Thursday 6 Sep 2012

Thursday Reading: Jeremiah 29:1-9

Key Verse: Jeremiah 29:7
7  And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

Devotion:
One of the things that I always find so amazing is that the Old Testament continue to be new to me. How so? When I read through God’s Word I can always draw parallels with modern society. No matter how long ago things have happened I can always seem to find things that have happened so many years ago that are still happening today. I see how God has tried to teach people His ways over the years and I see how man has continued to try and get his own way for those same times. Man continues to try and say that he is unique and that his situation is unique so that it needs God to make a unique fix! Well, it doesn’t!

God has made sure that the prophets of old wrote everything down so that we can see that we are still living lives in similar ways to what men did thousands of years ago. Yes, technology is very different, but man is essentially the same! We continue to do many of the same things as we have always done; those same mistakes, those same needs, those same wants… and guess what, the solutions are going to be the same time and time again! We just don’t seem to get it…

God continues to try to get us to live in peace by showing love one toward another. He continues to try to get us to see that we have to live in the real world. Yes we may well be surrounded by heathens who don’t much care for God but we should be making the best of the situations that God has given us. He wants us to be able to stand out as Christians, to be the examples by which He can encourage others. We don’t need to conform to the ways of others, but we do have to live amongst them. He has given us the task of bringing a bit of light to the people that live in darkness. He has placed us here as those lights.

If we want to be able to shine as lights for Christ then we had better start making ourselves known as well. If we hide away we are not going to get very far. If we have a single small light in a dark place, there is a little hope. But if we gather a few of those little lights together, we have a much better and more encouraging light to lead with. By taking our little lights and showing those around us that they too can accept the light and use it, we make for a better environment for God to be able to work in. Work with the light, work with God!

Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are unique?

Do you know that God has seen it all before?