Saturday Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15
Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:14
14 Now we exhort you, brothers, warn those who are unruly, comfort the faint-hearted, support the weak, be patient toward all.
Devotion:
After another night of working with the youth it is quite clear to see what we should be doing. We need to step up and be counted as Christian workers, willing to come forward and show the youth of today that society has not rejected them, only people who do not care. There are plenty of us out here who do care and are willing to come forward because that is the way that Christ has taught us – and boy has He taught us well! It is not just to come forward and say Hi and ask them to come to church but rather to spread out our life-lines and show them that there is hope in a seemingly hopeless world.
The world around us says that if it breaks, throw it away and go for something newer and better. God wants us to endure and find out the right way. The world around us says that if you want to hate someone that is fine. God teaches us to love our friends and our enemies. The world around us encourages us to rebel. God teaches us to be calm. The world around us teaches us to bully the weak. God teaches us to comfort those that need it, supporting and strengthening them because that is what He has already done for us.
If we try to stick to God’s simple rules, exhorting, warning, comforting, supporting and being patient, we should be able to stand up and be counted as a Christian soldier with God as our Commander! We will always have our ups and downs and we will always see others with their ups and downs; that is just life and we have to live with those moments. But it does not mean that we have to let them rule our lives. We do have our Strength and our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who has already made this all possible for us. All we need do is to rely a bit more on Him for guidance and to ignore the trapping of the world that look so good from the outside!
Points to Ponder:
How do you act towards others?
Are you allowing God to be your guide?