Monday 9 Jul 2012

Monday Reading: Luke 9:57-62

Key Verse: Luke 9:62
62  And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Devotion:
In these verses we hear of a few more types of excuses that we have when we don’t want to do God’s work. Some of these say that they will get round to it, but not just yet… How many times have we used that as an excuse to put something off until another day or another time? How many times do we use all manner of excuses just so that we do not have to do something right now?

But then we can turn this over again and think about it from the other side again; how many times do we use excuses to cover up something just because we did not want to do it or even because we just wanted to do it? Just because we had a moment of weakness and gave in to the temptation does not mean that we have to give in to the war against sin. Yes we are all going to sin at some stage, but we certainly do not have to give in to it, we certainly do not have to ruin our lives by going against God!

I am sure Jonah came out of the fish as a very different man, not just physically after being inside a fish for three days and nights, but as a man who knew that he did not have to give in because God stood up for him! Can you imagine that? God, our Creator, our Sovereign God, standing up for me, standing up for you! We are the ones who break the laws and let Him down. We are the ones who turn and run at the slightest test. We are the ones who run the other way when God asks us to stand up and be counted… and yet He stands firm and lifts us up!

We are the ones who have to stand up now. We are the ones who God is calling. Are we the same as Jonah and turning away as if to say that we do not hear Him, or are we going to turn up when He asks and do His will? It is not just the people that God is calling to teach and preach that should be listening. Every person who has admitted to being a Christian, a believer in God, a believer in Jesus Christ; every single one of us must stand up and acknowledge God and Christ and the Holy Spirit. For us to do anything else means we are turning our back on God and working against Him. God may not have called us to be preachers and teachers; He may have just called us to be the one who tells a friend “yes, I believe in God”. We cannot imagine the intricacies of all the works that God has planned in our lives so we should be willing to listen to Him every step of the way so that He can have His works done as He has planned them.

Points to Ponder:
Do you act like Peter?

Are you listening to God’s steps?