Tuesday 1 Oct 2013

Tuesday Reading: Hebrews 11:39-40

Key Verse: Hebrews 11:40
since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Devotion:
When you look at the chapter of faith, the roll of honour of the faithful through history, we find something that we need to hold dear to our hearts; these people in this roll of honour did not get to see Jesus Christ come to live amongst man, they just had to believe He would be coming as the scriptures had said! We have Jesus firmly embedded into our history and have a calendar that is centred on the fact that Jesus was born over 2000 years ago!

Each of the people listed in the previous verses in this chapter suffered in the name of the Messiah that was to come. They continued to bear witness for God even though they faced persecution and all manner of trials. They were blessed in many ways but they did not personally receive all of the things that had been promised such as the land of Canaan, deliverance, victory and other blessings. God is not going to give us every blessing that is listed in the bible either! We may receive this or that but we will not all be made kings, live in Israel, have untold riches, have wisdom beyond our thoughts; instead God is going to give us what He knows we need!

What God has given us (His Son) is worth far more than the blessings we seek through earthly means. What God lines up for us is what we need to be able to give Him the glory. Each of these people listed in Hebrews 11 believed in the Messiah who was still to come and because of that they received the same gift of eternal life that has been promised to us. Just because we know that Jesus was born, lived and died for us should make us even more certain of the promises made such that we should never doubt that we can have eternal life through Jesus Christ!

Sometimes we do forget that Jesus Christ has always been and will always be. We forget that Christ is not just our Saviour but that He is God incarnate. We forget that Jesus was there when the universe was created. We forget that He does know us from the inside out. Christ is the one who has made these people from our history perfect just as He will present us perfect before God! It is not the law or history that has made them perfect, but Jesus Christ. Allow Him to work in your life right now!

Points to Ponder:
Are you fighting Christ?

Do you allow Christ to guide you?