Friday 7 Dec 2012

Friday Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:7-9

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 8:9
9  For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

Devotion:
God has given us (humans) many gifts through which we can explore our relationship with Him. He has given us the ability to exercise our faith through trusting Him in ways that will really surprise us. He has given us the ability to talk, but not just to each other but to Him especially through prayers. He has given us amazing minds that can explore things, can work things out but also have the ability to learn, especially about Him. He has given us these gifts and more so that we can experience a full life with Him and in order to do that we have to use these gifts to the best ability that we can toward our goal of glorifying God.

One of the things that we do have to remember is that even though God has given us the commandment to love and obey Him, He still give us the choice of whether we do follow that commandment. So when the apostles gave these instructions to the churches that they visited, they passed on that same idea; this is a commandment from God that we love one another and that we love Him as our only God, but it is not a commandment or order from man that we should obey it without question. After all, why should God give us an enquiring mind if He simply wants us to follow without question. No, instead God has given us these gifts so that we can fully realise just how awesome He is as our one true God!

If we question why we should follow Him or follow His commandments, then we should look at what he has done for us so that we can know just how much He really loves us. If we were to blindly follow the rules without understanding what God has done for us we would not know that full extent of His love. The gifts God has given us are for our benefit and not just for fun; through them we are allowed to find out more about How much He does for us and what this all means for us as well. Through our gifts we are able to find out much more than just facts; we are able to understand the spiritual side of our relationship with Him and to understand His love that He has for us.

Jesus has shown us that He was willing to lower Himself from His position with God in heaven to a mere human being so that we would see that He wants us to be with Him and not slaves without a soul. Through those gifts He has given us we are able to understand why He has done this and to know that through His position of servitude, we are raised up in positions of power and richness in Him.

Points to Ponder:
How rich do you think you are?

Do you see how many riches He has given you?