Thursday Reading: Luke 11:24-26
Key Verse: Luke 11:24
24 When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he walks through dry places seeking rest. And finding none, he says, I will return to my house from which I came out.
Devotion:
One thing we cannot do successfully is to get someone to accept Christ when it is not their own choice... Yes people will listen and they may well even pray for forgiveness and look like they are Christians, but unless they are the ones accepting that truth within their own hearts, then they are still as open to the evil one as before, if not more! This passage reminds us of how important it actually is for each of us to enter into a personal relationship with Christ and not to just go with the crowd.
There is no way that we can stand up against Satan or any of his accomplices because they are more powerful than us when we stand alone. As soon as we stand with Christ, however, we have nothing to fear and can be sure that Christ will protect us and keep us safe. It is much like a country who faces a civil war and accepts help from an outside alliance to quell the civil war – so long as the outside help continues to stay, the country is in safe hands. As soon as the outside help goes back home or is asked to leave the country sinks faster and deeper into civil war because they think they have overcome the enemy when all they have done is beat them down for a short while.
If we are going to help someone else to see that Christ is our Lord and Saviour, then we have to continue to also show them that they must make that choice for themselves. Bullying someone into saying that they believe will do nothing more than tidy up their house for a short while. We also need to be sure that we do have Christ on our side and not just have Him in tidying things up for the moment. Unless we make a firm commitment to continue our relationship with Christ we are simply using Him to tidy up and then going back to depending on ourselves for the things that God would like to do for us. We don’t need a decorator in to tidy up, we need someone who is going to live with us and care for us!
Points to Ponder:
Are you just looking for a cleaner?
Or are you looking for long term care and assistance?
