March 25: John 13 2-5
Key Verse: John 13 5
After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
Devotion:
Jesus knew His position and knew His authority and yet He still chose to get down on His knees as a servant in front of each of the disciples and wash their feet. He chose this as a method of demonstrating to them that being in a position of authority did not mean turning ones back on the brotherly love we must have for each other. We always need to look out for each other no matter what position we find ourselves in.
God sees how we get caught up in our own pompousness and how we ignore the things we used to think of. God sees how the world and all its trimmings distract us from our real purpose with Him. Just as we would like to be able to trust others to do the right thing for us all the time, He is trusting us with direction in our lives. He gives us direction and wants us to follow it. He gets on His knees and demonstrates that direction hoping we will pick the right path.
God is not forcing us to go ahead and do anything. He may allow things into our lives to show us we have chosen wrong or that we need to change our ways, but he does not force us against our will. The world can be a pretty messed up place and we may see this world as some sort of punishment from God because we have done wrong; but think about what he has done.
We went wrong in the beginning and God put us in the world to fend for ourselves so we would realise we need Him. We then corrupt and break things and then blame Him because we have broken it all. So Christ got down on His knees and demonstrated to us that we need to help each other to clean things up a little by showing each other we will always care no matter what position we get in life!
Points to Ponder:
Are you always willing to help?
Do you expect God to always help?
March 24: John 12 42-43
Key Verse: John 12 43
for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Devotion:
We may stand up and say that we would never enjoy praise more than giving praise to God… until it happens to us. Praise can be a very powerful tool as well as a very powerful temptation which many will fall into. Some of the church rulers and leaders were beginning to believe that Jesus was the Messiah but they would not dare say it out loud because that would mean they lost every bit of praise in the temple. But when directed to God, praise can still be good.
Praise does make us feel good inside because it gives us a sense of worth, but when we try to absorb that praise things start to go wrong. We cannot keep that praise forever, it fades and dies. But if we are willing to take that praise and willingly forward it on to Christ so that everyone sees we are doing that, they too will direct their praise to God and not to us. It is a very fine line and one that has to come from the heart otherwise it is meaningless!
All of this was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah and it is quoted in the previous verses in this chapter along with the fact that some will still not believe because they have hardened their hearts instead of leaving them open to Christ. Being full of pride of being selfish will stop us accepting the truth about Christ just as these church leaders were not accepting the truth. It is very easy to get distracted and not see Christ.
This means we have to do something about this and not just go along with what others are doing. We have to make a stance based on what Christ is trying to teach us through His example and His Word. Trusting God and His Word can be hard especially in our modern world where we have so many distractions through others religions, scientists, biologists and various others beliefs. But trusting and believing God will always be profitable to our souls and will always lead to the truth.
Points to Ponder:
What makes you doubt?
Will you trust Jesus?
March 23: John 12 20-26
Key Verse: John 12 24
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain
Devotion:
Jesus knew when the time was right for Him to start the journey back into Jerusalem so that He may fulfil the prophecies told in the Scriptures. He knew that he had to obey God through everything even though He was facing this next week as a human being and not as all powerful God Almighty; even though He is. It was that step of servitude that made all the difference for us.
Just as He said that the seed must die in order for it to flourish and bear fruit, so too did He know that he would have to lay down His own life so that the Salvation promised would be the fruit that came up. When we want to be able to achieve something we have to give something first, be it time, effort, money, prayers or whatever; just wishing something would happen will not make it happen. Being willing to give it all to make sure that it will happen is the step that Jesus demonstrated to us here.
When the rich man came to Jesus to ask how he would be able to be saved Jesus replied to say that he would have to give everything up first of all. It may not be that we actually have to give everything up, but being willing to lay it all down at God’s feet is what will count. God will reward the willing person in the appropriate way which may not be in the way that we hope so don’t be discouraged if you don’t get your own way!
God is the one who knows what is best and knows the right order that life should unfold in. We need to be willing to live out that life in the order He has ordained and not the order we have built up in our heads. I love to think that I have it all sorted in my head, but each time I have seen God come and change things to suit His ways and His will. I do struggle to obey Him at times but I know that obeying Him is what counts; so I try my best.
Points to Ponder:
Are you willing to obey authority?
Do you obey God?
March 22: Hebrews 5 5-11
Key Verse: Hebrews 5 11
of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
Devotion:
When we first read this passage we are encouraged by the words which show us quite plainly that God had already planned for someone to come and be our Saviour. He had planned to show us obedience and love through what He was going to display toward us. No matter how we say those words, be it in high church or in some back street prayers on the street, they should always bring fear into our hearts knowing that God has kept His promises to us from the very beginning… and yet we grow dull in hearing…
Some may leave out the last half of the last sentence so that it remains an encouraging passage, but we would not do Christ justice if we did continue to leave it out. We need to be vigilant in our hearing of the Gospel just as we should be vigilant in giving it out to others. Taking in God’s Word and being fed is just as important to us as giving it out to others to introduce it to them. God wants us to grow up stronger so we can face more for Him.
What good is having all the food on the planet if we are not going to eat it? What good is having water if we are not going to use it? There are many people on earth who are short of either food or water or even both; they treasure what they get and they make sure it lasts and nourishes them in the best way possible. This is what we should be like with God’s Word.
Get to church. Get to prayers. Get to meetings. Go to places where you know the Bible will be shared and the truth told. That is where we need to be fed and to feed others. Sharing our food is just as important as receiving it. Remember the feeding of the 5000? Christ took food enough for a single family and shared it with thousands because He was willing to share it and not just keep it to feed Himself. If we do the same with God’s Word He will honour what we do and make sure that every person gets what they need!
Points to Ponder:
Are you feeding from your Bible?
Are you sharing your Bible?
March 21: 1 John 2 12-14
Key Verse: 1 John 2 13
I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father.
Devotion:
Where do you think you are in your spiritual state with God? This is something I think about now and again but something I try not to dwell on because it can get you down instead of lifting you up. Just as we look back on the things we have done wrong in our lives and can get depressed, we can look back on the things we have not done for God and get depressed about them too. That is not what God wants of us!
We are told that the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, self-control and a couple of others I can’t think of at the moment. None of these are sad and depressing. God wants the best for us and He tries to allow us to experience the best in our lives; but if we are going to dwell on the things that go wrong instead of the positive side because of all He has already done, then we will miss out on the fruits of the spirit.
God has given us His Word so we can find out the positive side of us being in a relationship with Him. The words in our Bibles have been written down for all generations to be able to see how special God is and how much He wants us to be able to enjoy life with Him. He has given us all the encouragement we should need in the scriptures and promises of so much in the Gospel.
The one thing that we need to remember is that God is the one who has made this relationship possible. Christ came to earth as a human being so that He could personally take on our sin debt; that means He wanted to come and take the blame for all the things we have done wrong so we would not have to feel bad about them. What we should aim for is to turn our lives round so we do not revisit any of those things we did wrong. Live a new life with Christ.
Points to Ponder:
Do you dwell on your sins?
Will you live with Christ?