Tuesday Reading: Deuteronomy 31 24-29
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 31 29
For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”
Devotion:
These are some of the words that Moses said to the people of Israel before he passed the banner on to Joshua to lead them into the Promised Land. God had told Moses that he would not be allowed to do that and Moses had to come to terms with that. He also knew what the people were like because he had led them for some time now; so these words are a warning to the people to make sure that they do not turn away from God’s Word.
Sometimes you may well feel like Moses felt here thinking that as soon as you stop teaching the people or turn you back to do something else, the people will run off and turn away from God. It is very hard to leave a place and move on to do further work for God when you have feelings like that. I cannot pretend to think what was going on in Moses’ head at the time, but I know that this is a difficult position to be in. What we have to do in these cases is to trust that God has led you to the right place and in the right way ahead.
Quite often we cannot see the big picture like God can and we certainly cannot tell what is going to happen in the future; but God does and He alone is the one to guide us forward. Placing our full trust in Him can be difficult when all we see is doom and gloom, but that is what He requires of us. God has asked us to tell others about Him and to spread the Gospel. If we are faithful to do that, then He will be the one who sets the people’s hearts ablaze or not.
We may know, or think we know, that the people will turn away from God as soon as our backs are turned, but we have managed to plant the seeds. As long as we have tried to water them and nurture them to set hold, we have done what God has required. I love teaching young people about God because I can relate to them face to face even though I am getting old (or already old in their counting.) I know that I have to feed the youth, but I know that I also have to allow them to grow in their own ways too as God leads them forward.
Points to Ponder:
Do you worry about others?
Are you giving them up to God?
Monday Reading: Deuteronomy 30 15-20
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 30 15
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil…”
Devotion:
There will be times when we may well feel like Moses and think that we are the only ones listening to God whilst all around us people are just ignoring Him; just as there will be times when we think we have lost direction and cling to others around us. I do not envy the position that Moses was in, having to tell the people of Israel that they had to clean up their ways otherwise they would face a rude awakening.
In these few words he lays down a challenge to the people and a dire warning. They face the consequences of living a life without God if they continue to follow their own ways and ignore God. Nothing has changed from that point of view for us either. We may be living in a time of grace because Christ has paid the price on the cross already, but if we do continue to live our lives without Christ and without listening to Him, then we will have to face consequences too.
What are the consequences? Well, if we do follow Christ then we can expect good things and we can expect life eternal. If we do not follow Him, then we can expect to find out what eternal death is all about and see much more evil. God wants us to be protected against evil but He can only do that if we are going to invite Him into our lives to have a position where He can protect us from. We will still be living in an evil world, surrounded by much evil and by many who will still reject Christ; but we do not have to follow them and sink into the pits with them!
Christ calls us to listen to and obey His Word. He wants us to learn and apply His Word into our lives so that we will pass it on to the next generation. If we do not, then they will not enjoy a good life with Christ like we can. The choice is relatively simple and it is ours to make. The consequences of ignoring the choice are the same as if we choose to go against Christ; not a choice that I wold want to face!
Points to Ponder:
Do you encourage others to make a positive choice?
Are you letting Christ work through you?
Sunday Reading: Deuteronomy 30 11-14
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 30 14
But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
Devotion:
I know I harp on about things sometimes, but they are worth remembering, well, mostly. The bibles we poses today are a very far cry from those from ancient times, and no I am not talking about a hundred years ago but before that. If we go back to the time of Christ we would find scrolls of various materials upon which was written the words that God gave to Moses and the words of prophets. These were not all gathered together but each would have been their own writings. Imagine trying to carry round an armful of scrolls instead of a single book from the bible?
We could skip forward to the times after the disciples and we would still find scrolls of various kinds upon which was written the words of the disciples. This time the words of the prophets would have been copied very carefully by people like monks who made it their life’s work to make exact copies of the scriptures to ensure they remained for mankind. But you would not find them because they would be hidden away!
We then come to the times when people started to gather all the writing together to form collections of writing. This is the start of our bible. Great men of faith gathered things together and that started jealousy as they preferred one to the other. King James stepped in and ordered people to get an official copy together; the start of our King James Version. This time it was in English!
Nowadays we get many copies written by many people and made available for even more people to read. We even get audio copies for those who cannot read or simply want to listen. God has allowed this to happen so that we do have ready access to His Word and that we can apply it into our lives. Society may break down and not follow preachers anymore, but God’s Word remains throughout all generations. We must hold it dear to our hearts!
Points to Ponder:
How many bible do you have?
Do you sit and read them?
Saturday Reading: Romans 13 8-10
Key Verse: Romans 13 10
Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.
Devotion:
Imagine what the world would be like if we were all able to get on with each other! Well, that is what we do have to look forward to in heaven because Christ has told us that there will be no malice in heaven! Imagine being able to walk out the front door and not worry that someone is going to come and take everything whilst you are away. You’re right, it is hard to imagine; especially when you have been brought up in a country where there has only ever been wars as long as you can remember.
My heart does go out to people who continue to live in countries wrecked with wars and fighting because they do not get to the much of the good side of life when compared with people who live in a loving neighbourhood. People who live in big cities where murder is a part of the news almost every night must grow dull to the pain we feel when we hear such news; but the pain is still there.
If the only debt we had to one another was to love each other, I’m pretty sure I could live a very happy life. I do love to be able to share things, to be able to care openly for people and to support where I can. That is just the way I am and some people find that a bit mysterious or worrying; my reaction is to ask “where is God in your life?”
Christ taught and lived love whilst He was on earth as a man, but nothing has changed in Him because He has always taught and lived love. He has loved us from the beginning and has shown us that love even when we have failed. That is why we can know that we can trust Him, because He has loved openly. If we want to be able to get people to trust us, then should we not be trying to love other people in the same way that Christ loved us? Should we not try to emulate what we know is right?
Valentine’s day maybe a single day in our calendar, but Christ wants us to continue loving our neighbours every day of our lives. He wants us to share that love right now so that others will see how much more Christ loves us. Yes we will fail at some parts of loving others, but that should just show them how much more Christ can and does love us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you look forward to the end of Valentine’s day?
Does God’s love come with you?
Friday Reading: 1 Corinthians 13 4-10
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 13 8
Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
Devotion:
Ok, so we say that we have to show our love and not just talk about it… How? Hmm, didn’t expect to have to go that far? Well love is something very special that is shared between people and it is not something to be trifled with so we should make sure that what we do show is real love and not just words. I used to think that I could get away with a few good words when I was young but slowly realised that the words were very hollow compared to showing love to that person.
I now tend to tread a bit more cautiously and try not to overstep the mark; but I still get myself into trouble because I want to be able to show real love to all people and not just the ones that the world says I should be allowed to love. I do not mean the ‘love’ the world has either but the love that Christ has taught me to show. The love the world talk about is normally lust, compassion or just another way of getting something out of someone else!
If we take the words of C.S. Lewis then we begin to find out a bit more about love “Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.” God does not want us to use love as the thing that strengthens us. He does not want us to use love to prop ourselves us. He wants us to use love to give everything to the people you love so that they can bask in that love.
Love can be a hard thing to accept, especially when you start thinking that the attention you are getting is worldly attention and not attention due to outward love. But love is something that we should be willing to give openly and not expect any in return, because living in expectation of returned love will always result in depression or disappointment! God loves us knowing that we will not love Him as much; but he still loves us totally.
Points to Ponder:
Do you measure love?
Do you wholly love?