Friday Reading: Romans 7 14-17

Key Verse: Romans 7 15

15  For that which I do, I know not. For what I desire, that I do not do; but what I hate, that I do.

Devotion:

Though we should never try to make excuses for what we get up to we must always realise that it is our sin nature that grabs hold of us and breaks us in so many ways. If we were to think back on all the things that we did wrong we should probably end up a bit of a wreck and require a whole lot of comforting to get us out of the depressed state we would end up in. Just trying to sit and think about things we have done wrong is enough to break us… so long as we know one thing in the beginning and that is God’s Word.

Without God’s Word we would never be able to know that we were doing things wrong and that we were sinning at all. But because we do have our bibles we can very quickly find out just how much sin we do have in our lives. That is where we can continue to celebrate the fact that Christ was willing to come down and be born as a human just so that He could take on the sin debt that we owe. God made it quite clear to Adam and Eve in the beginning that sin would lead to death and even after they had allowed their own desires to take control, God was still gave them a way out! 

I praise God for the very fact that He was willing to do all of this just because He loves me. That Love that He has shown me not just over the last few years but over my whole life is something that I need to bring out in my life. I don’t want to acknowledge sin or lust but unless I do I cannot show others just how much we need to rid it from our lives. It is through the sin that we break…

And God has shown us and given us everything we need to know so that we are no longer bound by that sin. We no longer have to give in to it. We no longer have to break ourselves. We no longer have to go those sinful ways… But we do have to acknowledge the fact that we are still sinners and that we still need forgiveness for those sins that we have already done – it’s just that God has already given us the way through which they can be forgiven… we just need to accept that truth!

Points to Ponder:

Do you acknowledge your sin?

Do you bring your sin before God?

Thursday Reading: Romans 7 7-13

Key Verse: Romans 7 7

7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Let it not be said! But I did not know sin except through the law. For also I did not know lust except the law said, You shall not lust.

Devotion:

Yes I know it’s the same verse… But to round things off I am going to look at the side of this verse that most of us don’t want to acknowledge and that is lust. And it is not just the lust of our bodies for others that we need to watch out for because lust runs so much deeper than that as it reaches so many parts of our lives. When we mention lust we immediately think of the lust that one would have for another person and that in itself brings a frightful thought or two into mind so I shall not dwell on this but for this devotion today!

I suppose lust could best be described as the uncontrollable desire for something that we want; or at least that is how man would describe it so that man may get away with some thoughts that he ought not to have. You see, as soon as we start talking about it we immediately go on the defensive so that we can explain things away or get around the law in some way or another… None of that is right; lust is lust and should not be something we try to sweep under the carpet after we have done it!

God has given us His Word, our Bibles, The Law, so that we can know what is wrong. He has given it to us up front so that we may learn from it and that we should not want to go there if we know that it will end up causing us an issue. Love is the exact opposite of lust because love is so pure, so strong and so righteous when compared with any part of lust. Lust is the hidden side, the side we don’t want to show, the side we don’t even want to acknowledge.

God wants us to be able to see lust for what it is before it turns round and bites us. God wants us to be able to identify the things that will lead to lust so that we may avoid them to start with. God wants us to experience love and not lust because it is the lust that corrupts and not the love. Love will build up whereas lust will break down. Be careful for love. Be careful of lust.

Points to Ponder:

Do you get carried away?

Do you trust the inerrant Word of God?

Wednesday Reading: Romans 7 7-13

Key Verse: Romans 7 7

7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Let it not be said! But I did not know sin except through the law. For also I did not know lust except the law said, You shall not lust.

Devotion:

One thing we never look forward to is being told off by a loved one. Whether that person is old than you or even younger than you, just the fact that they have to be the one to raise their concern for something that you have done wrong is in itself something to make you stop and think about what you are doing. And if it does not stop and make you think about what you have done or are doing, then hopefully being able to read about it in God’s Word will do the same.

But even that is just not enough for us sometimes and we continue on in our quest to seemingly destroy ourselves or our credibility just because we have chosen to do things wrong. Is that any real excuse to go ahead and do things wrong? Of course it is not, but we do so anyway. I am not one to throw a dampener on anything over the Christmas break, but I will give in to God’s Word and His wishes when His Word does not agree with my actions. No, I’m not planning on doing anything strange over the Christmas break, I just know that deep in my heart is this message – that love sometimes turns round and tells you off.

God is not going to wait until you destroy yourself before He will try to get you attention for something you are doing wrong. You can be assured that He will use whatever He can to raise an eyebrow from you and to try and get you to listen. If that means using that person whom you hold dearest and closest, then just maybe He will have to do that!

I can remember a time just over a decade ago (that makes me feel old) when God used someone very close to me to make me realise that I needed more of His input in my life. That moment turned my life around. Just recently He had to use a single sentence from someone dear to me to remind me of His commitment to me and hence my duty to Him. His Word stands to make us stop and think!

Points to Ponder:

Do you like telling anyone off?

Are you listening to God’s input into your life?

Tuesday Reading: Romans 12 9-13

Key Verse: Romans 12 9

9  Let love be without hypocrisy, shrinking from evil, cleaving to good;

Devotion:

There are going to be times when you think to yourself “how can I put up with them?” or “do I have to put up with them any longer?” and it is during those sorts of times that we have to cling to God’s Word for guidance and for practical advice. Our emotions will probably get the better of us and we may well launch off into something that we will later regret unless we are able to take a step back, grasp God’s Word in both hands and depend on it – not just take out of it what we want, not just interpret from it what we need but to take it wholly and apply it wholly in our lives. Not as easy as it sounds…

Love should not just be something that we have for those few special people in our lives because Christ has shown us that love is something to share with everyone. He taught us while He was here on earth that we need to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. He taught us that we need to love our enemies… So what is this love that he is teaching us? That love is honest and pure and truthful Christian love.

How would you define Christian love? Would you try to put labels or restraints on it to make sure that you would not have to love your enemies? Would you limit it to the Christians that you know so that you would not have to serve anyone else? Well, when we turn back to God’s Word it is always clearly given to us what we should be doing – putting that into practise is another thing, something that we should be aiming for in our lives.

Christian love should be without hypocrisy; don’t say one thing and do another thing. We have to live up to what we say it is and not just talk about it as if it was something to attain when we are good enough. Christian love mean turning your back on those things that we know are not right so that we can uphold righteousness; not giving in to things and saying that we are working towards getting it right. Yes we do have to start somewhere and that is often out in the sticks amongst all manner of strange things, but that does not mean that we have to go with evil in order to bring good. We should be bringing good in amongst the evil so that we can show what is good; sticking to that good to show up the evil. That means depending on God to give us strength to face up to the challenge that He wants us to accomplish and not the things that we think we can manage. Having faith and stepping forward in Christian love is a big step to take, one that must start with you.

Points to Ponder:

What are you willing to do for love?

Have you remembered what Christ has already done because of His love?