July 28: Matthew 19 23-30
Key Verse: Matthew 19 27
Then Peter said, “See, we have left all and followed You.”
Devotion:
After Jesus had told the rich young ruler that he had to give up everything he owned in order to get to heaven, the disciples had a hard time trying to come to terms with how anyone could get to heaven. But after Jesus told them that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get to heaven they wondered whether any person could get to heaven who had any belongings. Jesus saw what was in their hearts and pressed for a reaction by saying that with God there was not anything that was impossible!
Peter stuck with the current train of thought and said how he had given up everything to follow Christ… How many times do we try to give account for ourselves by comparing our ways with those of others or by saying how much we have done or given up for Christ? That is exactly what Peter was doing; comparing himself with the world and not thinking about the relationship he had with God. Being willing to give things up for God and telling everyone about it are two very different things!
Jesus wants us to have a very personal relationship with Him and that means making it very personal. We live in a society where everything seems to be made public all the time through using social media and social groups and that means saying things about what we are doing when it may not be appropriate! Many people get upset daily through what people blurt out on things like Facebook when they would get along so much better by not making everything public.
Jesus has warned us against acting like the Pharisees that boast their prayers before others. Well the same goes for everything that we do for Christ; we need to temper what we tell others about what we get up to for Christ. If we are not careful we will be boasting and seeking our own glory rather than giving all glory to God. Jesus knows that there are many distractions in life that take our minds to that place where we think more of ourselves and money seems to be one of the biggest traps for us. Jesus does not warn against having money but what the love of money does to us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you have enough money?
Do you seek it more than God?
July 27: Matthew 13 44-46
Key Verse: Matthew 13 46
who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Devotion:
How important is God in your life? How important is the Gospel in your life? How important is the church in your life? When we say the words, how much do we actually mean them? How far are we willing to go to prove that we mean what we say? And then, are we going to back up those words just because we have said them or because we really do mean them from deep in our hearts?
These are the difficult questions that we face all the time as Christians, but questions that should not stop us from living for Christ! We should not make the answer to those questions dictate how we do things in front of other people. If we are going to carry out our words just to make a point, then we are only making a point and not loving Christ the same way as He loves us. Jesus did not do everything He did just to make sure that the scriptures were fulfilled; He fulfilled the scriptures by carrying out His love toward us.
The question we should be asking ourselves is “are we willing to do what Jesus did to show Him that we mean what we say to Him?” It is not about showing other people but more about showing God from your heart. Jesus told the people about the importance of the Gospel message and the Christian way of life. This is not Jesus saying that Heaven is the most important thing, this is Jesus saying that everything to do with us getting to heaven is important! Jesus wants us to know that it is not just one aspect of Christianity that we should aim for but a complete and full life with Christ!
I have tried being a good a person as I can. I have tried being a person who makes studying the bible the most important thing. I have tried making sure that nobody gets between me and Jesus. But each time I have focused on one thing I have found myself lacking in many more things. We need to be willing to go that extra mile for God to bring people together in a new way of life, a life with God, with Christ and holding each other up as Christians.
Points to Ponder:
Do you lift up God?
Is Christ’s way first in your life?
July 26: Psalms 86 11-13
Key Verse: Psalms 86 11
Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
Devotion:
Do you struggle with loosing direction in your life? Do you struggle with thinking that you have fallen behind in your readings or your studying? Well you are certainly not alone because our hearts get filled with all manner of things which can take us away from the place we would most like to be. Being close to God and being able to live your life to the full with Him is certainly where we would all love to be, but it is not always achievable for us.
God wants us to reach out to Him and ask Him for guidance when we feel weak. If we do not get guidance and strength we will start to fail and we will feel it as well. If we do not keep our bodies fit and healthy we tire quickly and feel it. Our spiritual lives with Christ are much the same in that we grow weary when we try to keep up with God if we have not been keeping up with Him all along. It is our choice as to whether we do exercise with God or whether we just try to keep up when time permits. Making time to go through our bibles, making time to pray, making time to sit quietly with God; these are all essential and will keep us growing in Him.
Ask God to focus your mind and keep it working as a single entity for Him and toward Him. If we try to spread our hearts all over the place we will not be able to truly apply them to any situation but gloss over all of them to make sure we cover them all. It is better to focus on God so that He can give you the strength and unity of heart to go and work with Him.
Making God first in your life is not something we should aim toward eventually fulfilling but something we should aim toward first of all. When we have that focus we will find out how much more we can do for Him and with Him. I love being able to give as much as I can to God because I know my life means so much more when I do. I love being able to live for Him because I know I am fulfilled most of all. When people ask me how I cope with so much I tell them how much I rely on God and not on what I can do.
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you get tired too quickly?
Are you focusing on God or your world?
July 25: John 20 24-29
Key Verse: John 20 28
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
Devotion:
It was not just Mary who had a hard time believing that Jesus had actually risen from the dead; even though Christ had told them that this is what was going to happen, they still had a hard time believing. Most of the disciples seemed to have accepted the fact by this stage in John’s account of events, but Thomas still had his doubts and was not willing to take anyone else’s word until he saw Christ himself!
I’m sure all of the disciples would have had doubts just as we have our doubts, but Thomas was the one that was willing to admit that he had a problem. Jesus offered His body to Thomas to touch and then for the other disciples He took food and ate as a physical way of showing that He was real! It was probably those facts together which finally made them all believe in the resurrection power of Christ and it is the account that each of them writes about that we should believe too. Each disciple wrote down his own words for us to be able to read later on and to believe because they were there as our eye witnesses to the events!
Each of the events has been written down for us to know Christ as being real and being our Messiah who was able to rise from the dead. These events after the fact give us reason to believe and show us that doubts are real and we should not be afraid of them. Jesus wants us to confront our doubts and to lift them up to Him so that He can give us reason not to doubt. He gave Thomas what he needed and He gave the other disciples what they needed; for the same reason He will give us the proof that we need to believe and to cast our doubts aside as well!
Trust and obey Christ because He wants us to trust in Him. That first step that we take will give us the strength to move mountains with our faith; words which Christ has given to the disciples showing that it is not our own strength that will get us through but the strength that Christ and the Holy Spirit will give us that gets us through the doubts. Allow God to guide you through your doubts and make you stronger through confronting them.
Points to Ponder:
What things do you doubt?
Are you willing to give those doubts to Christ?
July 24: John 20 11-18
Key Verse: John 20 14
Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.
Devotion:
How many times in your life have you felt so distressed or worried about something that you have not seen what was right in front of your face? We all get to a stage when there is too much going on in our lives or too much to think about and we forget or do not see the important things anymore. Mary was so distressed about the fact that Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb that she was not thinking about what she had been taught, what she had heard and what she knew.
Because the world around us is full of distractions and stuff that happens we tend to focus on what we fear and what we see rather than what we know. The Bible tells us of all that we need to know and we should be believing all of it because it is what God has given us; and yet we look at what happens in front of our eyes and we disregard God’s promises because we can’t see them! Just because we cannot see them does not make them unreal or impossible. God has promised and so it is!
Mary had to hear her master say her name before she realised who it was standing next to her. Christ continues to walk with us in our lives and to continue carrying our burdens. If we take our eyes off of Him and focus on the burdens instead then we are going to want to carry those burdens instead of giving them to Christ. Jesus has already told us that He wants us to carry His burden which is light and not our own which is heavy; trust and obey!
Jesus told Mary not to cling to Him but to go and tell the disciples that He was alive again. There are going to be times when we want to cling Christ or to others for comfort when in fact what we should be doing is taking the promises that He has already given us and telling others about them. We don’t necessarily have to go onto the street corners and tell every passer-by, God may be asking us to go into our own church and tell someone who already knows Him. Maybe we just have to comfort someone else who is struggling. Maybe we just have to encourage someone else who has lost sight because of the distractions.
Points to Ponder:
Do you tell others about what Christ has done for you?
Are you Christ’s witness?