April 14: Ruth 1 19-22
Key Verse: Ruth 1 19
Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”
Devotion:
Just as the people were excited when Jesus came into Bethlehem, so too were they when Naomi came back. This shows us that Bethlehem has always been a place where the people have been spiritual and have thought about God’s Word. When many people in a town or village take it upon themselves to walk closely with God, they will affect much of the rest of that town or village because all will see that those people have a special, spiritual connection with God.
Naomi may well have felt like she was at the end of her chain with nothing else left in the world but her God; and that should have been enough for her. But, to be honest, if I found myself in the same position as her, I too would begin to wonder whether I was doing things right or not. That is just what the devil will do; he will try to derail everything that we do for Christ because that way he will weaken our spiritual connections.
That spiritual connection we share with God in a proper relationship with Him is the very light that shines out of us when we walk in darkness. If we are not going to allow God’s light to reflect off of us we will not be seen to shine. Naomi may well have thought that she was nothing but a dark shadow walking back to her home in Bethlehem, but the people saw something else inside of her still.
Being together with other people who trust in and rely on God will allow us to continue shining even when we feel so dull that we think we are in some way emitting darkness (if it were possible). That is the thing, it is not possible to emit darkness because however small that light is inside of us, it will begin to shine. If it takes us being in the darkest possible room before that light will shine, then that is what it will take! Don’t ever think that your light cannot shine; it is God’s light, not yours.
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel dark at times?
Do you remember whose light it is?
April 13: Matthew 21 10-11
Key Verse: Matthew 21 11
So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Devotion:
When Jesus came back into Jerusalem riding on the donkey, there was a whole lot of attention being paid toward Him; attention that the disciples did not really want to be shown for fear of His life. But Jesus knew what was coming and He was now ready to face up to what had to be done. Here we see a classic view of the difference between the so called normal people and the people in charge. The people in charge were seeking to shut down the preaching by Jesus in any way they could whereas the people were looking at what was happening and relating it back to the scriptures, saying that this was the Messiah.
They called Him the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee because the scriptures (first in Deuteronomy 18 15) foretold of a prophet being raised in amongst them as one of their own; this prophet then being shown to be the Messiah. Unfortunately for many of the people, the authorities were not going to take this as it was because it would mean them losing the absolute control they had over the people!
Jesus may have been riding the donkey showing His authority in one sense, but He was coming in as a servant and not as a king. This was not just one or two people saying that this was a prophet but it is described here as all of the city. Jesus never backed down from the truth and this truth was not one to back down from either, even though it would mean Him laying down His life in a few days.
Just as we see many people saying the right thing here, we see many people saying the right stuff nowadays; but how many of those people came to see Him hanging on the cross? How many of those people stood up to the Scribes and Pharisees and told them that Jesus should be saved and not Barabbas? I fear something like the same number of people that we see every week in our church buildings… We need to stand up for the truth and uphold it, not just talk about it…
Points to Ponder:
What would you do if the King or Queen came to town?
What do you do when Jesus is nearby?
April 12: 1 Corinthians 2 1-5
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 2 2
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Devotion:
If there is only one thing that you are going to take into a discussion about God then it should be that Christ was Crucified for you. When Paul went to teach the Corinthians about Christ he did not take a huge bible with him, nor a multitude of sermons, nor the biggest worship band, just the knowledge that Christ was crucified. Paul did not try and show people how good life was with Christ, nor how amazing it could be, nor that people would be rich, just that Christ loved them enough to die for them.
This may sound like such a simple truth that we should not think of it, but this is a truth that I fear many people are forgetting about. What better time that around Easter to make sure that people remember what actually happened! We don’t have to go into all the gory details about how much they punished Him or how much He suffered or how much we should be sorry for what happened; how about just reminding people about the simple truth of the matter. Christ died for us.
Why should we worry about being able to tell the greatest story or make the most riveting speech when Christ has reminded us that we should be giving people the simple Gospel truth? We can plant the seeds and demonstrate to people that we do actually believe what we are telling them. God will be the one who changes the hearts of the people who hear His Word and He will draw them in. Don’t depend on your own wisdom or on you own strengths because God will level you if you do.
Paul came to the people of Corinth with a humble spirit to open his own heart to them in love. We need to show that same level of love to others so they can start to get the picture of how much more Christ loves us because of what He has done for us. We may give our time, money and sometimes more to give other people the Gospel, but we also need to give them our love without limit; when we limit our love we limit the effect of the Gospel message we are trying to deliver.
Points to Ponder:
How open are you with the Gospel message?
Do you love others enough to be totally honest?
April 11: Matthew 10 7-15
Key Verse: Matthew 10 14
And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.
Devotion:
When we do step forward and willingly take the Gospel out to others we should be willing to approach everyone; but as we quickly find out when we do, not everyone is willing to listen to what you have to say. What I want to point out quickly here is that almost everyone will reject the truth the first time because they know nothing else! So don’t get despondent and walk off to the next person as soon as you get a single no or a discouraging look.
We have to be consistent first of all to show people that we mean what we say; if after that they continually reject the Word of God, then we should think about whether we are talking to the right people. But don’t walk away just because you are growing tired of what people are saying or because they are not listening to what you think they should be listening to.
I have found out that youth listen to people in very different ways to adults nowadays. The youth have grown up in a society where things are coming at them from all angles and pretty much constantly too. They have had to filter out things in new ways and they do a pretty good job at it; but before they can effectively apply those filters, they have to be taught which the right filters are. That takes time and effort.
God wants us to take His Gospel message out to people. He wants us to show people how special and powerful He is. He wants us to bring glory to Him. This goes against modern society where people demand attention and praise all the time. We seek glory, fame and fortune all the time; or so it seems when you take a look from the outside in. What God says we should be doing is taking the truth and introducing it into the inside of people’s lives. That is where we will get the rejection first of all because it goes against their world. Don’t just give up and move on. Be persistent. Be consistent. But also be prepared to walk away when God calls you elsewhere.
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you listen to God?
Would you walk away if He asked?
April 10: Matthew 6 1-4
Key Verse: Matthew 6 4
that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
Devotion:
God does not require that we show ourselves off; that is taking other people’s eyes off of God and focusing them on you instead. What God does want us to do is to do good things, but to not make a big thing of it. I know it is difficult not to “gently remind” people of the things that you do or to show them that you are doing things, but it does invite self-glory instead.
If you are going to do charitable work, then go ahead and do it, and if people are going to praise you for doing so then great; but don’t advertise it just so that you will get recognition. If God wants you to have the recognition then He will give it to you. In the parable of the prodigal son, where the one son ran away and wasted all his inheritance, the father promoted his son on his return when he least expected it. The son came back in humility and yet the father chose to dress him in fine clothes and gold rings. God, in the same manner, wants to give us recognition for what we do; but let Him be the one to do that!
If we do seek to gain glory for what we do then that is all the glory that we will get because God will not add to that which we have taken from Him. That could be seen as being the same as giving a thief the rest of your belongings after he has been discovered stealing your things; it does not make sense. And yet so many people choose to do exactly that because they have lost sight of God in their lives.
It is a pleasure to see some people succeed in life because they just get on and do things without requiring that people constantly take notice of them; they get the job done and they do it to the best of their ability. Can you imagine how good church life would be if we all did things for God to the best of our ability without shouting about it? I know it is a basic failing of humanity, but we should be trying hard to not go there. Christ willingly became a servant so that He could give us the ultimate gift without shouting about it. He chose to not say anything in his defence when facing the authorities. He could have bragged about what He was about to achieve, but He did not. Follow Christ.
Points to Ponder:
Do you let others know what you are doing?
Do you get on with God’s business?