Sunday 4 Aug 2013

Sunday Reading: Luke 22:31-34

Key Verse: Luke 22:32
32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Devotion:
It may seem amazing to us that Jesus prayed for the disciples knowing what they would do to Him but when we read reminders like this we too can be strengthened into knowing just how much God loves us. Even though we too may be sinners and we too may be on the wrong track from time to time, God is the one who loved us first and continues to try to help us every step of the way. We may not understand His ways or His will at times, but we can know for certain that what we face is for our benefit and so we need to remain strong in His ways.

Christ knew what Simon Peter would face and He knew what was in his heart and yet knowing that, He still loved him without limit. If you knew that someone was about to break your heart or that they were about to crush your life, would you still love them without limit? We always impose limits on everything in our lives and we always set limits so that we can say when we want to stop – but Christ went past any limits that we would set because of His true love toward us.

I, like many, want to be able to think that I know what love is all about nowadays because of all that I have been through and what I face in my future. But I know that my love still seems to have limits and still will be brought into question by others. But then I know in my heart that I have learned a whole lot about love by facing many situations in my life. I know that I have had the best Teacher in the universe and that is Christ my Lord. I know that He has allowed many things in my life so that I would learn to love people without question and without limit. I also know that some will not understand the love that I offer because it is alien to this world. I trust in God.

Peter faced many temptations and a whole lot of persecution; I count myself lucky that I do not have to face half of what he had to. Peter did cave in in the beginning and he did deny Christ, but after he realised what he had done he turned his life around and made sure that he did not deny Christ again. God wants us to be confident enough to stand up for Him no matter what we face. He does not give us a promise that we will not face persecution but the opposite, that we will face it daily just because we dare to follow Him.

Points to Ponder:
Who do you draw strength from?

Are you seeking Christ’s strength?