October 27: 1 Samuel 15 20-23
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 15 22
But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
Devotion:
It took quite a lot to get Saul to realise what he had done and how he had walked away from God! Some may think they will never reject the Lord in the way Saul had done, but if truth be told, we all succumb to the world around us and give in to those ways rather than what God has taught us – even if we only do it once!
In his own eyes, Saul had done what Samuel told him should be done for God; yet when we look at it we see where he went wrong and think it silly he could not see the truth. When we walk away from God’s ways, we lose sight of the truth God has given us and focus on the truth the world forces on us – and they are not one and the same! Saul followed his own ways and the ways the people thought were right instead of God’s ways.
Saul even went as far as selecting the best animals for the sacrifice to God… but he was doing this after he had already gone his own ways. We face the same problem in our own lives – we do what we think is right and then we try to justify it by applying God’s rules in our own ways instead of the ways God intended them to be done. No amount of our own sacrifice is good enough to cover sins we have done intentionally and that is why Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice for us.
He did not do this so we could go and do what we want but rather that we could come to Him and ask for forgiveness when we finally see what we have done wrong. From that moment on He would rather we followed God’s law than continue in our own ways and expect Jesus to always cover our sins… He will! But we should not take Him for granted as we do many things in our lives…
Points to Ponder:
Do you follow you own ways and expect others to trust you?
Jesus followed God’s ways to show us we could trust Him as our ultimate sacrifice!
October 26: John 14 8-11
Key Verse: John 14 8
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Devotion:
Philip’s reaction was pretty much the same as Thomas’ reaction – show us something we can see so we can believe it! This is pretty much the reaction many of us have in our walk with Christ too – “just back it up with a miracle and I will believe!”
Jesus had done many miracles already and had given people many opportunities to believe and trust in Him – but when it came to saying He and God are one, even the disciples started to go back to asking for physical proof! Jesus wants us to trust Him through His words and not just through physical proofs because faith is believing in the unseen; and it is that faith which will carry us through when we are faced with difficult physical situations.
Trusting Jesus, I mean really trusting Him, is what fulfils that promise of eternal life in heaven. What good is believing if you have to have physical proof before you believe? I guess that is pretty much how many of us are brought up in our lives – requiring evidence before we trust and believe someone… and that comes from so many people around us not telling us the truth or going back on their words! This is not just something on a friend level but has become part of every part of our lives from friends through to families and even the people in charge of governing us.
This is something the disciples would have seen in their lives; we hear so much about how wicked and deceitful the tax collectors were at that time, but it would not have stopped there, it would have been endemic in their lives just as it is for us nowadays too. Jesus wants us to step out of that world and to step into the world where we can believe in and trust Him for everything in our lives.
Points to Ponder:
Do you find it hard to trust people who have let you down?
Has Jesus ever let you down?
October 25: John 14 1-7
Key Verse: John 14 7
If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.
Devotion:
This passage is headed “Jesus Comforts His Disciples” in my bible… but the introduction of the idea Jesus was going to prepare them a place to stay and He was going to come back and collect them to take them there was a bit much for them to comprehend when Jesus said they knew of this place! Thomas, for one, questioned this!
How did Jesus respond to Thomas – by saying that he should know if he really did know God; almost questioning Thomas’ belief. I think this was a whole lot more than questioning Thomas’ belief. I believe this was Jesus asserting His authority as God and making sure the disciples knew that Jesus and God were one; not only telling them He was the only one who would prepare heaven for them, but also the one who would be responsible for them to be able to get to heaven… because He and God are one!
I am pretty sure this was a bit ‘mind blowing’ for them to accept at first, but as Jesus continued to talk them through it, they began to realise this was not only the truth but also God’s plan from the beginning. The more you try and rationalise the physics of Jesus and God being one, the more you may become confused by the whole fact. But when you look into the spiritual side of what Jesus had done, was doing and would do from that moment on, you may too begin to realise just how much Jesus loves each one of us!
The truth is not always easy to prove through science because God is not bound by science as we know it. God continued to guide Jesus every step of the way and wants to be able to do the same with us – it’s the listening part which we do find hard because we live in this physical world and assume everything must be bound by the science we have been taught. Faith is believing in the unseen and trusting words like this which Jesus teaches us.
Points to Ponder:
Is your mind bound by science?
Don’t let your heart be bound by science but rather trust is Christ!
October 24: Matthew 9 12-13
Key Verse: Matthew 9 13
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Devotion:
One of the best things I like about the books of the gospel in the New Testament is how they all tell the same story but each of the writers recount the words in slightly different ways. Just as we remembered how Jesus said He was here for the sinners, Matthew also wrote those words; but he went ahead and focused on what we should be doing after hearing those words.
The other gospels simply state that God does not require sacrifices, but Matthew asks the question – “what should we be doing about this?”
We are not here to go hunting for the people who are going to listen and build up a church of happy people who are inwardly looking. We are here to reach out into the world for those who have not listened and open their eyes to what God has said. If we reach out into communities where God’s Word has all but been forgotten, then we are doing what God has asked of us: to “go out into the world” and take the gospel with us. If we do not reach out into these communities then we are turning our backs on the people who need hope the most!
One of the greatest things I have learned from coming to live on a needy estate is that we must never judge people! We may have been raised in a very different environment where we have learned a set of right and wrong rules and limits. People in other areas have learned a very different set of rules and limits, not because they have not obeyed God, but because they have needed to learn life in a very different way. Respect what they have learned and simply open up God’s Word and your heart to show them how God can give them hope in what may seem like a hopeless situation – we probably have been in hopeless points in our own lives…
Points to Ponder:
Are you willing to go out into the world and spread God’s love and mercy?
Why not start by meeting people where they live and showing them hope?
October 23: Hebrews 10 1-7
Key Verse: Hebrews 10 4
It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Devotion:
It does feel good to be able to sit down each morning and study God’s Word and be reminded of all Christ has done for us; it has been a long time coming after being hospitalised for so long and recovering too. I found I could not sit and study anything during this time – so I turned to prayers. During my time of ‘just prayers’ I was continually reminded of Christ’s mercy and the overwhelming fact He was still with me during all that time!
Today’s thoughts turn to how Christ explained to the Hebrews the real mercy and the love and hope behind it all. I have studied a bit about the old ways and how they would sacrifice endlessly to try and ensure their sins were covered; this would mean spilling blood and allowing people to see that blood so they could be convinced the sacrifice had been done according to God’s requests. Today we can read words like this in our bibles to remember just how far Jesus was willing to go.
God did not want the continual animal sacrifices because they were temporary and only covered sins which had already been done; it was a show of the repentance of the people at that time and was never meant to be a permanent solution to our sinful lives… So Jesus stepped forward and offered Himself as the greatest and final sacrifice to God the Father which would cover all the sins of the past, but also those which we continue to do nowadays!
This was not an act of martyrdom to get into God’s good books but a final and total submission of one man which would be sufficient to all mankind for all time. All of the Hebrew law pointed to this final act for the Son of God to be the sacrifice which would appease God the Father once and for all! We have this promise made by Jesus and have eyewitness accounts of just how Jesus was able to give up His own life because of His love for us. This does not mean we don’t have to do anything – we still do need to acknowledge Jesus as our saviour and worship Him.
Points to Ponder:
Does this mean we don’t have to do anything?
How often do you talk to Him, acknowledging Him as saviour?