Sunday 15 Jun 2014

June 15: Luke 17:1-4

Key Verse: Luke 17:1
Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!

Devotion:
There is no sin that is too great for God to forgive other than the sin of unbelief. But that does not give us the right to go ahead and sin more so that we can be forgiven more! God changes our hearts so that we should reject sin in our lives, but we continue to be tempted by the devil and by others so that we will give in and sin just a little bit more. What Jesus is reminding us of here is that we should not think that God is not going to forgive us, neither should we think that just because we do trust Him we will not be tempted.

We live in a sinful world and we should recognise that we will continue to be tempted along with everyone else. We should also not think that we are going to be 100% safe from everything just because we believe in God. God is good and will continue to forgive, continue to support and continue to be here for us; but we live in a corrupt and perverse world so we should expect bad things to still happen to us just like they happen to other people.

If we are standing in a rain shower then we are going to get just as wet as the person standing next to us even if we think we are waterproof. We may know that it is just water and we may know that it will just get us wet, but it will get us wet! Jesus does not build up a fortress around us that the world cannot get through; He builds us a foundation that will never crumble as long as we continue to build on that foundation. We are assured that we have a place in heaven and not a place here on earth!

But if we are the ones who spread the dissent, if we are the ones that tempt others to sin, if we are the ones that give others reason to sin, then we need to start worrying about what God will do to us! We are the ones who give in and do things; God does not give us those things to do, we choose to do them. God does not supply the temptations, but He will allow us to experience them if we choose to. There is no need to give in when we know God can help us through them…

Points to Ponder:
Do you give in to sin?

Do you tempt others to join you?