Monday 16 Jul 2012

Monday Reading: 1 John 5:6-8

Key Verse: 1 John 5:8
8  And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

Devotion:
Have you ever tried to wash a car within a certain time limit? As soon as we put a time limit on something we rush to get things done within that time and while we are rushing we start to skip over a few things or miss a few things in the rush. When we stand back and look at the car that we have been able to wash in three minutes because that is all the time we had for the power washer, then we start to see the parts we have missed and the parts we overlooked because we thought they would not matter. If we were to try that same approach with our own lives then we would also be skipping over parts and missing the parts we thought were ok – but when we see the other clean parts we then see the parts we missed were actually dirty, just not as dirty as those really dirty parts!

When Christ came into the world it was neither in a rush nor in a manner in which He would just wash the parts that looked dirty. He came to fulfil an end. He came to complete a task. He did not set a time limit in which He had to do everything, though He was working to God’s planned time. He came to complete the task at hand and to make sure that it was done to the fullest extent. What an example was He!

There is no way that we can hope to appease God by doing things right in our own eyes. There is no way we can make our sins go away by washing ourselves in our own earthly ways. It is only through Christ that our sins may be forgiven! Once He came and gave His life on that cross, the final sacrifice had been given – no more sacrifices had to be given because the ultimate sacrifice had finally arrived.

It is not a guess that this is right. It is not an assumption that we have made. This is what God ordained and what He required for our sins to be forgiven. None of the earthly sacrifices that we make can ever cover sin in the same manner as Christ has done for us. No sacrifice, no matter how important to us or how horrible for us, can ever pay for our sin debt in full. Yes God does like to see us offer things out of humiliation or because of our love toward Him, but none of those should ever try to take the place of Christ otherwise we are saying that Christ did it for nothing! Abel offered what was right in God’s eyes whereas Cain offered what was right in his own eyes. Let us look to our God for His guidance in showing us what is right for Him.

Points to Ponder:
Do you like to think you know what you are doing?

Are you turning away from God by following your own ways?