Monday 20 Aug 2012

Monday Reading: Psalm 116:10-19

Key Verse: Psalm 116:16
16  O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.

Devotion:
What sort of reaction do you have toward others when you find out that they are not telling the truth? Our reactions can be anything from a mild disappointment to a raging fury and many things in between; but I don’t want to focus on what we do but rather how we view those reactions because we can apply this same question to our relationship with God. We are the ones that lie to Him and We don’t always think about what sort of reaction He should have toward us!

I want you to just put aside your own feelings and think about what we deserve to happen to us when we are the ones dishing out the lies. It may seem a small thing to many that they lie to God but as we read through our bibles we do find many verses that tell us that God is not someone to ignore sin such as lies no matter how small or ‘white’ we think they are! But no matter what lies we do tell, God is always willing to show His mercy toward us if we bring them to Him with a humble heart. And if He is willing to show us mercy when we do go overboard with our sin, could we ever find anything that would be good enough to give to Him to show just how grateful we are for that fact?

Well, if we are thinking in terms of earthly gifts then we are never going to match up to the heavenly and spiritual gifts that God is concerned with. But if we put aside the ways of the world and think more in line with God’s ways then we can begin to get a bit closer to what would be expected from such a deity. The Psalmist describes what he should do… To take the free gift of salvation that God offers by believing on His Son and we do that through calling on His name, showing that we do believe He is the Son of God. We need to do this and be willing to admit that we have done this before other people.

What does this mean? Well, if we take it to the next step, we are actually saying to God that we are His servants and that we are willing to do whatever He wants us to do. Once we do realise that we do owe Him so very much, coming to God in praise and with thanksgiving should be nothing more than what we expect to give. Showing that we are willing to do so is going to be the sticking point to most people…

Points to Ponder:
What would you be willing to do for love?

What will you give God to show Him your love?