Friday 15 Aug 2014

August 15: 1 Peter 3:18-23

Key Verse: 1 Peter 3:19
by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,

Devotion:
One of the things that I have learned from God is that we do have to reach down into the gutters to lift up some people. God is the one who knows people from the inside, knows their hearts and what they are capable of. We see this exterior upon which we build our own version of the world. We see the people that do good deeds and expect them to be good people; most of the time they probably are. We see the people that get put in prisons and expect them to be evil people, and some of them are. But God is the one who knows what they actually are like.

There are people in our Bibles who have committed murder but have been used greatly by God, being called followers of God by us because of what we have seen them do after their crimes. There are people that have hung out with Jesus and yet turned out to be the ones that worked against Him.

We have to trust God in choosing the right people to go forward and talk to. If they are the ones who come to church every week then that may be an easy task for us to do. But if they are the ones who have landed up in prison because of what they have done, then that may well be a hard task to take up. It is our lot to listen to God for instruction as to where we are required and that is what I try my best to do. I know that there are many youth who go to church or come from good and kind families and they are great to hang out with and teach… but I know there are also special people who are caught up in a world that they cannot see any escape from. Those are the ones God has asked me to reach out to; and yes it is hard work.

Do not label people because of their families. Do not label people because of their circumstances. Try to look for the potential in people and encourage them to find that potential. We all have the right to become upstanding Christians. We all have the right to be called sons of God because Christ died for us all! Reach out, reach up, reach down, but keep trusting God.

Points to Ponder:
Who do you talk to about God?

Is that really where God has sent you?