Friday Reading: Ephesians 4 7
Key Verse: Ephesians 4 7
7 But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
7 But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Devotion:
Each one of us will probably have to face a discouraging time in our lives. Those are the times when we feel most vulnerable, most lost and most alone. Those are the times when we seem to be furthest away from Christ. Those are the time when we have been lax in our relationship with Him. Just like in a relationship with anyone in your life, if you are not willing to put in 100%, then don't expect to come out with 100% from them. If you ignore your partner, they may well ignore you; but they will be willing to do what they can to try and spark some interest back into the relationship first. If you ignore Christ, then you are going to feel split up from Him. He will continue to do what He can to encourage you to come back to a right relationship with Him. When He is done with the encouraging, He may well have to allow a few unpleasant things back into your life to wake you up!
Each one of us will probably have to face a discouraging time in our lives. Those are the times when we feel most vulnerable, most lost and most alone. Those are the times when we seem to be furthest away from Christ. Those are the time when we have been lax in our relationship with Him. Just like in a relationship with anyone in your life, if you are not willing to put in 100%, then don't expect to come out with 100% from them. If you ignore your partner, they may well ignore you; but they will be willing to do what they can to try and spark some interest back into the relationship first. If you ignore Christ, then you are going to feel split up from Him. He will continue to do what He can to encourage you to come back to a right relationship with Him. When He is done with the encouraging, He may well have to allow a few unpleasant things back into your life to wake you up!
But the thing that is special, is that His love for us will never end. If we try hard enough, we will be able to break up almost any relationship here on earth – not that we would normally want to! Humans have limits beyond which we give up... God is without limits as He continues to do what He can to make sure that each of us has the right to a full and proper relationship with Him. He wants us to be in relationships on earth too, but full and proper relationships which take time and effort to maintain.
God's grace is sufficient to cover all of our indiscretions, no matter how bad they are. But He does expect us to be able to depend on Him for strength to avoid those indiscretions after we have come to know Him. Our relationship with Him should give us the strength to continue growing in that relationship so that others are going to be encouraged by what we do. Seeing someone totally in love is special. Seeing someone in a full relationship with Christ is special and encouraging too.
Points to Ponder:
Do you get discouraged?
How often do you depend on God's grace?
Do you get discouraged?
How often do you depend on God's grace?