February 8: Jeremiah 18 1-6
Key Verse: Jeremiah 18 4
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
Devotion:
What was the last craft you tried your hand at? Did it turn out exactly as you wanted it the first time? Did you have to try several times to get it right? If you have ever tried your hand at pottery, then you will probably know of all the pitfalls which await you... like your perfect looking pot cracking in the kiln because of the fault you did not see inside it! Imagine how you would feel it your pot went in perfect but still came out a mess. Not because of some hidden fault, but because it just decided to change itself when it was baked!
Each one of us is a work of art which been worked over many times and will continue to be worked over until God thinks we are right to be placed in the kiln. Just like a potter will not be satisfied with placing something in the oven which he knows is not going to survive, God will not place us in situations where He knows we will not survive! He can see right through us. He can see our faults. He can see what will crack. He can see what will fall apart. He knows just how we should be to make the best possible impression when we come out of the oven.
God is not doing this just for fun. He is doing this for a purpose. What good is there in making something if it is not going to be used? I can remember making an ashtray in craft when I was very young and then not wanting it to be used! That is not what God has in mind for us – each one of us is being moulded into something He can use when we have been made ready. When we have been hardened and are ready for use, He will take us and place us in the right situations. If we just sit there and do nothing, then we are not doing what we were designed for. But if we take up the job in hand He wants us to, then He will ensure we continue to do it fruitfully.
Listening to His instructions may be a bit difficult when we don't want to hear them – but God has a way of allowing us to see His instructions as well. So don't just sit and wait for His instructions, look, wait and watch – He will be telling and showing you before long.
Points to Ponder:
How good are you at listening to instructions?
Have you allowed God to mould you?
February 7: Proverbs 12 15-16
Key Verse: Proverbs 12 15
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise.
Devotion:
How many times have you said “he thinks he's so clever...” or laughed at someone for doing something totally wrong whilst they are sure they are getting it all right? Or worse still, how many times have you been on the receiving end of that line? We have this inbuilt assumption we are good at what we do. We think that everything that comes our way can in some way be overcome. We even think simple things like it is easy to throw a piece of paper across our room and get it in the bin!
But the worst case is that we think we always come up with the right answers because we are the best placed person to come up with the ideas! No matter how much people warn us about the things that are going to go wrong, we will continue to do what we are doing because we “can see better than them”! It is only after we are smarting from the fall we think back and realise it would have been better to listen to advice from those who know!
If we start to get angry because we “know we know better than others” then everyone around us will be able to see just how stupid we are being. Our wrath allows others to see right through the stupid things we are doing. It even shines a spotlight on us as if we are doing a grand performance! But we cannot see this because we are the ones doing the performance. How wise it would have been to take the advice in the beginning and to have avoided the whole scenario.
The only one who is of sound mind in our lives is God. It is not only our duty to listen to Him, but it is for our own good we should. If He is warning us there is something wrong in our lives, then we must stop and listen... He is doing it for a reason! It is far better to admit to a problem and have a little shame than to try and hide the problem until your whole world collapses around us! God has given us all a discerning mind so we can listen and learn. He has not given us a discerning mind so we can find our own best way – He knows we will be tempted – that is why He waits patiently for us to ask for help.
Points to Ponder:
How clever do you think you are?
What was the last atom you made? He made them all!
February 6: Proverbs 11 1-3
Key Verse: Proverbs 11 2
When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.
Devotion:
God has tried to convince mankind that honesty is the best way forward and yet mankind continues to make his own plans and take his own course of action instead of following God’s instructions. A friend should always try to convince you of the correct and righteous actions to take in your life; if you are planning to misguide others or be dishonest to them you are not being the friend you should be.
You may now be thinking along the lines of “I have done so much wrong in my life; God cannot possibly use me or even want me!” Yes, it is true God wants us to be the perfect creatures He created, but He knows we are not. He is not turning His back on us and rejecting us. He is doing all sorts of things to try and convince us to turn back to Him and to make a life with Him at the centre. It is Christ who has made it possible for God to see us as perfect because He gave His life in our stead.
Our folly is we tend to get a bit big headed when things go right or when people look up to us. We tend to take things much too far and promote ourselves or the works we do rather than promoting God. We lose focus on God and keep our eyes on what we can do instead. That is where we fall short, that I where we find shame instead of fortune or friendship. But when we are willing to follow God’s will in our lives, He is willing to lead us to better things.
Keeping it together with righteous people and following God’s instruction is hard in this perverse world we live in. So many things go wrong and we tend to blame God for them or to blame God for allowing them to happen. This is not God’s work but the corruption of mankind and his own desire which is pulling things down around us. God is still there as a small voice trying to convince us to turn away from the desire and corruption and back to Him and righteousness. We have the choice!
Points to Ponder:
What things do you like in your life?
Is Christ involved with those things?
February 5: Proverbs 18 1-3
Key Verse: Proverbs 18 1
A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment.
Devotion:
The desire of a person can be what separates them from success of failure depending on how they use it. Desiring for one’s own self tends to leave the world around us closed; or rather holding fast to our own desire will close the world off from us as we focus on the things of our desire rather than what is actually required or even righteous. Good judgement then tends to be something others do or something written down and ignored by us.
Judgement can also be what drives us forward toward success, but if we allow it to run forward we then begin to give in to that desire rather than following what is righteous. That is when our world starts to fall apart without us realising what is happening. Wisdom no longer gets the time and thought it should and we seek success and favour rather than what God is trying to get us to do.
God calls this way of life foolish. The world has many other words for it as it promotes it as being the path to success. God wants us to understand what is going on and to be able to work through it so we can once again focus on His will in our lives. This understanding I am talking about here is not the understanding we get from reading many text books and finding out all about how we can succeed but about going back to understanding God in our lives; it is about following your heart as we seek to expand our friendship with Christ.
When we get carried away with desire in our own lives Satan will take that and change it into contempt for everything else in our lives, turning us away from God and facing straight into his domain – the world. Once we have turned toward the world and worldly causes we then feed the contempt for everything of God, losing focus on Him in our lives. It is hard to let go and go back to our friendship with God, but absolutely necessary!
Points to Ponder:
Do you regard yourself as successful?
How is your friendship with Christ?
February 4: 2 Corinthians 6 14-18
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 6 14
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
Devotion:
Have you ever taken a step back in your life to look at yourself? I think it would be a real eye opener if we were able to stand next to ourselves for a whole day, to be able to watch the things we get up to without thinking! One of the weaknesses we have as humans is we often give in to the will of the group. More often than not we will not stand up for what is right, but will go with what the majority has to say at the time. I know, because I have been there many a time!
We seem to think we are invincible or something! We join a group of people thinking that we are going to show them all how to do things the right way, and before you can blink, you have fallen in line with the rest of them. And it is just so easy to do. We do it without thinking. We do it all the time. What God wants us to do is to stand up for what is right. Stand up in His name and be counted!
Satan's temptations are going to be more than we can bear unless we are around other Christians and able to stand up to those temptations as a group. Fighting the good fight in numbers will get you somewhere. Fighting the good fight by yourself may look heroic, but it is not wise! I look back on my life and I am staggered at how easy it was to wander away from Christ. I look back and see how many people I got mixed up with that were not Christians. I look back and marvel at how the Lord was able to keep me from sinking... I don't know how He did it, but by doing so He has shown me He has much in store for me yet!
I look back at the friends I had at the time and see just how much trouble I got into by being with them, especially during my school days. What we need to do is to look forward to what God has in store for us, going forward hand in hand with other Christians. It may not be an easy ride but by sticking together we can make it more bearable.
Points to Ponder:
How many of your friends are Christians?
How many of your friends know you are a Christian?