December 8: John 13 36-38

Key Verse: John 13 38
Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!

Devotion:
How many times have you heard a friend say they would do something for you and never carried it out? Worse still, how many times have you promised a friend you would do something and never done it?

In today's society, people seem to promise things all the time and then forget about doing them. No, I am not talking about politicians... they seem to be in a world of their own, promising things one minute and then saying something totally different to the next person... I am talking about people who you would normally think as being upright and honest people.

You can go through the Bible from cover to cover and see how every single thing Christ said was true, had already happened, was happening or would happen. You can read up about things you never knew about and find out they have happened. You can read about the things which are going to happen and know that they will happen... Because God cannot lie. He always does what He says He will do.

We, on the other hand, seem to be a bit more 'flexible' with the truth. We may tell someone that we are going to do something and find out we simply cannot carry that out. You may think it is ok to go back and say we cannot do it (well, that is better than pretending you did it, or just ignoring it) but what we should be doing is making sure we only say things we can live up to.

Peter was sure He would never deny the Lord, but when push came to shove and he was faced with mortal danger – his knees buckled and he gave in... We don't always have to be faced with mortal danger for our knees to buckle – often it is just that we do not want to 'look bad'! When we say something, we should do it!

Points to Ponder:
How many promises do you ignore each week?

How many promises do you make to God and don't follow up on?