January 18: Romans 13 1-7
Key Verse: Romans 13 6
For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing.
Devotion:
One thing we often forget is that God has allowed all things to happen in this world; not meaning He has done all those things but He has allowed them to happen. Because He has allowed things to happen, we should submit to what He has allowed – in other words, we have to submit to the rulers and governments. If we are not going to, then we are resisting against the will of God!
We do not have to be terrified by the police, government or tax office unless we are doing something wrong against them. We have nothing to fear from those who have been allowed into power by God so long as they themselves are working justly. Do you notice how many people are kept from doing evil because of the powers that are in control? What would happen if there were no police? How many people would simply run riot? We have the benefit of those who are in power so we should work towards making sure they stay in power!
We need to show we are Christians by acting in accordance with God's wishes. We must not use trickery, fraud, smuggling or illegal dealings to get our way for that is all working against what God has ordained to be required in our society. By working against God's ordained, we are robbing our very neighbours who continue to do the right thing because they end up doing more to sustain the government because we are not keeping up our end of the bargain!
We need to be able to step forward and show people that we are the Christians who do listen to God's wishes by working toward keeping peace and justice in our neighbourhood. We need to show them we do listen to everything God has ordained. We need to set an example for others to be able to follow. Our actions against powers may well be stopping others from knowing Christ! There are always going to be exceptions... For those we have to look to someone who does have the power to make a difference. God can make that difference, even if He has to use another worldly power to carry out His wishes.
Points to Ponder:
Would you describe yourself as rebellious?
Who is having to pay for your rebellion?
January 17: Matthew 22 15-22
Key Verse: Matthew 22 21
They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Devotion:
I am often asked about whether it is right to do certain things when we are Christians and most of the time I am able to point out we live in a world that is run by various powers including kings, queens, governments, politicians and the like. Because we live in such a world, we are subject to the laws and rules of this world. This does mean we should follow the rules and regulations of this world without question. This does not mean we have the power to go out and do things against the governments just because we are Christians. What is does mean is that we have to live as Christians in a world run by non-Christians.
The first commandment is “(Exodus 20 3) Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” This means that God wants to be first in our lives. It does not mean we should ignore the rulers in our countries. It means we must make sure we don't treat them or anything else in our lives like gods. Yes, they are important people and they are doing a difficult job, but they are people. As Christians, we need to show them that we are true and faithful to God and we will always strive to keep God first. There is no need for them to work against God; they are the ones who should be looking to God first in their lives too...
We will always meet people who will want to trip us up by trying to show parts of the bible as being false or contradictory; but the only way they can seemingly succeed is to take phrases or verses out of context... anyone can do that with almost anything anyone says! There will always be questions about whether we should be doing what the government says or whether we should be doing what Christ wants. Our rule should be that if you cannot take Christ first in your endeavours, then you must be doing something wrong! A long as we are confident Christ could walk next to us in everything we do, then we are doing ok... if not, then maybe we need to re-focus on what we are doing!
Points to Ponder:
Do you use your religion to get out of doing things?
Are you confident that God would approve with what you are doing?
January 16: Proverbs 18 3-5
Key Verse: Proverbs 18 4
The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook.
Devotion:
A while ago in church our Pastor said something which scared me but made total sense “many people perceive Christians as being judgemental!” There is a fine line between being judgemental and keeping our lives clean. God would have us to go out into all the world to take the gospel, but He knows we are weak and He wants us to be protected from certain things in our lives. One of those things is people who can only be described as being wicked. I am talking about people who flout the law at every opportunity, jeer at anything serious or grave and have no set goals in their lives.
God does not say we should show them up and put them down! He simply wants us to be protected from them. He wants us to be able to get on with our own lives without being hampered by such wickedness. When we allow wickedness into our lives, we are also allowing contempt and with that comes deep shame followed by being told off by all sorts of people. We, by ourselves, are not able to withstand wickedness in our lives; we are drawn in by the temptations and turn off the warning bells screaming to us saying that things are wrong...
On the other hand, the words from a wise person’s mouth allow us to strengthen ourselves and avoid such inner conflict in our lives. It is amazing the beauty and splendour we can find in the shallow water near coral reefs, but in the deep waters of the oceans we find even more amazing things which we hardly get to hear about. Coral reefs can be destroyed when the water subsides. Deep waters will never see the air, nor be polluted by things above the water level. We need to be in safe deep waters.
We need to be more like Jesus and hate the sin and not the sinner! We know how easily we are tempted, so why should we condemn anyone else for being tempted by those sins? They need help the same as we do. But it does not mean that we need to let them tempt us in our lives.
Points to Ponder:
Do you follow those around you into things or ways you know are wrong?
God wants to strengthen us. We need to listen.
January 15: Hebrews 1 1-3
Key Verse: Hebrews 1 2
has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
Devotion:
There are times when I think I would have liked to have lived in the days when God spoke to people through the prophets, just so I would be able to hear directly from a prophet. Yet there are many more days when I rejoice at having all of God's Word written in a book so that I can know everything from the beginning to the end times. Nothing we need has been left out of God's Word because He has made sure that over the years man has been given the history of the past, the present and the future yet to come.
During the times of the prophets, God spoke to those who He had chosen through various means, some of which must have been very frightening to those involved. When Christ Himself was born of a virgin, He walked amongst man telling of the history, present and future. Those must have been wonderful times, yet hard to grasp for those who would not listen. Since then, God gave the rest of history to the apostles so we would have all we need to know that He is God!
It was no little thing that Christ did come to earth. He has all power in heaven and earth. He has all judgement committed to Him. He made all things in heaven and earth. He continues to uphold everything, both seen and unseen. It is by Him that all things consist. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Yet He Himself died for our sins on the cross, making Himself of no reputation, lowering Himself to the level of the common thieves being hung next to Him. He alone suffered incredible injury when He took on the sins of the world, past, present and future!
He alone made sure we have a complete record of time, from the beginnings of heaven and earth, to the times when the evil one shall rule and those beyond when we shall have eternal life in God’s comfort. How can we not believe such a person when we understand just how much He has accomplished for us...
Points to Ponder:
How much do we trust our friends who we know bend the truth?
How much more we should trust Christ who we know cannot lie!
January 14: Psalms 138 1-5
Key Verse: Psalms 138 5
Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, For great is the glory of the Lord.
Devotion:
King David was a man who knew he had faults, and he knew he had to somehow keep control of them. He knew the only way he could do that was with God's help. Throughout his life, he continually turned to God and praised Him for things He did. He continued to show all around him that God was number one in his life and that is where everyone should be keeping God! But still he had his faults…
The only way to praise God is wholeheartedly, there can be nothing half-hearted about praising God because He is our Saviour and our Creator. Without Him, we would not be here. Without Him, we are nothing. Without Him, we have no future. It is only through God we can have eternal life in heaven and we have to remember that every day.
It is no use just remembering God on Sundays because it is the day which we set aside for Him. We must keep Him continually in our thoughts and praise Him for everything He allows into our lives. We may not like some of the things which He allows into our lives, but we need to remember He knows what He is doing. He is the one who will give us the strength to face up to whatever we have in our way. He is the one who will share our burdens. He is the one who will help us to resist temptations. We need to remember all of this so we will trust Him in whatever situation we face. That is what faith is all about. Trusting in God even though we cannot see Him and His ways.
When we can step back and see exactly what God has accomplished in our lives because we have exercised our faith, we will know that our faith is not in vain! When we see just how much He can do in our lives, then we will be thankful. But to see what He can do, we need to exercise that faith.
Points to Ponder:
Do your friends always trust you in what you do?
God is faithful and just and 100% reliable!