Thursday 21 Mar 2013

Thursday Reading: Jude 1:9

Key Verse: Jude 1:9
9  Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

Devotion:
When things do go pear shaped and everything builds up against us, we often turn round and start blaming others. Even when we get it right and they are to blame, it does not give us the right to put them down just because we think we are right and they are wrong. Yes we can tell others they are wrong and we can dish out punishment when it is due, but when it comes to sin against God, it is not up to us to apportion blame and dish out punishment. Jesus Christ is the one who laid down His Own life for that sin and not us; so He alone has the right to apportion punishment for that sin – not us!

Sin is by definition evil done against God. When we think it is done against us (such as murder) we often forget that it is actually against God because we are His creation. Therefore it must be according to God that they receive their punishment. Our early laws took that into account and juries were set up to do things according to God’s ways. But man continues to pervert the course of justice and we continue to bend the rules until they are of little or no effect; but we are to blame for that.

Because of what Christ has done for us, we are no longer under the strict law defined by God and presented to Moses for the Children of Israel. Instead we have His laws to show us that we are sinners in need of forgiveness. Those same laws that were presented to man to show man that he is not capable of being righteous on his own are the same laws that we use to see that we are not righteous either.

But we no longer have to sacrifice as they did otherwise that would make what Christ did for us of no affect! Instead we need to accept what Christ did as a perfect sacrifice and believe that He did that for us. By accepting that in faith and trusting God to keep to His promise, we can live a separate life from that sinful life by accepting Christ as our Saviour. It is not our lot to apportion blame and punishment when the sin is against God. Allow God to do what is perfectly right and just instead.

Points to Ponder:
Would you always be impartial?

Do you know that God is always impartial?