March 15: Matthew 5 13-16
Key Verse: Matthew 5 14
You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
Devotion:
Have you ever bought, or had given to you a sample of different salts? I had a present given to me which was a set of different salts from around the world: blue salt, grey salt, white salt and even pink salt. Each of the salts got their colours from the surrounding elements where they are found from volcanoes to waters. But what was common amongst all of those salts? They tasted of salt! Sounds a bit silly, but what use would any of them have been if they did not taste of salt? We expect things to taste like what we know they should taste of!
If we have salt which has lost all of it’s flavour, then the only good thing left for it would be to throw it on the ground to be used to melt ice… if it even did that any more! The same can be said of lights – we expect lights to shed light in places where we need to see after dark. We know they can do that and we expect them to do so when we flick the switch on! But what use would a light be in a closed box into which we could not see?
God looks at each one of us as salty or able to shed light. The saltiness may not be what we can do by ourselves; we may need God to enable us to be the salt which people want to taste. The light is probably not going to be us because we live in a world where we are constantly surrounded by dark and where many people try to hide in that darkness – but we are that light in many cases. The light may only be a reflection of God’s light, but it will seem to come from us at times.
The people around us are going to expect us to remain tasty and remain as a light source. We may not feel like it at times, but after we have show people a bit of God through us, they will continue to expect to see God in us when they look at us. To be of real use to these people around us we need to be filled with the salt and light which comes from God in the beginning. We need to continue allowing others to take away some salt and share the light. Don’t hide away just because you think they may not like it – it may be the one thing they have been waiting for in their lives!
Points to Ponder:
Have you ever been described as salty or full of light?
Are you ready to share that salt and light?
March 14: Matthew 5 3-10
Key Verse: Matthew 5 5
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Devotion:
Over the years of reading these verses I think I have imagined myself to be in different places at different times in my life; but being meek is a little hard at times! We are not just called to be believers but to also reflect the different aspects of our awesome Saviour – and these verses do describe most aspects of Christ which we can hope to attain in our lives. We cannot be pure and holy as He is, but we can hope to be in a position where we can receive His blessings more often!
If we are willing to change our lives a bit each day and listen to what God would like in our lives, we will not just see ourselves drawing closer to Him but also see the blessings He sends our way. It may not seem like it at times when we fall into the category of the ‘persecuted’ people, but through everything in our lives we can always see the blessings. Yesterday in our staff meeting we had to write down a few reasons to be cheerful – and as the suggestions went round the room, it was clear we all had different things to be cheerful for! What an awesome God we serve!
When we fall short of the perfect life we probably wish we could have, God is standing by ready to give us the blessings we deserve. If we are going to do nothing but complain about our circumstances, then our blessings are going to fall very short of the ones we want in our lives. But when we lower our focus and accept our circumstances, we can then see more of the blessings we do receive and be more cheerful we do have something!
God does not want us to be inward focused but to be outward looking. If we are too inward focused, we will not see the world God has given for us and certainly not notice the blessings which come our way. It is not always about looking for the blessing you can get out of life or from God but also the blessing you can be to others around you. When we someone who is in need, we should be trying to fulfil their need in some way – this is what Jesus would do!
Points to Ponder:
Do you look out for your own blessings?
Do you help to bless others around you?
March 13: Micah 6 6-8
Key Verse: Micah 6 8
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Devotion:
I don’t know if I would have been able to cope with the sacrifices and ways people were called to live by thousands of years ago – but God wanted people to stop and think about what they were doing and what the implications of their actions could be. If we were faced with death because of the small things we do wrong, then we may well stop doing those little things wrong and fall in line with the law!
But was it the sacrifices and burnt offerings God wanted – I fear not. I believe He was trying to make a point for us to see what we are doing wrong and the only way He could do that was to be quite extreme with His dealings with mankind! We face the same sort of things in our lives – when we fall out of line and start getting carried away with ourselves, the people around us may well take a drastic step to try and make us realise what we are doing wrong. Sometimes it takes that big step for us to wake up!
I wonder what it would have smelt like when a king like David was making a very large sacrifice of hundreds of animals to dedicate things to God. When I was in high school I was able to visit a slaughter house where animals were being killed for food and the smell of that took a few days to wear off – I kept thinking I smelt the blood and the burning of various things… When the kings of old performed large sacrifices, they would have been in the open and the smell would have permeated everything!
This is not what God requires. He does not require us to do all the sacrificing and carry on trying to show we are sorry through horrible acts like that. He wants to see the change in our hearts where we want to be good and we want to act justly, the love mercy (both to us and to others) and to walk humbly with Him. That means just getting on and doing the stuff He wants you to do and not shouting and boasting about it – a fine line we often step over in our lives nowadays.
Points to Ponder:
Do you act justly?
Will you live with mercy?
March 12: Luke 8 11-15
Key Verse: Luke 8 13
Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
Devotion:
Do you know someone who used to come to church but has either been struggling with things or just seems to have lost interest? I think we can all think of someone who falls into one of those categories – and, if you are like me, you long for them to be released from the thing which is trapping them so they can get back to a loving relationship with Christ!
That is where we come in… How consistent are you with your Christian life? I’m not talking about the religious content, the fact you always go to church or the way people know you as the local God person! I’m talking about your own relationship with Christ! How much do you live your relationship with Christ rather than just talking about it? It may seem like hard work to keep being a Christian in a community which does not follow God or in a friendship where others just don’t want to know – but we do need to keep going and keep that relationship alive and in good health.
In this instance we should look at our relationship as being the job of the farmer. No matter what the weather and the forecast, we need to do our best to keep our crops going, not just for ourselves, but all the people around us too. We need to keep sowing our seeds over all the land around us… yes, some of it may well fall on the path and get trodden on and not germinate at all, but what about the others? For those which fall amongst the rocks, the seeds may well germinate and grow for a season and then die off. If we give up sowing our seeds, those little gems will stop being given a tiny chance as well.
It may well be one of those seeds which is able to survive a short season now which will then be remembered and germinate into a full plant which will in itself bare much fruit. We are not given the task of deciding who or who should not be given the gospel – our task is to give the gospel out and allow God to work in their hearts. Stop trying to make sense of the world and the people around you and give them all the same chance at getting to know Christ!
Points to Ponder:
Do you pick and choose who you talk to about God?
Will you step forward and sow your seeds liberally?
March 11: John 3 19-21
Key Verse: John 3 21
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Devotion:
Back to these verses with a slightly different look on things based on a question I am asking: “What makes you do the things you do?”
I know that is a deep question, but I’m looking for the obvious answer and not some long philosophical discussion about how we do things based on the society we are in and our minds at the time we are faced with decisions! We do the things we do because, deep down, we believe in our hearts we can do those things – whether we are doing them for the right or wrong reason is then the next question to face…
If we do not have that belief in our hearts we can do the things we are about to embark on, we will be faced with indecision and delays all along the way because we have those doubts which make us falter in our decision making process. This is normal human behaviour – so lets extend this to your faith beliefs… If we do not have faith in the things we believe, then we are going to falter all through our spiritual lives. If we do not trust in that faith, we are faced with indecision every day which will weaken our resolve every day!
I know so many people who do struggle with their faith because they have a little doubt over some of the things they have heard , been taught or believe themselves. If we are not willing to follow up on those doubts and read the bible for ourselves to seek out the truth, then we are either jumping on the bandwagon of someone else's beliefs, or we are putting aside a decision which could well consolidate our faith!
Jesus wants us to have this firm relationship with Him – a relationship which is based on faith, the belief He came forward willingly to show His love for us through an extraordinary chain of events. He wants us to read our bibles and learn what has happened, what is happening and what will happen. He wants us to feel secure in our faith; a faith based on truths which have happened, but also a belief on what will happen because God has promised us it will!
Points to Ponder:
What makes you do what you do?
Have you backed up your faith in God’s Word?