Monday 29 Oct 2012

Monday Reading: Hebrews 13:1-6

Key Verse: Hebrews 13:5
5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Devotion:
I like the way that Matthew Henry describes the reason for Christ giving His life for us: “The design of Christ in giving himself for us, is, that he may purchase to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works; and true religion is the strongest bond of friendship”

When Christ gave His life for us it was not just a carte blanche by which everyone will be forgiven as some may suppose but rather that we who ask Him into our lives should be changed such that we may live a changed life for Him from that day forward. It is so very easy to give in to the ways of the world and continue on as if nothing had happened – but by doing that we are dictating to the world that we are no different than before and that Christ has made no difference in our lives! That certainly was not the intention of our Lord when He gave His life for us!

I know that we do still struggle with earthly matters and our old ways, but Christ also gives us strength that we may go forward and live a new life for Him. He wants us to put aside those old ways because He knows that they will lead to destruction; after all that is what He has saved us from. We ought to listen to His instructions therefore so that we will not just change to be better people, but change to be a better example toward others as well.

One thing we must never forget is that Christ has promised to be with us from the moment we invite Him into our lives for all eternity. If we invite Him in and then continue to invite in all that old lifestyle back again, we are trying to mix Christ in with that old person, that sinful person. We are ultimately trying to force Christ to accept our sin as being normal. Christ does not want our sin – He is trying to separate us from that sin so that He may craw close and teach us His ways. Turning our backs on our old sinful ways and turning toward His teaching and His ways must be our goal. We must be aiming to be a “peculiar people, zealous of good works” so that others will be encouraged to find out what special thing has change us and made our lives a life worth living. We have been given this change to make amends and to live with Christ. We need to embrace His ways in our new life with Him.

Points to Ponder:
Do you count your life as being different?

Are you still rejecting your new life in Christ?