Sunday Reading: Jonah 1 1-7
Key Verse: Jonah 1 3
3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
Devotion:
After spending a few days listening to a college put her heart into the story of Jonah I thought that I would add my two cents worth – I wish I could give you a recording of her rendition of this lovable story but I’m afraid you have to put up with me instead. It takes a while and a few reads and a few studies of this wonderful book to get the most out of it and being able to get another new view always helps. So here is another side to it...
Jonah was a man who was actually vouched for by Christ Himself as we can ready in Matthew 12 40-41 where He reminded the disciples of the story of Jonah. Does that mean that Jonah was a man who always did everything correctly? Far from it; how else would we have the story of Jonah if he did not show us just how ‘normal’ he actually was. There is no way we can ever be like Christ is being able to always do everything correct and without sin because we are born into sin and we carry this sin nature around with us. Satan may not be standing by our sides like Adam and Eve had to face up to, but he certainly does have a way in which he entraps us through temptations beyond our strengths.
Jonah did not like the people of Nineveh; and that is about the biggest understatement I could ever come up with! Jonah knew what went on inside Nineveh much the same as many of us know what goes on inside other large cities. Come to think of it we are faced with some pretty strange happenings in small towns and villages as well because sin does not just hang out in the big cities! Sin is a global thing that man does against God, every town, every country, every place and trying to run away from it is not an option anymore!
Just like it was impossible for Jonah to run away from God, it is impossible for us to run away from Him. But it is also impossible to run away from our sin nature because it is part of us. But also, just like Jonah had the choice as to whether he would do what God had asked or whether to run and hide, we have that choice as to whether we want to do what God has commanded or run with sin and try and hide it away. Jonah was forced to stand and face up to what was required. God does not want to have to force us to stand up and face up to our sin, but there will come a time when we do have to face up to it – we need to choose whether than time is now or too late!
Points to Ponder:
Are you trying to run away and hide?
Are you listening to God’s calling?
Saturday Reading: John 15 9-11
Key Verse: John 15 9
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
Devotion:
Jesus knew exactly how much God loved Him and He knew how much He loved us, so when He says that we should continue in His love to love others (as is seen in the verses that follow this passage) He knows what He is talking about. Is that not what we all seek? To find someone that actually knows what they are talking about so that we can learn the truth and follow on in that truth?
Showing love toward another is not just about telling them that you love them. It is not just about giving them a hug and meaning it. It is not just about giving them a kiss. It is not just about making sure that you remember things about them or for them. Showing your love toward someone is all of the above and so much more. Loving someone means being able to share everything with them, especially the truth! It also means being willing to give them everything; and if they love you as well then they will be willing to do that same toward you – so it’s not a case of giving up everything but rather being able to share in everything.
Christ came into this world so that He could give His life for our sin debt. That did not mean giving up everything because He knew that death was a small price to pay for being able to share everything with us from that point onward. He was not facing an end or a blind alley but rather a crossroads that would give us direction in our lives. He firmly planted the sign-post at that crossroad so that we would know the right direction to go in; we just have to follow it.
He has proven His love for us by showing us the truth and allowing us to depend on everything that He does. He continues to pour out that love toward us by continuing to give us so much as we continue to give to Him. It’s all about sharing a relationship with Him and not expecting Him to do everything for us. Love is certainly a two way thing and us sitting back and waiting is doing nothing to show our love toward our God! Our love needs to grow and the only way that it will grow is through regular exercise – which means giving and receiving constantly. His love is without question. His love is without limit. His love is without failure. His love is pure and honest.
Points to Ponder:
How do you like to show love?
Do you recognise the love that God is showing you?
Friday Reading: John 8 41-47
Key Verse: John 8 42
42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Devotion:
There are times when Jesus would say things that we may think of as being harsh or being unkind, but when we get to read all of what He has said, when we get to read all circumstance, when we get to learn of all that He continues to do before we learn of things, then we get to learn of His great love for us. Just like we may think that our parents have lost the plot or that they do not understand our situations, we often think that somehow God does not quite get things – what we do not know is all that they, and God, have to deal with in order to keep things going for us!
When Jesus turns round and reminds us that we should be loving God as our own fathers then we need to stop and take notice. We need to lift up our heavenly Father to His rightful place as God of all. We need to make sure that we acknowledge Him as being our Creator and our God. It is He who is in charge and He alone who is able to care for and cater for all of our needs. Our parents will do all that they can to make sure that things go well, and when we get to be parents we try to make sure that we do all that we can – but God alone is able!
There are times when I despair at all the things that I should have been able to do as a father, times when I wish I had done more; but I know that I have done well to be able to guide my children to God because it is through Him alone that they will be able to withstand so much more. Don’t allow your situations to get you down. You don’t know the half of it!
When we love our parents, we listen to them. When we respect those around us, we listen to them. When we want to find out the truth, we seek it. When we want to do things our own way instead of God ways then we are working against all of those things that he is trying to teach us about. To show our love for God we need to listen to Him, His ways and obey them. The obeying part is going to be hard unless we open our hearts to His ways.
Points to Ponder:
How do you show your love?
Are you working with God, your Father?
Thursday Reading: Ruth 3 1
Key Verse: Ruth 3 1
1 Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?
Devotion:
As I was searching for scriptures of a father looking out for their children I was directed toward this verse. Since Naomi had lost her husband and Ruth hers there was no longer any father (other than God) in their family so Naomi had to think of things in that light. In this case she is the one that is thinking about Ruth, about the fact that she should find her a husband; after all it was God who said that it is not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2 18).
That is just one small aspect of being a parent – not the fact that we should be going out and finding partners for our children, but that we should love them enough to care for them in ways that they may not think about. I thank God that He has blessed me with parents that love and care for me more than I could imagine; and then I remember that it was God who has made this all possible. He is the one that has set our genealogy in motion and He is the one that continues to develop our environments. How often do we sit back and think of the love that He has for us through everything that He has set in motion around us.
We could turn round and say that we have led a very hard life or that we are going through difficulties that we should never have to face. We could even turn round and face God and accuse Him of not caring for us because of all we have to go through. But then we shall never know what we would have had to face if we did not have Him in our lives! How much has He hidden from us? How much has He swept aside so that we could be more at ease? We are the ones who are living in a life that is full of sin, sinners, and all manner of evil things. We are surrounded by so much that we may not see – both good and bad. God is the one who is our Father looking out for us and making sure that we get to see only what we can bare.
We may only get to hear about things that our parents have done for us, or about things that God has done for us a long time after they have happened. We may not get to hear about some of them at all. We don’t go looking for the good in people and we don’t go seeking what we can do for others often enough because we are too focused on getting the most of what we think we deserve… Take a break… Look and learn…
Points to Ponder:
How much do you like doing for others?
Do you know what God has done for you?
Wednesday Reading: Ephesians 6 1-4
Key Verse: Ephesians 6 1
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Devotion:
This is one of those verses that many parents have great delight in showing their children! But oh how often we do forget that we need to obey God because He is our heavenly Father; and if your parents are not such a good example then you still have absolutely no excuse when it comes to obeying God because there is no fault ever found in God!
If we have ever learned anything then it should be that God is truth and that His Word is not to be trifled with in any manner whatsoever. If we are not going to obey our own parents then what is ever going to stop you from doing exactly the same to God Himself? If we do go round breaking laws then we will probably find it easy to break God’s laws without thinking too much about it. So when God reminds us that we need to obey our parents, it is not just so that our parents can have their own way but rather that we learn the proper way of doing things in the beginning.
Obeying your parents is not just about being seen to do the right thing because if we are not following them in our hearts it will pretty quickly show through to everything we do and not just our actions toward them. God wants our inner being to follow Him and to worship Him. He wants us to know Him from our hearts and not just to know Him because that is what it says in a bible somewhere. God wants us to form a relationship with Him and not just to be automatons. That means believing in Him and wanting to obey Him so that we can please Him; what use is doing something unless you are actually going to believe in what you are doing?
As Gill puts it, they are not just to be feared “but they are to be honoured in thought, word, and gesture”. In other words we have to respect them as well as all that they stand for. But respecting them and obeying them we then begin to know what is required of us to live in unity with them. Just the way that we speak to our parents can tell them a lot about how you think of them (or not). When they give us ‘that look’ it is because they know what we should be doing and they can see what we are actually doing. If the two things do not quite meet up then we are not doing things right! We need to obey all those people who are in authority and we need to do it with the right attitude in the way we look at them, speak to them and even lift them up!
Points to Ponder:
How do you go about obeying people in charge?
Are you allowing your feelings to get the better of you?