Sunday 1 Feb 2009

Sunday Reading: Philippians 1:8-11
 
Key Verse: Philippians 1:8
8  For God is my witness how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

Devotion:
As you read through your bible, take note of the people that Jesus took pity on, take note of the people that Jesus approached to give them the truth, take note of the people that He loved. We need to take note of what Jesus did because He is our ultimate example by which we should aim to live and if He was willing and able to love those that seemed to be rejected by society, then we should be willing to do so too. However, we should not exclude those around us just to make a point of going after those that society shows need it most because we may well have people around us that need our love and attention too.

Through our brotherly love towards others, we need to show all that they do have someone who cares; through us caring, they will get to know why we care and hence get to know that Christ is the one who has given us the grace in the beginning. What better gift can we ever give to anyone other than Christ? The more that we are able to read our bibles, the more understanding we gain. The more we go out and show brotherly love, the more we are able to understand it too. Sadly that seems to be one more thing that society has forgotten about over time and all because they first took Christ out of their own lives.

God has given us His Word so that we will understand more about the grace and mercy that He has shown us so that we can extend that to those around us. Yes, when people are facing rough times they do look out for places where they can gain comfort. Yes, we do need to step forward and show them how much Christ cares by showing them that we can care. Living a life which is different will set us apart and will allow us to be the example that Christ wants us to be to others. So long as we strive to be that example, Christ will strive to support us in our endeavours. We need to show people that we are different and that we are sincere. Christ showed us exactly that a few thousand years ago!

Points to Ponder:
Are you a Christian?
 
Do you live a different life?