Saturday Reading: Matthew 23 25-28
Key Verse: Matthew 23 28
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Devotion:
How many times have you been asked to clean something and you tried to make it look good by having a quick scrub on the outside but not doing a proper job on the inside? I know I have been guilty of that so these words rang a very loud bell for me and make me stop and think about how I actually lead my life.
Nothing is hid from our Lord so when we do not do a proper job at cleaning things up in our own lives He still sees all the grime and dirt that we have tried to bury under the carpet instead. The sin that we try to hide from others is on plain view to Him at all times. We need to remember that simple fact and bring those sins to Him immediately so that He can bury them once and for all. He wants to be able to wipe them all away but unless we are willing to acknowledge that they exist in the first place then we don’t have much hope to start with.
When I am going to make a cup of tea I look inside the cup to make sure that the inside is clean before I make the tea. That is the same thing that we should be doing for our lives as well; we need to make sure that what we do is presentable to start with because we do not have to put up with the sin in our lives. Christ has paid the price for us so that we do not have to bring up that sin every time we are reminded of it. Christ has washed that sin away once and for all – so long as we have brought it before Him and not tried to hide it under the carpet like so many others try.
The simile with the tomb is even better. We may like to make the graves and tombs look to neat and tidy on the outside, but inside they contain something that we don’t like to be reminded of; and as time goes by the inside gets to be worse instead of better. Christ wants us to be clean inside and outside and has given us that opportunity to leave that sin behind. By turning our lives round and following Him we are able to leave that sin behind and take on a much cleaner life with Him. It will be impossible without Christ so don’t try to make it on your own to start with – He wants to help you all the way.
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel better after a good clean?
Christ can wash you whiter than snow!
Friday Reading: John 8 3-11
Key Verse: John 8 7
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
Devotion:
As we begin to think about all that Christ has done for us I would like to take you on a different train of thought than Jesus being crucified; instead I want you to look at the justification of Him being our Judge. This story of the woman brought before Him who had been caught in the act of adultery is one that should speak volumes to us, not because society is so wicked or broken down but rather that we judge everyone for everything… but do we actually have the right to do that?
We assume that because we are a witness or because we have inside knowledge that we can stand as judge against a fellow human being; well that is one of the positions that God has allowed us to take up because we do have to police ourselves as a society. We may even be able to say with hand on heart that someone is guilty because we actually saw them in the act. But when it comes down to handing out the final punishment we do have to be very careful.
In this case there was an eye witness and the woman was pronounced guilty for what she had done; but Christ could see inside the hearts of the men around Him and He wanted them to stop and think about their own selves before carrying out the punishment. It’s all very well saying that someone is doing something wrong and needs to be punished for what they are doing, but when we have things in our own lives that also need attention then we should not be the ones passing judgement on them!
Jesus has every right to judge people because He has done nothing wrong; but we are as guilty as anyone else because we have also sinned before Him. We are the ones who deserve to pay the penalty for our sins but Jesus is the one who came forward and gave His own life for us on that cross. He willingly took on our sin debt just so that we would not have to take that judgment on our own shoulders…
Points to Ponder:
Do you like taking the blame for other people’s guilt?
Do you know how much Christ paid for your sins?
Thursday Reading: Matthew 26 38-39
Key Verse: Matthew 26 39
39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Devotion:
Our lot is not to try and guess at how great a burden was placed on Christ’s shoulders this day, but rather to try and see how much of a burden we placed on His shoulders ourselves. Christ took on that burden for all sin, not just the sins of the men at the time; how much that was is truly incomprehensible to us, but we can break it down to just one person at a time by admitting to the sins that we have done against God.
When we begin to figure out how much we have done against God we then begin to understand what He has done for us. This makes it a very personal thing because we then begin to realise just how much He must love us, personally.
We can then look at the words that Christ spoke at this time and know that Christ was going to do everything according to the will of God the Father. It was not His own human choice to do what He willed because that is the same choice that God has given us; and yet He chose to follow God’s will and not His own. That is the ultimate example to us that we should be following God’s will as well. Just because things do not go our own way does not mean that we have to turn away and figure out what we can do to fix things. God has given us a lot in life to accept and His will has already been laid down; we just need to know how to listen to that will and to follow it without doubting. I do not say without question because even Christ questioned the decision to make sure it came from God, but He most certainly followed God’s will.
We must not blindly accept what others say but rather take what we hear and compare it to the will of God; that is what we can then make an informed decision with and go with that final decision as long as it agrees with God’s will. It is not always easy to listen to those instructions from God and certainly not easy to filter out the worldly tumult that continues all around us. Why do you think Christ chose a quiet secluded garden to go to in order to pray that night? Christ wanted to make sure that He heard everything very clearly that night because it was getting close to the time to pay the ultimate sacrifice. God wants us to be able to withdraw from the world so that we can hear what He has in store for us. We don’t have to block out the whole world but rather to take time out to be with God. We live in this world and we need to be able to reach others to show them about God; withdrawing totally from the world would allow us to listen to God but we should not be surprised to find out that we need to face the world in our next breath…
Points to Ponder:
Do you find quiet time each day?
Are you spending it with God?
Wednesday Reading: 1 Peter 3 17-20
Key Verse: 1 Peter 3 17
17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
Devotion:
When we do something wrong we don’t have much of a problem when we get into trouble or with trouble finding us out, but when we have done nothing wrong we do tend to complain when things go wrong for us. We even turn to God and start blaming Him for allowing things to happen to us. When we read a book like Job we then start to think that maybe God is allowing things to happen to us; but what we have to remember is that He is not doing this to us!
What we need to do is to always remember both new and old testament books because the old testament books may well tell us how bad things happened to people who believed in God, but the books from the New Testament will also tell us of the things that Christ had to endure just so that we would not have to. Jesus came forward and submitted to the terrible ordeal that was ahead of Him just so that we would not have to go through that. It does not mean that we will never have to face horrible things anymore; just that we will not have to pay for our sins with eternal death.
Instead we should look at the fact that we are suffering and then look ahead to what is in store for us. We have a most wonderful eternal life ahead of us because of what Jesus did for us; so when we are faced with a little up-hill during our somewhat shorter life here on earth, why should we worry so much about it. We may even look at it and say that it is better for us to have to put up with that up-hill than an unsaved person who will suffer from all manner of doubt and even depression because of the suffering.
Christ suffered for our sakes. He suffered even though He had done nothing wrong. We are the ones who have done things wrong and He paid that price for us. When we face a little discomfort, and it is exactly that when compared to what Christ went through, then we should be thankful that we are able to put up with it because we have the Holy Spirit comforting us throughout our duress. So let us rather tell others of this great comforter we have in God during our times of distress so that they can be encouraged to find out more and invite Christ into their lives as well!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get stressed when things go wrong?
How much do you look to God for help?
Tuesday Reading: Psalms 148 7-14
Key Verse: Psalms 148 13
13 Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
Devotion:
Can you lift up your hands and stop the rain from falling? Can you stand there are stop the wild stormy winds from blowing down your fence? Can you hold the earth together during an earthquake? I guess you can’t either!
But despite the immense power of such things, God is the one who is in control of all things here on earth. We may not be able to think about the power it takes to keep a star burning bright, or a moon revolving around a planet, but when we are faced with things here on earth we get the picture loud and clear! But this is small fry when compared with what God has to deal with – so let us remember God for all that He actually is and all that He can do.
We are an integral part of this earth because this is where God has placed us to live and He is the one who created it all for us. The animals obey God. The fish and other sea creatures obey God. The sea itself obeys God. There is nothing that God is not in control of, and yet we just take it for granted and assume that it is all going to continue on as normal – well we can actually expect that because God promised that it would remain until the end time. When that will be is unknown to everyone so if someone says they know, then they know what God knows… I don’t think so!
It does not matter what position we hold in society or in the realm because we are all God’s creation and we all have to obey God. We cannot stand up against Him. We may try to and we may think we can because we have freedom of choice, but when push comes to shove we will find out that God is still in control. So when the Psalmist says that we should be praising God it is because He has learned through experience that we must be praising Him. Not just when things go well, not just when things are pear-shaped but continually and honestly praising our Awesome God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you praise people when they do things right?
Do you praise God who has done all things right?