Tuesday 3 Dec 2013

Tuesday Reading: Romans 15:1-3

Key Verse: Romans 15:3
For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”

Devotion:
One of the most amazing things we can learn from Christ’s life on earth as a human is that He chose to live His life aiming to please someone else and not Himself! If only we would have the courage and foresight to live our own lives for someone else instead of for ourselves we too could achieve so much more! Society today seems bent on living as much as you can for yourself so that you can be as happy as you can by living things to the maximum. But that is not life, that is greed and pride mixed up in yourself!

God has given some of us the ability to bear more than others can and He has done that for a reason – so that we can bear some of the burdens for others. Then He also creates some of us who need the support of others so that we can draw closer to them. What we tend to do is to worry too much about what we can do and what we can get out of the lives we lead… How about looking into what someone else needs in their life rather than your own…

We all do like to be able to help others at some time or another and we all like to care for others; but we do tend to pick and choose who we care for and who we help out. What Christ was trying to teach others was that we need to care for all people and we need to help out all people. Sometimes that is going to be our friends and neighbours and other time it may well be someone on the other side of the world. We live in a world where things like that are now possible!

But the best results are going to come from the people we can love and care for around us. Those people that are part of our lives even if they don’t think they are. The people we see a lot of or the people we think of a lot. Just because we see them every day or very often does not always mean that we are taking care of them or helping them. But when we do stop and make a difference, God notices and they notice as well. That is when the biggest differences are made!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like to help others?

Is God seeing the difference you make for them?