Wednesday 21 Aug 2013

Wednesday Reading: Psalm 50:22-23

Key Verse: Psalm 50:23
23  Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

Devotion:
So how would you describe someone who is slowly (or quickly) drifting away from God? What would you say to someone who walks away from God instead of running toward Him? To be brutally honest we should all say that we have been there and done that and hence keep quiet! Well, not so. We should not be keeping quiet as our friends and family walk away from God, not should we be quite if our enemies are walking away from God!

As soon as we recognise that someone is walking away from God we should be standing firm and setting things straight again. That does not necessarily mean berating them for daring to step away from God because we may well be just as guilty in other ways. We do need to recognise when people are separating themselves from God and make a difference. If we don’t make a difference then we are supporting them in the walk away from God. What we need to do is to prepare the way which they can follow back to God.

When people lift up others, are they doing it for the right reasons or are they doing it to glorify someone else? Being there for others and lifting them up is one thing, but glorifying them when we should be glorifying God is a different kettle of fish. God is the one who should be getting all the glory because He is the one behind it all; but that does not mean not lifting up others when praise is due. If we can lift up someone who will then give the glory to God, we are glorifying God… which then bring us to the point that we need to tell others of their need to know God first of all.

As a committed Christian I try to glorify God in all that I do. I do not look for praise but am glad when it comes my way because I can then tell people that I am working for God. Now we are all probably willing to teach others about God when we see they act responsibly and respectfully; but not so much those that are always acting up. In fact we should be aiming our Gospel teaching at those who need it most of all, the worst sinners! Jonah was not asked to go to a pretty city to teach them about God but told to go to a vile sinful place to teach them that they were sinners and get them to come back to God – only then could they give the glory to God!

Points to Ponder:
Do you teach the weak or the strong?

Were you strong before knowing God?