July 3: 1 John 4 7-11
Key Verse: 1 John 4 11
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Devotion:
If we have difficulty with love then we are going to have difficulty with God because God is love. I am not talking about having difficulty with finding a partner and falling in love and all the rest of so called normality. I am talking about the love that we find in other people and the love that we should be sharing with other people. I do find it difficult to love some people because I am not as loving as God and I struggle to believe people who say one thing and do another. Yes we are all guilty of that at some stage, but when people are so loving in church and no so out of church, then I question their commitment to God. It is hard not to judge people in these circumstances!
God showed us His love through a living example, Christ Jesus. We need to show other people love and respect through our living example toward them. We need to show God that respect and love that He has already shown us too. Yes it is going to be difficult because we have our moments, some of us have a lot of those moments! But unless we are willing to set aside our conditions for love we are going to continue struggling. We will sometimes have a list of items that have to be matched before we will accept love or give it. God did not do that. He gave love and then listed what we should be in return.
I do see love deep inside most people and I tend to latch onto that love to try and bring it out of them because many people do not know how to share that love. Christ was the ultimate example because He was able to show people how to love each other through His unconditional example. I have got some pretty strange remarks from people I know just because I can see something in someone else that they cannot; but equally I have been questioned as to why I find it hard to mix with others.
God’s love is not conditional. God’s love is not prejudiced. God’s love is not incomplete. God loved us before we knew Him and He will continue to love us, because His love is not limited. We can continue to pull apart our love, stick holes in it and say how horrible we are but that would not help us with our love. We need to be positive, be willing, be uplifting and be sincere in learning to love others so that they can see a bit of God’s love through us. Then we will have succeeded!
Points to Ponder:
How do you see your love?
Do you love Christ?
July 2: 1 John 4 12-16
Key Verse: 1 John 4 14
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world.
Devotion:
To me this brings one of those sayings back that you love to hate: “How can you believe in something you have not seen?” And for that matter the standard response saying something just as boring as: “How can you breathe if you can’t see the air?” Why do people try to justify things with what can be seen or read as if the world was a black and white, cut and dry entity. Not many people dare to describe the world in one sentence and fewer still will publish their words of wisdom but I think the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy described it pretty well in “Mostly Harmless”.
In the grand scheme of things, earth is pretty small and we are pretty insignificant when we look at the physical universe. And yet God chose to create this planet and He chose to send His Son to die on this planet because of His great love toward us, the mostly harmless planet! To me that speaks volumes. Being presented with that and then saying that I would not believe would seem an utter waste of time. So why do people not believe in God?
The mostly harmless adage explains why when you think about it. Yes we may well be mostly harmless, but there are those few that wreak havoc in this world by spreading their own version of what we should be made to believe just because it gives them some sort of credit. It should not be about us trying to take the credit for anything but more about us wanting to give credit to others for what they have done. God’s love is what started this all and unless we are willing to show that same love we are not going in the same direction as God.
Love can be tough. Love can seem mostly harmless. But love can be difficult. Love can be heart-wrenching. Love can break your world apart. But love is very real and will not be hidden. God wants us to grow in this love. God wants us to share this love. God wants us to trust His love.
Points to Ponder:
Do you know God’s love?
Do you share God’s love?
July 1: 1 John 3 4-9
Key Verse: 1 John 3 7
Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
Devotion:
It is a difficult line to draw between living a life of sin and a life with sin. The division between righteousness and sin, on the other hand, is quite stark because of the difference between sin and no sin. God wants us to live a life that is more in line with the life that Christ showed us whilst he lived on earth. Christ came to live without sin and lived His life to bring glory to our sinless God. He came to give His life for our sakes so that we could be freed from our sin.
Sin is a trap. When we commit sin we try to cover it up and invariably we try to cover it up with a little more sin. Pretty soon we have the biggest trash pile in our lives that we could ever imagine and wonder how we could have ever let that into our lives. The answer is one little sin at a time. A single piece of litter on a field will stand out like a sore thumb, but does not necessarily look that bad in the grand scheme of things. But fill up the field with trash and we are appalled at the mess!
God does not want us to become immune to the mess by allowing it into our lives all the time. He would rather we see that first sin and stop it in its tracks than continue to give in and allow more sin through our lives. It is much harder to get rid of a field full on trash than a single piece on the field. In the same manner it is much harder for us to clean up our lives when we have allowed them to go too far. Stopping sin early is the only right way!
When we accept Christ into our lives we employ our very own trash collector. That sounds so bad doesn’t it! But that is what sin is like in our lives, utter trash! We should not be allowing it in and we should not be making Christ work even harder to forgive us of all the trash we invite in on a daily basis. Leave sin behind and move on with Christ for a much better life!
Points to Ponder:
Do you pick up your own litter?
Do you ask Christ to forgive your own sins?
June 30: Romans 16 17-20
Key Verse: Romans 16 17
Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.
Devotion:
God goes one stage further with His teaching through the disciples and through Paul. He warns us to make sure that we do not mix with the people who just want to lift themselves us instead of God. This is something I was very wary with in the beginning and used to wonder who was actually on our side; the answer comes in comparing what people do with what our bibles tell us!
Hearing someone talking with authority is not always as good as we think because when they are twisting God’s word to their own sermon or twisting the bible to fit in with their own beliefs then they are not true followers of Christ. God wants us to take His word out to others faithfully; not twisting the truth and telling them something which sounds good. No matter how much authority we think we have, unless that authority does come from God, we are nothing!
It is always easy to talk about others and what we think they are going against the church, but we should always be focusing on what we can do for God and not on what we think others are not doing for God! When someone is doing something for their own benefit, we are not going to gain from it. If we work for them then we are working for their gain and not Christ’s gain or glory; but working for someone who is clearly working for and with God will give Christ the glory!
When we go forward in Christ’s name we will hurt people. Not people who want to come to know Christ like we do, but those who are self-serving and self-praising because they will feel very left out when we take away their glory. The devil is certainly not going to like us taking away his glory because it means him being bruised under foot as we walk with God. Continue to lift up God in everything you do!
Points to Ponder:
Who are you giving glory to?
Will you allow Christ to receive all the glory?
June 29: Luke 10 17-20
Key Verse: Luke 10 17
Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.
Devotion:
When we are willing to go out and do things for God with an open heart for Him we are going to find out just how much God supports us in every step we take. Far too many times in my life I have jumped forward thinking that I will be able to do anything that comes my way only to fall flat on my face and wonder what I ever saw in myself. We do feel very rejected and even useless when we fall down trying to do what we think is right, especially if we think that God would want us to do so…
But unless we are actually listening to God and going forward with His authority, then we are just going forward with our own authority. Now I know that I do not have much authority by myself; I may be in a position of authority but unless I am purposed by God to move forward with His authority, I am nothing compared to Satan! Yes I did say that I am nothing compared to Satan! But God is!
We cannot rebuke an angel, so why should we think we can do so to the devil? It is God who gives us His authority and that is what makes all the difference. Christ wanted the seventy chosen disciples to see how much authority God has by commanding them to go in God’s name, in His authority. When they came back rejoicing in what they could do they realised just how great our God is! It is that greatness and that power that is given to us when we go forward in Christ’s name.
We need to remember constantly that it is not our doing but God’s power through us. We need to remember that we are nothing without God. We need to remember that we do have His authority as well. Don’t back down thinking that God has left you to fight your own fight because He stands by every person He sends… just make sure that it is God who is sending you and not you running off to see how good you can be!
Points to Ponder:
Are you called by God?
Have you seen His power working?