February 13: Colossians 3 12-17
Key Verse: Colossians 3 15
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Devotion:
It takes all types of people to make up a community and so we should recognise that it takes all types of people to make up a church as well. For a community to stick together the people all have to be able to get along to the extent where they can live together and work together. For a church to stick together we need to aim to love one another without prejudice!
Is that such a hard thing to do – to love one another? In order to answer that you have to look at yourself and the way you handle various situations. But if you cannot identify how you will handle a situation you may not have faced yet then check to see if you have a servant heart… If you can genuinely say you have a servant heart then you are able to love others in a way that Christ has asked us to do. By putting aside your own wants and desires you can focus on the needs of others and live toward fulfilling their needs instead of your desires. This shows Christian love!
We are not called to belong to a specific religion. We are not called to belong to a particular group of people who meet in a specific place. We are called to be one body of Christians, believing in and following our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God and our Saviour. This is what Christ constructed and what He declared should be. Who are we then to define our own religions or beliefs or ways of worshipping God as being the only true way? Jesus Christ is the only true way because He is our Saviour.
He taught us to define this body of believers by starting with love and defining it with God’s Word, not breaking it apart with the law but bringing it together as one body under Christ. Our bibles are a rich source of wisdom and are there for teaching, admonishing and bringing us psalms and hymns and ways we can praise God and glorify Him above all names.
Points to Ponder:
Do you believe in one church?
Are you defining it by religion or love?
February 12: Ephesians 1 15-21
Key Verse: Ephesians 1 18
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints
Devotion:
I love the prayers that the apostle lists for the various churches and people in his letters; but some of them may take a bit of time to see how much he puts into them. I think most of the time my prayers are on a much simpler level with God as I talk with Him on a personal level; but there comes a time when you too have to stop and think about what you are praying for and about. Going through the various letters in our bibles helps us to have a deeper relationship with God as we see the relationship the apostle had with Him.
Prayers can be a very personal thing between you and God alone or they can be shared with congregations or even wider groups. Prayers can be as simple as a cry for help or peace or for something far greater as we strive to do more for God in our lives or communities. Never underestimate the power of prayer though because it is through prayer that God brings us so much. Right from the very earliest pages in our bibles we see how man has talked with God and how God has answered in a variety of ways – but every time we see God answering in one way or another.
The apostle knew that he could not be in all places at the same time to take care of all the people he had reached, taught, loved and cared for; so he constantly lifted them up to God in prayer. When we cannot be there for people or with them we can be sure that God is with them as we lift them up in prayer. Your love toward them can be expressed through your prayers and God will honour those prayers in a righteous and just manner.
We may think that God does not always answer prayers but sometimes we are not really asking Him but telling Him to do stuff or even blackmailing Him into something. Would you care to answer people’s requests if they were blackmailing you or throwing abuse toward you? I think not! Why then do we expect God to answer our abuse? Keep your prayers honest and open and full of love just as Christ has taught the apostles and us in turn…
Points to Ponder:
Do you pray often?
Are you fair in your prayers?
February 11: Psalms 118 21-24
Key Verse: Psalms 118 22
The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.
Devotion:
The beauty about Christ’s parables is they are all built on God’s Word. Yesterday the parable of the vinedressers quoted this passage. Jesus was not afraid of quoting the scriptures to make people stop and think about their own lives. The Scribes and Pharisees had learned and studied the scriptures and many could quote much of the Old Testament; but what good was it unless they were able to apply it properly into their lives?
Jesus wants us to know His Word and we have our bibles which relate much of what He has had people write down for our good. But just reading the bible and learning it word for word is not going to get us very far unless we can know what God wants us to know about those words. The Ethiopian eunuch had learned the words but could not find understanding or meaning in them until they were explained to Him.
Yes we can learn the words and we can quote them and we can make other people think we are close to God just because we can do these things; but without Christ’s love those words are empty. Yes we can believe in God and can obey all that is written down, but without the love Jesus showed us in those same words, they are hollow promises. Promises yes, but not giving us the same hope as when Christ is brought into them.
Jesus used the Old Testament to show us the basis of the love He shows us. He expanded our minds by expanding the scriptures. We need to embrace His Word and His love and make them a part of our lives so we will understand His great love for us in a fuller way. When we understand what Christ has actually done for us we will marvel at His love and we will be able to rejoice every day knowing His promises are full of hope and mercy and are presented new to us every day.
Points to Ponder:
Do you trust your bible?
Do you know God’s love through Christ?
February 10: Luke 20 9-18
Key Verse: Luke 20 17
Then He looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone’?
Devotion:
Do you find this parable a bit disturbing, thinking that people could not be that evil as to kill others just because they come to collect on the debt owed? Or do you wonder at how this could ever come to pass? That is the beauty of parables; they get you to stop and think about circumstance and about how we look at others in the world comparing that to how God views things.
When we look at the world we see it through our own eyes and through our own compassions; what God sees is very different. Christ came into this world to heal the sick in body and spirit. He did not come to condemn us all but to set us free from this condemnation. He has tried to send messengers who brought the law. He has tried to send messengers who brought warnings to set us back on the right path. He sent His Son to set us free from all the evil we bring into our own lives, and yet we still don’t quite get it…
God wants us to love Him and to obey Him. He is not going to force us to obey Him but is also telling us that if we do not obey Him we will have to put up with the consequences of our choices. It is the consequences of our own choices that bring down much of the bad things in our lives. But sometimes it is the consequences of the choices of others that bring bad things into our lives.
When we make bad choices we affect many other people in our lives and not just ourselves. God wants us to realise this so we can aim to please Him and others and not just work for our own desires. I have learned to give in to God’s will in my life because so many more people gain from those choices to obey God than just me. Show someone you love them by obeying God today.
Points to Ponder:
Do you like pleasing others?
Will you obey God?
February 9: John 1 10-13
Key Verse: John 1 11
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
Devotion:
Could you imagine what it would be like to create an event like a big party where loads of your so called friends are invited and nobody recognises you when you turn up? All those people who constantly say they are your friends doing things in front of you as if you are not there or telling people they know you when they cannot even introduce you to their friends! Sounds so terrible when you look at it from the world’s point of view and yet we don’t think it so terrible when we live with it every day.
If we are going to say that God is our friend then we had better start acting like He is and making sure that where we go we show people we are His friend by keeping Him by our sides. John was the herald crying out to people that Jesus was coming soon and warning people they had to change their ways from being people who hid behind the law to being people who lived with Christ.
When we invite Jesus to be a part of our lives He makes sure that we are given His full friendship and total support. A friend should be someone who is there supporting totally and not just when they want to or when it suits them to do so. Being a friend of God means making sure that others know we are His friend all of the time and not just when we say so. It also means we need to make sure we stay in tune with the Church that Jesus Christ set up for all of us. We have to live our lives being under the authority of Christ and not running off to do our own things all the time.
We may well be flesh and blood, but once we accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour and King, we are under His authority. That is not the same as the authority of man or of religion, but the authority of Christ. That is going to be a line that is crossed now and again because we get things wrong and we do want things to go our own way. We still want to be in charge or want the laws to apply so we can be happy with them. Following Christ is not always easy, but it is always right!
Points to Ponder:
Do you know your friends?
Do you know God?