Tuesday Reading: Matthew 23:1-7
Key Verse: Matthew 23:3
3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do. But do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.
Devotion:
Do you feel like people around you are telling you to do one thing and yet they run off and do another thing? Or maybe you feel like you are guilty of doing that; saying one way and acting another way. Christ wanted to make sure that people saw the difference between being a Christian and saying that you are one – the gap between the two is huge. Just because you say that you are a Christian and can quote bible verse and can talk the talk does not make you a child of God. God knows each of us personally and wants to make sure that we do as we say and say as we do.
That means that we have to make sure that we live according to His Word as well as being able to quote His Word and know His Word. If we are not going to take that final step and live as He wants then is what we believe in actually sound? That is a question that we may well ask ourselves when we find ourselves doing things wrong or doing things against His will. But just because we think those thoughts does not mean that we have to go off the rails. It does not mean that we have to give in to the things around us nor that we have to pretend in any way
We will find that there are many people who will put burdens on our shoulders that we should not have to bear. They do this because they may well have more burdens that that and want to offload some of their weight onto others thinking that that will make their burden lighter. That fact is that it will not. It will simply give another burden to someone else. What we need to do is to lift up those burdens to Christ so that He can take them away from us or show us how to work with them. We need to live our lives according to God and not in spite of Him – I think that may well be something I say a lot, but it is because it is so very important!
Points to Ponder:
What do you do?
Do you do things according to God or according to yourself?