Thursday 24 Oct 2013

Thursday Reading: John 5:39-44

Key Verse: John 5:39
39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,

Devotion:
Have you ever noticed that there are some things in life that take you away from God? If you have time to think about some of the things that separate you from a right relationship with God then now is the time to sit and think a while. Some of the sin in our lives is pretty obvious and we all know why those things take us away from God, but what about things which actually seem right? I’m talking about the religious things that we get up to that become habits and start to take up all of our time, time that we should be spending with God instead.

The Jews had made an art of the law as laid down by Moses – that is the way that they were looking at it and that is the way that it was going to be! God had given Moses strict laws and they were going to make sure that they were kept. What they did not count on was that their own imaginations would get them so caught up in the law that they would leave Christ out of it!

If we are not careful then we too will get too caught up in our religious lives and we too will leave Christ out of it. Yes we may well talk about Christ and we may well include God’s name in our conversations, but unless we include Him in our conversations then we are leaving Him out of our lives. Christ needs to be an integral part of our lives and not just something we talk about. Friends are people we do things with and not just talk about; why should we be treating Christ any differently?

God’s word gives us all we do need to know about Him, but unless we are going to use the whole of His Word and not just the parts that we want to, then we are going to miss out on the truth that He wants us to know. We need to take God’s Word and apply it to our lives, not in part but all of it. God gave it all to us so that we would know how to live with Him! Let us not seek to give each other glory any more but to lift up God and glorify Him alone!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you read your bible?

How often do you apply your bible?