Monday 14 Jan 2013

Monday Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:1-14

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 9:8
8  Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also?

Devotion:
Sometimes we do find it  hard to listen to God just as we find it hard to listen to others; because we want our own way or what we think should be right we often get carried away with zeal for what we think the law says. At the time that Christ was amongst us as a human the apostles were faced with many who had made religion the centre of everything instead of God and they seemed more intent in carrying out what they wanted from the law than the law itself.

God’s law has not changed from the beginning of time but man’s own interpretation of that law has changed. We only have to look at the range of different bibles on the market to find out how much man’s interpretation can change because there are some bibles that make light of the law whilst some seem to change it. Are these mistakes or are they deliberate? That is a question for the author or God to answer and not for us to fight over – rather what we should be doing is trying to live our lives toward the law that God laid down, the same law that Christ supported and the same law that the Holy Spirit encourages us in. If we can find that law and follow it then we will be able to follow Christ without a problem.

No matter how man changes words in the bible, no matter how man changes the rules, the original truth stands; we have to seek that original truth and we have to know that truth as God’s Word. Every bible we have has got errors in it because our languages are limited in comparison to the original languages and the original scripts may well be hard to follow because of lack of understanding or lack of legibility due to age. But what God inspired does not change.

God’s law states that we should support our church leaders, ministers, missionaries and all who strive to bring us that truth. Each of them are human and as such they have the right to be human: to eat, to love, to marry, to enjoy life. As ministers of the gospel we are called to bring forward the gospel and that is what we should strive to do. If we wish to put aside any of our rights as Paul did, then that should not mean that all ministers must put aside those same rights. God has given us all life and that means we shall not withhold that gift from anyone unless we wish to go against God.

Points to Ponder:
Do you do any voluntary work?

Do you support missionaries?