Tuesday Reading: Matthew 12:1-8
Key Verse: Matthew 12:8
8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
Devotion:
Sometimes we get so caught up in our rules that we lose sight of the truth. This was certainly true of the Pharisees when Christ came to earth as a human and this is just one of the many places in His Word where we find the Pharisees trying to uphold the laws in their own mind rather than upholding God’s Laws. Does that sound a bit strange that we should have our own rules that we say come from God that are different to God’s Laws? Well we certainly do not have the understanding of God’s Word that we need to have in order to fully carry out God’s will in our lives. He has given us His Word so that we can study it and begin to understand what He wants in our lives. We still do have our freedom of choice but we have to exercise that with caution because we are the ones who are most likely to bend the truth!
When Christ reminded the Pharisee that even the priests did do some things on the Sabbath day it was not a brash word saying that it is ok to do anything at any time but a reminder that we do have to live, the eat and to drink. If that means that we have to do some work on the Sabbath in order to be able to survive then God will understand that. He knows that we do have to do certain things but He wants to hear from our hearts that we do still keep His as Lord of all.
Our commitment to God must be from our hearts but it must also be truthful and it must uphold His Law. If we work to dull down God’s seriousness or to apply our own rules instead of God’s, then we work against our Lord. We need to make sure that we keep God as God and not to promote man or his own imaginations in God’s stead. We have our bibles so that we can know the truth; trying to bend the truth by using those very words is just not going to happen in God’s eyes... God is God and man is man!
Points to Ponder:
Do you stick to the rules?
Do you follow God with your heart?
Key Verse: Matthew 12:8
8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
Devotion:
Sometimes we get so caught up in our rules that we lose sight of the truth. This was certainly true of the Pharisees when Christ came to earth as a human and this is just one of the many places in His Word where we find the Pharisees trying to uphold the laws in their own mind rather than upholding God’s Laws. Does that sound a bit strange that we should have our own rules that we say come from God that are different to God’s Laws? Well we certainly do not have the understanding of God’s Word that we need to have in order to fully carry out God’s will in our lives. He has given us His Word so that we can study it and begin to understand what He wants in our lives. We still do have our freedom of choice but we have to exercise that with caution because we are the ones who are most likely to bend the truth!
When Christ reminded the Pharisee that even the priests did do some things on the Sabbath day it was not a brash word saying that it is ok to do anything at any time but a reminder that we do have to live, the eat and to drink. If that means that we have to do some work on the Sabbath in order to be able to survive then God will understand that. He knows that we do have to do certain things but He wants to hear from our hearts that we do still keep His as Lord of all.
Our commitment to God must be from our hearts but it must also be truthful and it must uphold His Law. If we work to dull down God’s seriousness or to apply our own rules instead of God’s, then we work against our Lord. We need to make sure that we keep God as God and not to promote man or his own imaginations in God’s stead. We have our bibles so that we can know the truth; trying to bend the truth by using those very words is just not going to happen in God’s eyes... God is God and man is man!
Points to Ponder:
Do you stick to the rules?
Do you follow God with your heart?