Friday Reading: 1 Timothy 1:8-13
Key Verse: 1 Timothy 1:13
13 the one who before was a blasphemer and a persecutor and insolent. But I obtained mercy, because being ignorant, I did it in unbelief.
Devotion:
What use is a law unless it tells someone what they are doing wrong? Why should we have any laws at all unless it is to tell people everything that is not acceptable to everyone else? We have laws to try and keep everyone happy in a society that should obey those rules and live towards “good”; and if those laws that we should all agree to are broken then those that break the laws should accept the punishment for breaking them...
If only it were as simple as that. We all do break the laws at some stage, whether they are big or small, important or insignificant; we all have been on the wrong side of the law. That does not mean that we are all evil people or that we all deserve to spend our time in prison. The fact that we have acknowledged that we have broken a law and that we are sorry for doing so and are making amends means that we have identified problems in our lives and are working towards fixing them – that is the true spirit of the law.
God’s laws were given to us for that reason; so that we can recognise that we have broken the laws and that we do need to make amends. The problem comes in trying to sort out how we make amends... His law clearly states that the punishment for breaking any of His laws is death. If we recognise that single fact then we know that we are all destined for death. The single way that we can avoid eternal death is by recognising the fact that Jesus Christ has paid our debt already and believing that He has paid for our breaking God’s law means that we are forgiven in His sight. If we want to go back and break those laws again it means that we don’t really realise just what Jesus went through for us on that cross. God’s law is for the worst of us so that we can join the best in rest...
Points to Ponder:
How bad do you think you are?
Do you realise what price has to be paid?
