November 6: Matthew 5 27-30
Key Verse: Matthew 5 28
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Devotion:
Again, Jesus expands on this commandment to give a further insight into God’s meaning when He gave this to the people of Israel. There are quite a few places in the bible which go further than this and warn people about putting aside their partner so they can join with another partner; but this has to start somewhere, and Jesus gives us the answer here. If we go looking or lusting after others when we are already promised to another, we are corrupting our hearts with those thoughts; it is those thoughts which may lead us to do something like putting away our current partner because we think we see someone better!
If we rush into a partnership with anyone without thinking about it, we may well find out things we do not like about that partner after a while – God would rather we take our time and consult Him in any relationship so we don’t have to find out things which tear that relationship apart later on. God is going to guide us and to teach us in our relationships, so long as we are willing to listen to what He has to say.
No matter how much we think a relationship is the right one, we are going to have hiccups or points in that relationship which make us think otherwise. God is willing to help us understand those relationships and learn to live and grow in them; keeping God at the centre of any relationship will allow us to stay strong and stay focused. They key being we have to keep God with us in that relationship. When we don’t, we start to focus on what the world says and the ways of the world rather than God’s ways.
The Israelites had a much stricter view on men looking at women than we do in Western society and this is what Jesus is intimating at. It was not lawful for a man to look at (stare or look longing at) not matter whether he was single, married or any other state of mind – this was judged to be the root cause of adultery and stopping it before it got that far was their aim.
Points to Ponder:
Do you look longingly at others?
Do you respect God enough to stop doing that?
November 5: Matthew 5 21-26
Key Verse: Matthew 5 24
leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
Devotion:
Our next commandment we look at is simple in words but causes so much discussion when we try to apply it to our lives. The words given to Moses were quite simple: “Don’t kill!” But when we look back on the life of the Israelites, we find many places where they are told to kill their enemies – I’m not going to enter into a big discussion about when or if it is ok to kill, but to look at how Jesus expanded on this simple commandment.
Jesus did not change the meaning of the commandment but rather explained it further and how we should actually apply it into our lives. Far too often we take things literally and get into trouble for doing so. What Jesus is doing here is explaining the depth of the commandment. It is not a simple commandment to stop people killing each other but to stop people from getting to the stage where they even think about killing each other.
It is when we allow our feeling to get out of hand that we think about harming others; in our lives with God we are taught to love one another and to live in peace, yet when our feeling get out of hand we start to bend the rules or to make our own rules so we can get our own back on others! What Jesus is telling us here is to take time out to recognise these feeling and to stop them in their tracks; not to just supress them but to get rid of whatever is the root cause for those feelings.
If we put our minds to it we can always find a way of diffusing any situation if we choose to do so! Jesus is also saying that we need to do this as a matter of urgency – diffusing the situation before we come to God and ask for forgiveness. If we continue to hold on to our feelings when we approach God, we are not really laying it all down before Him because we are trying to have our own way instead.
Points to Ponder:
Do you continue to hold personal judgements whilst trying to ask God for forgiveness?
Are you willing to lay it all down and try sort out disagreements?
November 4: Exodus 20 12
Key Verse: Exodus 20 12
Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Devotion:
I know it is difficult to honour parents who have abused their position in the family, but this commandment does not just relate to blood parents; this extends to all who stand in for parents, all who act as your parents and all who are spiritual parents. I am very lucky to have had blood parents who have loved me and cared for me and to have a stepparent who also loves me.
Obeying parents can seem difficult when you have a difference of opinion to them but I think this commandment is looking for something different than blindly obeying parents just because they are parents. If we can learn to love and honour our earthly parents, then how much more can we love our ultimate spiritual father in heaven? Living our lives is a learning curve where we pick up and remember things through example and through being taught. If we go through this life objecting to and rejecting those instructions, then loving and honouring others may well be a very difficult task to achieve!
I know I have joked with other Christians, and even non-Christians, about how our lives could be shortened or made very difficult if we disobeyed parents, but this does apply to our lives with God, albeit indirectly. If we continue to disobey God and not to honour Him, we are walking in a different direction to the path He wants us to walk. The longer we walk along this path, the more we walk into the influence of the world and even into the influence of those against God – our lives may not turn out to be as good as they could be if we were obeying and trusting God!
The Israelites were given explicit instructions from God and also had to learn the hard way what would happen to them if they did disobey God. Many of the commandments given to them had a penalty of death if they were broken – little wonder then that obeying spiritual parents would lead to a longer life! Think how much more we can gain from life by honouring our parental figures in our lives…
Points to Ponder:
Have you fallen short of honouring those in your life?
Are you willing to ask God to help you honour the right people?
November 3: Genesis 2 2-3
Key Verse: Genesis 2 2
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
Devotion:
Right in the beginning of our bibles we have God demonstrating the way things should be done in our lives; having a day of rest where we can escape from the hustle and bustle of our lives, put down the stress of work and just be with God is so important. It does not dictate a particular day to be the sabbath, but it does say at least one day a week. We have tended to congregate on Sunday (as a majority) as this day; but still we allow things to get in our way and spend that time pursuing other things instead of God.
As a working member of a congregation, you may be called to work on Sundays whether it is in making sure the day runs smoothly for others, preaching or whatever else you need to be doing for your church gatherings. Does this mean you don’t get to have a day off? It should not mean that at all – just because Sundays may be busy and non-stop for you does not mean you should not have a day to put aside work and spend time alone with God!
Take another day to be your sabbath where you can set aside the work you do and just try to spend it with God, resting in His arms and in His word. Take time to try and see what God wants you to be doing for the rest of the week and aim to do your best for Him. Take time to ask Him to allow you to have that rest and allow you to simply focus on Him for a day, to remember all He has done for you and all He has done for all of mankind.
If God Himself thought it important to have a day of rest, should we not be trying to maintain that in our lives? You will be surprised how many times God and Jesus remind us of this day of rest in our bibles. It is listed in the Ten Commandments because it is important, and God wants us to remember it. When Moses gain instructions from God about all the things the Israelites should and should not be doing, it was not just the Ten Commandments… but these ten simple commandments give us the basis for living a good life with God!
Points to Ponder:
How many times do you see people working 7 days a week?
Do they spend any quality time with friends, family and God?
November 2: Deuteronomy 5 8-10
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 5 8
You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
Devotion:
How many times do you have to be told something before it sinks in and you do it? I know I am guilty of ignoring what people have said only to find out later I should have listened in the first place! I would not have had to spend so much time in hospital if I had listened to the people around me telling me I need to go and see a doctor! Don’t feel so guilty about the things you have not done when you should have – change now and make the difference in your life because it will help the people around you more than you know!
This time Moses had gathered the people together again to go over the Ten Commandments because many did not listen the first time and needed to be reminded! God is going to allow people into our lives who will remind us of the things we aught to be doing – we may not like what they say at first and we may even object to them saying things, but when God has required it, it must be done!
Well, how do we keep focused on God and find out what He wants in our lives? We need to lose focus on the things we have built up and the distractions we have succumbed to. Too often in our lives we keep an old habit going or look to something in our lives which pleases us rather than looking for God and guidance from Him; after all, it is much easier to give in and follow the crowd than to stand up and listen to God!
Too often it is the physical things in our lives which distract us. We may not see them as idols or graven images, but in reality, we are keeping our focus on those physical things rather than the spiritual things of God. It may be something simple like a special game we support which gains our focus more than God… How much time do you actually give to God each day? Do you put aside the physical distractions and allow that time to be filled with God and His word, or do you allow those distractions to take precedence?
Points to Ponder:
When you ‘do a devotion’ do you give that time to God?
Will you give some time over to God today; I mean really give it over?