Saturday 22 Oct 2011

Saturday Reading: 1 Corinthians 9 16-17




17  For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I am entrusted with a stewardship.



Devotion:

Sometimes I wonder at the ways in which people do gain a living. We listen to the news and find out how many people are living through ill-gotten gains and wonder how they have the gall to be able to do such things; how they justify to themselves the worthiness of doing something unjust just so that they can live a more comfortable life. But it takes all types of people to make up this world and we are just a small part of the whole picture. If nobody did do anything unjust the world would seemingly be such a marvellous place to live and yet we cannot imagine such a place as that – but Christ can because He is preparing that place for us right now!



Paul looked at his ministry as a work of love and not a means to live by. He looked at the task that God had given him as a stewardship and not a job that he had to work at. If we were to look our place in God’s great plan as that then we would be more inclined to seek out and do that which is righteous rather than to do what other people like for better reward. If we took that view then we should aim for a better place with God and not a better place here on earth. Why should we have to worry about our short time on earth when we have an eternity awaiting us?



The short answer to that is that we should be worried about what we do here, but not as to worry that we should have a job to live by but rather that we should be an example for others to see God’s ways through us. It would be an impossible task to show others God’s absolute ways, but through the difference between our ways and the world’s ways, we should be able to show others that we are different and that that is because we live for God and not ourselves. The world will convince you that you have to live for gain so that you can have more whilst you live. Christ tries to show us the truth in that we should be living so that we can gain more in eternity. Christ tries to show us that we should live for a better future and not for a better present. If we aim for our better future with Christ, the presence will be a whole lot better anyway.



Points to Ponder:

Do you live for the present?



Are you aiming for God’s future?

Friday 21 Oct 2011

Friday Reading: 2 Corinthians 5 13-15




14  For the love of Christ constrains us, judging this, that if one died for all, then all died;



Devotion:

There seems to be two ways of looking at Christians when looking in from the outside world: either we are out of our minds and we are thinking of all manner of outrageous things, or we are totally right. This is where we can either get very confused and hide in a hole, or we can give our burdens to God and allow Him to work things out. As long as the rest of the world is thinking that we are nuts, the only thing we can do is to make sure that even though they think that of us, we must be consistent in lifting up God. We may be regarded as the nuts, but when they see all of us ‘nuts’ doing the same things and lifting up God... maybe they will eventually see there is actually something in this! No matter what the world thinks of us, our actions are going to count. 



We can give God the glory through everything that we do and that should be our aim. It should be the fact that we love God with all our hearts, souls and minds that drives us forward so that we can lift His name up in our stead. As long as we all tell the same story, that Christ is the Son of God, came to die for us, rose from the dead and paid for our sin debt, then people are going to have to listen. It is when we fracture our witness and each tell of something different that we get others lost. It is the very fact that the bible stands up for itself that has drawn us to it in the first place. It is through those coherent accounts that we have come to the conclusion that it is the truth.



Eventually people will be able to work it out for themselves; so long as we give a consistent account of what we do believe. If two so called eye witnesses came forward to defend someone in court, the person will most likely be defended properly if they agree. But if they disagree then none of the jury will believe them because their stories differ. God made sure that the people who He chose to commit His Word to paper were people who would all be able to recall the truth.



Points to Ponder:

Do you lift up the truth?



Is your witness in agreement with God’s Word?

Thursday 20 Oct 2011

Thursday Reading: Luke 1 1-4



Key Verse: Luke 1 2

2  even as those who from the beginning delivered to us, becoming eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word,



Devotion:

Sometimes the only way to get the truth out is to write it down. Not just to write it down and send off; far too many gaffs have been made with people writing what is on the tips of their tongues and pressing ‘send’ before even reading back what they have written. Daily we hear about people saying something before they have thought about the consequences and then getting into trouble for what they have said when all they may have been wanting to do was to straighten things out. If we are not careful of what we say (and do) then we are nothing more than another gossip column out there in the wild.



When Luke put pen to paper it was not lightly and it was certainly not without thought. What he wrote down was not just the truth as far and complete as he could remember but rather the inspired words that God had him remember. How anyone could remember so much detail and completeness is beyond me – or maybe that shows my weakness. What Luke has given us is something that we can rely upon because it is as correct as he could remember. The fact that we have other gospels and letters that support those same truths gives me a clear indication that it is the actual truth as witnessed by many eye witnesses. That sort of witness in court would be deemed as enough to close the case file!



How can we ignore the witness of so many who have put their lives aside so that they can bring it forward for us to read? Should we not instead take a leaf out of their book and step forward with that truth so that others may hear of it? How will anyone else find out the truth when governments are taking that truth out of schools and replacing it with all manner of religions that do not have the same reliable eye-witness accounts? The fact is that man has already rejected God and is now encouraging others to reject Him too – we need to stand firm and stop the rot!



Points to Ponder:

Do you wonder at the soundness of some cases in court?



Do you wonder how people cannot see God’s truth?

Wednesday 19 Oct 2011

Wednesday Reading: Acts 4 15-22



Key Verse: Acts 4 20

20  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.



Devotion:

When the disciples came up against the Sadducees it was not a fair fight at all because God was only on one side! The disciples wanted to make sure that people heard the truth and that they knew who was in charge. As far as the Sadducees were concerned it was the men of the Sanhedrin that had the last say in everything because they were meant to be the ones keeping the law. The unfortunate part was that the Sanhedrin itself had lost its way because it was now seeking its own ways instead of upholding God’s Word. Man’s laws had become entwined with God’s laws and it was man’s laws that were currently being followed – because man found it a whole lot easier to follow his own law!



God does not want us to keep the law just because the words say one thing. God wants us to follow His ways and to uphold His law. We have imposed so many of our own rules and regulations that we have made up religions based around God’s Words. The religions describe their own rules and regulations and so are not God’s ways but man’s ways disguised as a religion instead.



If we are going to sit back and allow those religions to form society then we should not expect anything less than man to glorify himself rather than for God to be given the glory He deserves. When that happens we will very quickly find that man leaves God behind and tries to walk by himself; he may as well declare war on God for all the good that he thinks he can get out of disobeying God. It is not our thing to lift up anyone but God. If I ever start lifting up myself instead of God, please pull me down into the pit that I am digging for myself! God wants us to follow His ways and His law. That is why He has given it to us in the first place – but in order to follow it, we have to first read it, understand it and then apply it in our lives. That way others may begin to learn through our example that God is in charge.



Points to Ponder:

How much do you like teaching?



How much do you like learning?

Tuesday 18 Oct 2011

Tuesday Reading: Job 32 18-20



Key Verse: Job 32 20

20  I will speak so that I may be refreshed; I will open my lips and answer.



Devotion:

I always find it hard to take a few verses out of the book of Job because one has to be able to read through so much to find out the truth behind what is said. It is that sort of encouragement that we should be seeking to obtain from God’s Word; not seeking a single verse to read or a couple of verses to satisfy our hunger, but rather to read through His Word and find out what God has to say to us.



If we take these few words from Elihu we may look at them and think that we ought to take a leaf out of his book and allow our own words to burst forward when we feel at our fullest. But the more we read the more we should wonder whether he should have just kept quiet as his heart first told him! God continues to fight a battle with us because of the outside temptation that surrounds us all the time. Far too often we will simply go with the flow and allow what we think is best to come out instead of waiting properly on God. We shout out what comes to mind and are even sure that it is what people ought to hear, but do not give proper time to God’s Word itself.



If we are to take the truth out with us then we have to be the ones who are looking into God’s Word to start with. It is His Word that will encourage us, strengthen us and give us the wisdom that we need to take it with us. If we build ourselves up and allow our own words to come spewing out, then how are others to know whether it is what God would have them to hear. God has made us stewards of His Word. That means that we have to be diligent about what we do and say, ensuring that what we take out with us is God’s Word and not our own. We may be the ones with the college degree or years of experience, but that is nothing compared to the wisdom of a single sentence from God! Let us not get caught up in glorifying our own ways and words but let us lift up our Glorious and Mighty King of Kings!



Points to Ponder:

Would you learn more from a biography or being with someone?



Are you sticking with God?