Saturday 8 Sep 2012

Saturday Reading: Acts 24:14-16

Key Verse: Acts 24:16
16  And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.

Devotion:
When Paul was called forward to speak for himself against the accusations that the people had brought against him, he chose his words for the glory of God and not for any glory of man. Paul was in no doubt that he was following the will of God and that he continued to do so throughout his ministry. He also strove to make sure that he did not break the laws of the land insomuch as they allowed him to continue worshipping God and following His will.

Our task is not to cause strife in the land but to promote the will of God. Yes they will be at opposite ends of the spectrum at times, but much of the time people will agree that God’s Law is actually good for all and will want to be able to follow it. But when it comes time to change their ways so that they fall in line with God’s Law, many people call out for justice to be had according to man’s law rather than God’s Law because it may just be a little easier to live with in their sinful lives.

If we live lives that are righteous, then we will have no problem sticking with the righteous laws of God. But as soon as we go off in our own wilful ways we have issues with sticking to God’s law because they are no longer in line with each other. Man’s laws are made by people, people like us who make mistakes; it is only God who is perfect and only His law is righteous in all its ways! If we are forced to make choices in our lives then we should be striving to make choices that agree with God and His Law.

God has given us our consciences so that we should be able to choose the righteous ways. So how do some people manage to always choose the opposite ways? The longer we live apart from God’s Law the longer we get accustomed to going with man’s law and not God’s Law. The more we do things wrong and accept wrong things the more we will be apt to choose those wrong ways instead of God’s ways. God has given us the choice and left us to that choice. He does encourage us all along the way so that we will be able to make an informed decision – but that has got to come from knowing God’s position and that comes from knowing God’s Law… and that comes from reading His Word.

Points to Ponder:
Are you offending others?

Will you allow God to show you the right choices to make?