Monday 21 Jul 2008

Monday Reading: Titus 2:11-15
 
Key Verse: Titus 2:14
14  who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to Himself a special people, zealous of good works.
 
Devotion:
At one stage or another we have all been exposed to the gospel (even if this is your first time!) We may well not have listened to many of the things that have been told to us from God’s Word. We have all gone against those things that we have heard – we still do. Yet the grace of God has been shown to all of mankind because Christ went to that cross to die for everyone and not just the people that were around Him at the time. God continues to show His grace through what He does for us and through His love He shows us even though we may not return it in like manner.
 
Our bibles are a source of knowledge and wisdom that teach us how we should live for Christ. We are warned against the evils of lust and pride and shown how we can gain strength to oppose them in our lives. We are shown the truth so that we have a wonderful hope upon which we can rest assured. We are told about Christ so that we can believe that truth and see how wonderful and awesome His love is for us. He gave Himself freely so that we would not have to. He gave Himself totally so that we would never have to face our sin debt after we accept Him as our Saviour and King.
 
We could try to shove the gospel down people’s throats. We could try to indoctrinate people through various means. We could try to separate people from the world so that they would never know anything else. God did not. Christ came to live with man so that He could show us the difference between a life with Him and a life without. Christ came to encourage us to seek that truth, use it, uplift it and then encourage others to do the same. He never forced the truth upon anyone, giving us all a free choice. Even when faced with the man-made authority of the land, Christ did not provoke. Let us go forward in His example and allow our own bodies to be an example whereby others can be encouraged to follow Christ.
 
Points to Ponder:
Can you easily spot the Christians around you?
 
Do you think others see a true Christian in you?