Thursday 15 Mar 2012

Thursday Reading: Hebrews 13:1-6

Key Verse: Hebrews 13:5
5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Devotion:
I had to think about this one a bit because what I see in the teenagers that I teach now I certainly did not see in myself. Am I that old?!? There were times in my younger life that I would get all dressed up to try and make an impression, but most of the time we (guys) would expect the ladies to be the ones who would go out of their way to dress up and look good for the occasion(s). How times seem to have changed and how much we now see both sexes spending far too much time preening themselves for gatherings.

Maybe it was because I was brought up close to the bush or simply because it was Africa; but I don’t think I was that concerned with the way that I acted or the way that I dressed. Some of the youngsters that I have met lately spend far too much time trying to make themselves up into something that they are not instead of getting down and fellowshipping. I don’t mean jumping on the couch with your partner and ignoring everything else in the room but begin able to sit and talk openly and freely about things that should concern all of us. This is one of the reasons why I so like the teen groups that I teach because I do try to get them to be part of the discussion rather than just teaching them.

But it is not that type of conversation that we are talking of here but the way that we carry ourselves instead. If we are going to give in to pride and selfishness then we will find out that we cannot mix well with others. We will then find that we seem to have to do more to get involved with others. Sometimes God just wants us to be friends with people and to allow them to be part of your life. Just because He has given you a big heart that allows you to love others, does not mean that He wants you to be ‘in love’ with them all; God wants us to know how special we are to each other and for that to happen we have to be open and honest with each other.

Being open and honest for a man may well not be as easy as it is for a lady. It does not mean that we have to start acting like a lady but just to be a different person than our normal ways and to think about others instead of just ourselves. Why aim at men? Because we, I fear, may be the main culprits on this one! God has given us to be very different types of people so that we can find others to mix with and get on with but it does mean that we have to be willing to get on with others to start with!

Points to Ponder:
Do you mix well with others?

What strengths has God given you?