Tuesday 21 Feb 2012

Tuesday Reading: Isaiah 42:1-4

Key Verse: Isaiah 42:3
3  A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

Devotion:
Have you ever wondered how you can be more like Christ? You know, when people turn round to you and say that you should be more like Him; then you rummage through the New Testament to try and find out what it is about Christ that you should be doing… then you get discouraged because you see all manner of miracles and all manner of righteous things that He did and just know that you will never be able to live up to that sort of life! But do not be discouraged because it is not being exactly like Christ that we should be aiming at. Christ is our Lord and our God! How can we ever be like Him?

We have been created in His image and we have been brought into this world through Him. How else could we survive in the places we have been if it were not for Christ creating us the way that we are. Yes we have a mother and father but without God’s design in the first place we should not ever have been able to be conceived in the first place!

So let us not look into what Christ did on earth but look back at some of the prophesies that were told many hundreds of years before Christ was born as a human being. This first one always strikes a note in my heart because of the simple words.

God set in motion things so that we would be able to recognise Christ when he came to earth. He allowed many people to remain blinded from that truth because of what they wanted to believe in their own hearts. If they had only opened their eyes to the truth that He Himself had given them over the many years that He had cared for them, then they would have known Christ first of all! Christ made sure that His ministry was one to always lift God up above all. Our first commandment. He did not shout down others unless it was required. He did not go round bashing people on the head to make them listen. He did not cause chaos to gain attention. Instead Christ always lifted up God first of all – but He also went in to dine with sinners so that He could show them the truth from the inside… He never gave up doing that task until He was on the cross accepting all our of sins onto His own shoulders. Then, He willingly gave up His life so that we could live! Are you willing to be more like Him today?

Points to Ponder:
Do you want to be a better Christian?

Are you aiming at Christ’s example yet?