernard based his lifestyle on the Ten Commandments. He saw himself as a decent person, was involved in church, went to confession regularly and thought that God could be quite satisfied with his life. Then his older sister gave him a Bible and recommended that he read it. She had recently accepted the Lord Jesus as her Saviour and was rejoicing in the forgiveness of her sins.

Bernard began to read the Bible. One day he was reading Exodus 20, and he faltered at verse 15: “You shall not steal.” Weren’t there things he had taken without permission? “Well,” he thought. “After all, they were only small things. I wonder if that was really stealing.” He read on in verse 16: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.” He had never given false testimony in court to incriminate someone else. But hadn’t the situation often arisen in his school days that he had made others look bad in order to make himself look better? And hadn’t he later put himself in a better light at the expense of others at work?

Then Bernard read verse 17: “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbour’s.” What about his colleague’s new car, his golf buddy’s handicap, and his neighbour’s great job with a good income? Were these really God’s requirements for him? How often had he broken one of these commandments! Bernard became aware that God could not be pleased with him. This troubled him greatly. Finally, he told his sister about it, and she pointed him to the Saviour, Jesus Christ. He confessed his guilt to Him and has now been a happy child of God for many years!

Today’s reading: Genesis 23:1-20 · Psalms 6:1-10