Friday Reading: John 7:16-18
Key Verse: John 7:17
17 If anyone desires to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it is of God, or I speak from Myself.
Devotion:
One of the biggest differences between how man chooses to live and how Jesus lived His life is that Jesus lived His life for God and not for Himself whereas we tend to live our lives for ourselves. Our lives are typically focused on the things that we do, can do and want to do. Christ focused His life on the will of God and the timetable of God’s ways; a goal that we should be seeking.
When God created us He gave us an inquiring mind so that we would seek things out and learn as we progressed. If we are going to just take in the things that we want to rather than the truth then we are not really learning but rather living for ourselves and politely ignoring what God lays down in front of us. Yes it is hard to continue picking up on things that God sends our way if we are not expecting them, but it is a whole lot easier when we do expect things from Him. We need to live our lives expecting God to continue supplying us with what we need in order to live for Him. When we do that we will see just how much He does send our way.
Christ lived His life with God and continued in conversation with Him always. It is not just because He is God but because He wanted us to see how easy it is to live with God in our lives and to live with God’s ways being central to our living. Christ was able to live a fulfilling life as a human even when doing God’s will instead of His own will. That is our big stumbling block in thinking that we shall not be able to live a fulfilling life if we do everything according to God’s ways instead of enjoying ourselves. God wants us to have a fulfilling and enjoyable life so He will give us things to enjoy and to be happy with; He does that because of His great love for us.
Points to Ponder:
Do you insist on doing things your own way?
Do you let God have His way when you don’t like it?