August 16: Proverbs 14 33-35
Key Verse: Proverbs 14 34
Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people.
Devotion:
How many people do you know who are always saying how good they are or how they can do anything? That is one sure fire way of getting someone else annoyed with you – tell them about how good you think you are at something or how you are much better than them! Being able to help people without shoving your knowledge (or the fact you know something they don't) down their throats is a great asset to have. It is not only going to help you feel better, but it will help the other person feel better as well. Being overly open about how good you are is going to do nothing more than discourage others!
Boasting about your own qualities is not the only way you can make others dislike you! Working at being a better person will only go towards allowing others to see you care and how you want to make a difference. Having a whole nation which is working towards the same goal would probably be the ideal place to go and live, so long as you joined in and started to work in the same manner. Having a whole nation of people who rub others up the wrong way would probably be the worst place to go and live!
Having a few people doing the right thing in a nation of wrong-doers does not seem to make a big difference (apart from the people who come into direct contact with those people). But having a few people doing the wrong thing will soon give a nation a bad name. We don't have to look too far in society to see there are nations now that have been labelled alongside the terrorist organisations as dangerous people. It only takes a little bit of sin to grow into a major problem!
If we are the ones who are going to step forward and be counted as the people who are trying to make a difference, then we can expect to see others look upon us in a different way. If we are willing to take God's name out in front of us, then we can expect to make a difference. If we are bold enough to make sure God comes first in our lives, then He will make sure we can make a big difference where it counts!
Points to Ponder:
What do you think your friends think about you?
What do you think God thinks about you?
August 15: Proverbs 14 32
Key Verse: Proverbs 14 32
The wicked is banished in his wickedness, But the righteous has a refuge in his death.
Devotion:
Have you ever had the good chance to be chauffeur driven in a limousine anywhere? You have no real control over where you are going or what is happening, you are just there for the ride. If everything goes to plan, then you have a great, comfortable ride and get to your destination in style. But if things go wrong, you have absolutely no control over what happens. If you want to be sure of getting where you think you should be going, then hiring a dependable chauffeur and limousine with a track record is an absolute must!
If we continue our lives in sin, then we are in the position of hiring a chauffeur who does not care about you, who is going to get you to do things you do not want to, is going to take you places where you do not want to be – basically we have hired someone who is going to do whatever they like and just keep you strung along for the ride, whether you like it or not! When we are living in sin, our lives very quickly show exactly what is going on and many times we do not have control over what others will see – because we are simply being dragged around without our consent! We do not have any hope of getting to our destination!
If we make sure our lives are controlled by someone who loves us and someone who wants us to be in the right place at the right time all the time, then our ride with our limousine is going to be an absolute pleasure. We will be driven to the right places at the right times and we can depend on our chauffeur to do so time and time again. Allowing God to be our chauffeur will lead us to the promises that He has given to us. Making sure we have Christ in control allows us to have absolute hope that we will get to our destination, no matter what – we will be with Him in heaven!
Being with Christ does not mean we are going to miss the traffic jams, or avoid toll charges on the roads – but it does mean we will be able to survive them knowing we will reach our final destination!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you “let go” in your life?
How many of those times have you ended up in trouble without God?
August 14: Proverbs 14 31
Key Verse: Proverbs 14 31
He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, But he who honours Him has mercy on the needy.
Devotion:
It is sometimes hard to tell the difference between a real beggar and a professional beggar on the streets of big cities nowadays – people have cottoned on to the idea poor people do get pitied and they have totally exploited people's feelings. I would not like to be in the same room when a professional beggar has to face Christ for judgement!
Christ wanted to make sure people understood how important it is to love one's neighbours as we do ourselves. But have you ever given consideration as to why? It should be as simple as “because God has said so” but so many people want justification as to why we need to do things now. If anyone is questioning this, ask them where they came from. Right through the Old and New Testaments we are reminded about the fact there is only one God and that we have all been created equal under Him. But have you stopped to think what this actually means?
Because He has created us all equal, He looks upon us all with the same love... What would you do if someone was annoying or bullying your best friend? Would you join in or would you try and defend your friend? Would you be upset by the bullying or would you turn around and say it was their fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Because we have been created equal, God wants to make sure we treat each other as equals. That includes people who we do not know, people who are poor and begging for food, people who have terrible ailments, people who are rich and famous and even our best friends. It means when we treat our best friends properly and with love, we are treating a person whom God loves properly. It means when we look upon a rich person with contempt, we look upon God's child with contempt. It means when we ignore a needy beggar, we turn our back on a person whom God loves.
Points to Ponder:
How well do people treat you?
How well do you treat God's friends?
August 13: Romans 2 1-4
Key Verse: Romans 2 3
And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?
Devotion:
Just as in the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, the letter to the Romans in the New Testament has many reminders to the Jews that they are all sinners. This does not exclude everyone else (because the previous chapter does that for us) but should remind us even though the Jewish nation is God's chosen people, they are still treated just as everyone else when it comes to sin. It's plain and simple – sin separates us from God, no matter who we are!
Our greatest problem is when we will turn around and judge people without thinking about it. We will listen to the news and formulate our own responses to what others should be doing. We will find things on the Internet and rile people for doing wrong according to what someone else is saying. The Jews were a particularly proud people who looked down upon others who were not Jews – this is reflected here in God's Word... the one and only place where we can trust what we read! But this should not be taken lightly by the rest of us, because their example then is followed by almost everyone still today!
How many times have you told others about doing things right, only to go out and do the wrong thing yourself? Maybe we think we are brave enough, or clever enough, or just stupid enough to get away with things we tell others not to do. Or just maybe it is because we are as guilty as them for doing thing wrong! If we are, then are we not “more guilty” for having known what we are doing is wrong, for telling others about it and then for going ahead and doing it!
We should not be comparing what we do wrong with what others do wrong... We should not be picking at what we think other are doing wrong... What we should be doing is remembering that Christ is the one who has gone to the cross for our sins – We should be looking at it from a very personal view: It is what we alone have done that He alone suffered on the cross for!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you pick up on what other do wrong?
How often do you admit that you do wrong to God?
August 12: Isaiah 1 1-5
Key Verse: Isaiah 1 5
Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints.
Devotion:
How many times have you watched a film or read a book where the hero is the bad guy? More and more stories are being told where the so called “good guy” is the one who is breaking the laws to get something done. Is there little wonder then that some people are getting confused about what is actually right and wrong...
Before I came to know Christ I used to look up to one or two people who were constantly getting into trouble. I used to look up to them because they would make a stand against society. But as the years have gone on and I have grown up in God's hands, I have begun to realise how breaking rules or laws does not help those around me. When we start to break one or two small laws, we begin to think it may be right to do those things. We carry on breaking them and before long our guard is down concerning more and more laws. The more that continues, the more we are unable to see what is wrong with the things which we are doing.
It is little wonder that Israel was described as it is in Isaiah: “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.” What was happening in these times was the kings and leaders were breaking God's laws, leading by bad example, confusing the people. Once the leaders were corrupt, it was hard for the people themselves to understand what was right and wrong and hard for them to go against the stream and do good.
The Word was sent out for the people to wake up! For as long as we continue to follow bad examples, we are in a state similar to being asleep – we cannot discern what is right and wrong, just like not knowing whether we are still dreaming or awake. We have to open our eyes to everything going on around us and open God's Word to make sure that we continue to follow a good example in our lives rather than something we think is cool!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you look upon as being a hero or heroine?
How high is God in that list?