November 5: Proverbs 17 2-5
Key Verse: Proverbs 17 2
A wise servant will rule over a son who causes shame, And will share an inheritance among the brothers.
Devotion:
We may like to think we live in a society where there are no servants and masters any more, but we would be fooling ourselves if we did. Not only is this still around in third world countries, but here in the west too. The Bible also describes us as being “servants of God”. This is in no way a derogatory term, but rather a term used to describe the way in which we should respect and work for God.
When I was young we had servants in Africa, but we tried to live with them in a respectful manner where they would not feel any humility and we wanted them to feel welcome at all times. One thing I learned as a child, if we had done something wrong, Mum and Dad would believe the servants before they believed the lies that we would be spewing out to cover our rear ends!
We must always remember that no matter how low the world looks down on us as servants of God, we will still be getting that share of His inheritance when He takes us to heaven with Him! We may go through rough times, but the Lord is asking us simply to do something special in our lives for someone else. When we go out and tell lies or “stretch the truth”, we are breaking our promises with God.
When we bring shame on any person, whether they be our servants or whether they be down and outs, we are bringing that shame on God because He is the one that has made us all! Be very aware of what you do to others because God is there watching us all the time and He will always tell the truth about what we do.
Points to Ponder:
Have you heard anything on the news lately where someone did something good?
Are you showing your Christian love like Christ asked us to?
November 4: Isaiah 1 16-20
Key Verse: Isaiah 1 18
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
Devotion:
Have you ever been caught in the act of doing something really bad – I know each of you will have a different definition of what is bad – but how did it make you feel? I can remember being caught doing something bad and the whole world seemed to disappear except for the person that caught me! I felt like I was totally defenceless and there was nowhere to hide from this person. Then the realisation of exactly what I was doing started to hit me and the feeling of guilt was tremendous. That feeling of guilt had initially been hidden by an excitement for doing wrong.
It was only after I had faced my captor that I realised how I had affected others in my life, how I had let down so many people... And a few years later I realised how much I had let God down too. I had allowed myself to be totally tempted by the evil one, had given in to his will and finally delivered from it when I was caught.
Once we do realise just what we are doing wrong we do face the truth square on and have to turn away from the evil we have done. If we are truly repentant, we will turn away from that and never look back. These words remind us God is willing to forgive us no matter what we have done wrong!
Nobody else in this world is worthy enough to accuse you of anything, but Christ stands there as our judge and allows us to see what we are doing wrong by getting others involved in uncovering what we do. Christ sees it happening to us as it does. We just take a while before we realise that we are doing something wrong. That is then the time to beg for His forgiveness and then make it right with others too.
Points to Ponder:
Do you believe in capital punishment?
We are all facing it!
November 3: John 7 45-52
Key Verse: John 7 52
They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”
Devotion:
Despite the officers being given the command to apprehend Jesus, they were so inspired by His teachings they did not lift a finger against Him. Being there with Christ and listening to the truth was enough to persuade them they should not. But, just like any other, when they were confronted by the chief priests (or the current law) they caved in...
The chief priests continued to uphold what they believed to be the law. They based their whole argument upon the scriptures such as Isaiah 11 1 where it was recorded that Jesus would come from the house of David (stem of Jesse, David's father). They knew that David was from Bethlehem and that Jesus was living in Galilee. Whether they actually knew that Jesus was born in Bethlehem is not mentioned – but they may well have had access to the census data at the time which would have proven that Jesus was in fact born in Bethlehem. And if they studied their own history they would know other prophets did in fact come from Galilee, such as Jonah.
Their drive to stay in power seemed to blind them from the truth in front of them. Their drive to uphold what they had turned the law into was more than the truth which now confronted them. Jesus knew what was going on but continued to simply tell the truth. Most people that heard the truth were willing to accept it, but when the chief priests confronted them stating the law, they thought they had no choice but to back off.
Nicodemus was the one that came to Jesus at night time to find out the truth for himself. When he met with Jesus he was able to see and hear the truth, yet he also knew if he confronted everyone else, they would have him punished for disobeying the law. He was willing to try and reason with the other chief priests, but none of them would have it.
Points to Ponder:
How many things do you discount just because people say so?
Do you put your friends words above God’s Word?
November 2: John 7 40-44
Key Verse: John 7 43
So there was a division among the people because of Him.
Devotion:
If you look back in history you will always find evidence of wars and disputes which come down to basic religious beliefs. The more fanatical people are, the more they want to defend their religion. The rules and regulations which God passed on to the Israelites could be taken as being fanatical if carried out of context. How sad it is to know that there are many people that are taken in by things others say rather than by things that Christ says.
The men that were in the temple at the time Jesus was there were in a bit of a state. Some of them knew this was Christ who stood before them, some thought He was only a prophet, and yet others wanted to surmise there was something wicked about Him. Yet all this time Jesus did not bash them round the head to try and beat sense into them! His simple message was that He was there to proclaim God because God had sent Him.
His warning to them was stark – the only way they could get to heaven was through believing in Him. Yet they did not want to give in to anyone who would go against the teachings of the high council who had not announced this was Christ, so they did not want to believe... they were too caught up in what other people were saying they could not see the truth!
Our knowledge may be vast when compared to animals, but it is of no comparison to Christ. We cannot know what it is like to be able to know everything, to be able to hear people think... But imagine what Christ put himself through each time He got up to speak – listening to the thoughts of those around as they weighed up the odds as to whether this was Christ indeed, putting Him down in favour of others men's ideals. What is the difference between what these men were doing and gossip? Not much really... they were spreading words which had no backbone, words which had no foundation. Yet Christ would tell the truth and they would not hear it!
Points to Ponder:
How many people do you believe just because they tell you something?
Do you believe what the bible tells you?
November 1: Proverbs 11 12-13
Key Verse: Proverbs 11 13
A talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.
Devotion:
“did you know...”, “did you hear...”, “wow, I just found out...”, “I think they are...”, “they said...”, “I don't like them since I found out...”. The list is endless – the comments we make about others without thinking. They just tend to roll off the tongue without a second thought...
We have all heard the saying I used to say when I was young “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me”. I can remember saying that to people to try and get them to stop talking about me – sometimes it would work, but more often than not they would confront me with the words to see what I would do! If I had taken too much notice of some of those people in my life, I'm sure that they would have upset me!
But no matter how many things we find out about which people are saying involving us in some way, we still carry on and talk about other people as well – we get carried away with the moment and say things that we ought not to, or blurt out things we should not because someone else has upset us. We even go as far as “bending the truth” to make someone else look bad after they have done something against us... Human nature... who would have it!
Have you been on the receiving end of gossip lately? How does it make you feel to be the centre of abuse? You may think that is too harsh a word, but what is happening? When we are at the centre of things, others are doing exactly what we have done... Bending the truth, leaking secrets, even blatant lies! People around us are breaking down what trust we may have built up with others in seconds – trust that may have taken years to build up. One sure way to upset someone who moves in next to you is to spread a bit of gossip about what happened to them when they moved in! Not only do you immediately build up grief between you, but you may well have put them back a few years!
Points to Ponder:
How many words does it take to destroy a person?
Jesus gave it all without gossip because He loves you?