Monday 14 Feb 2011

Monday Reading: Romans 13 8-10

Key Verse: Romans 13 10
10  Love works no ill to its neighbour, therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law.

Devotion:
What do you think the world would be like if our currency was not money but love? Would we be any different? We would still work to earn it, spend it, share it and there would also be many who take it unlawfully, deal in it and even bank it to try and expand it... and that then begins to show us the futility of what we expect money to do for us. We expect so much from the inanimate and yet we ignore people and their feelings. If we were to focus on love for one day would we be able to see any differently than we do now? Well, Valentine ’s Day is upon us and I’m pretty sure that millions will be spent on flowers and cards and I would love to think that the love shared today would last a lot longer than the money spent today.

God gave us His laws in the beginning because we had corrupted the world through our wrong doings. He gave us a very important set of 10 rules through which we could hope to live a better life. Jesus came into our world and upheld those laws and summarised them in one final rule to love our neighbours as ourselves. We try to take care of ourselves in the best way that we can; or do we? Love is something that has to start within yourself before it can move on to others. Christ has given us the ability to love and we are the ones that need to exercise that ability. We have to start with love because you cannot build love on top of anything else. So if we want to start with love, whom do we start with?

Well besides the obvious or loving Christ we have to start with ourselves. We cannot really begin to love others until we get to the stage of loving ourselves. I’m not talking about the building up of oneself above others but rather the simple acceptance of who we are. If we can love ourselves for who we are and love Christ for all that He gives us, then we have a platform upon which we can build real love. We can then know what love is and take it with us. Christians love need to strengthen us before we can be ready for the love for a single person that we wish for.

Points to Ponder:
Are you satisfied with yourself?

Do you know that God love you as you are?

Sunday 13 Feb 2011


Sunday Reading: John 13 34-35

Key Verse: John 13 35
35  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Devotion:
Throughout the Old Testament we are given examples of how fathers, when they were close to death, would give instructions to their children after setting their houses in order. I know that is a bit of a morbid thought to start a devotion on but that is probably close to what Christ was doing here. He knew the path that lay before Him and He knew that He would soon be dead and would no longer walk with the disciples so giving them the final set of instructions came naturally. He already looked upon them as His children, the same as He looks upon us as His children.

His instruction to them was quite simple but is one that too many ignore every day. His instruction was to love other people as He loved them. His love for them was about to take on a whole new meaning and giving them this instruction now so that they could remember it was a good plan – of course every plan of God is a good plan! We tend to pick and chose the people that we love but that is not what God is teaching us here because He would rather that we love everyone so that we would not be tempted into ignoring some. Yes we do exactly that; we ignore some people! That is a common thing amongst us and Christ wanted us to know that and see it as one of our failings that needed to be addressed.

If we pick and chose who we want to be our friends then we are not going to get very far with following God’s instructions because His instructions are to everybody and not just the people that we pick and chose! There are always people that He sends into your life that He wants you to care for. If we go about choosing who we want out of the people He gives us then we are not following His will but our own will. When God gives you a love for people there is no holding back because you know that God is in it. What you do with that love is sometimes difficult for us because we have our own ideas of what love should entail. Stop trying to be you and allow God to have a go!

Points to Ponder:
Who have you chosen in your life?

Have you ignored God’s children?


Saturday 12 Feb 2011

Saturday Reading: John 14 15

Key Verse: John 14 15
15  If you love me, keep my commandments.

Devotion:
What do you think when you read the New Testament? Do you think of this as a new way in which Christ would have us to live and respond? Do you look upon it as being what Christ told us because all the rest of it has been what man has written down? Do you view the New and Old Testaments as being entirely different? Well how about taking a bit of time off and reading through the Old Testament after you have read through the New Testament. When we see words like these that Jesus spoke we should not take them as being something new because God has been trying to get the same message across to us from the beginning!

We can look back through the books written by the prophets and see how many times God reminded the people (as in Jeremiah 7) that they should be obeying Him instead of doing all manner of sacrifices and ceremonies to appease God. God does not want man to stand on ceremony for the sake of it but rather to come to Him in humbleness, openness and in love. When Jesus said “If you love me, keep my commandments” He did not change anything but rather enforced the idea that we need to be in a personal relationship with Him. Our belief in God in between us and Him. It is very personal. It is not for show or pomp and ceremony but rather us coming to Him.

I’m not saying that we should drop all ceremonies and stop going to church and rather sit at home and pray to Him alone. What I am saying is that we need to listen to what He is saying to us, personally, and then follow what He has already laid down for us. He has given us both the New and Old Testaments so that we can know that He has not changed from the beginning of time – we change, we falter, we fall, we sin. Christ came to this earth as a Human to fulfil the prophecies. He came to show us that He is keeping His word always. He came to show us just how much He does love us – let us now move to show Him that we do love Him by keeping His commandments.

Points to Ponder:
How do you show others your love?

How do you show God your love?

Friday 11 Feb 2011


Friday Reading: Ecclesiastes 7 7-10

Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 7 10
10  Do not say, Why was it that the former days were better than these? For you do not ask wisely in regard to this.

Devotion:
How many times have you said something like “it was so much better a year ago”? There are many times when we look at what is happening in our lives and we think of how things used to be and we then dwell on the thoughts of how we may like it to be the same as it was... But the world moves on and we have to move with it – that does not mean that we have to give in to it or that we should go with the flow but rather that we have to change because the world around us changes. The more that we feel that things build up against us the more that we feel trapped and try to find a way out. The more that we cannot see any way out the more depressed or trapped we feel and the more we start to look back and wonder if it was better back then.

God always wants us to look forward and not to continually look back. When we come to know Him personally then we are changed for the better. Nothing before that can ever be looked upon as being good because we now know that it was not. Even when things are heaped up against us we must never imagine that it was better to be under sin than to be with Christ. He is the one that has promised us that He will never give us too much so that we cannot bear it. If we are thinking that then are we not trying to fight our own battles instead of giving them to Him? It is so easy to think that we can...

Anger is one of those things that rages within us and bursts out as soon as we don’t want it to. Anger is a force that we cannot always control because we give in to other things rather than focusing on what God would like us to see. God is trying to open our eyes to the world around us and some of it we probably do not want to see because it will upset us – but sometimes we do have to know the truth so that we can move forward with Him. He wants to guide us...

Points to Ponder:
What do you look back on most?

Are you actually letting Christ guide you?


Thursday 10 Feb 2011

Thursday Reading: Proverbs 9 7-10

Key Verse: Proverbs 9 7
7  One rebuking a scorner gets shame to himself; and one rebuking a wicked one gets himself a blemish.

Devotion:
What is the first thing that you do when someone puts you down? I'm not just talking about someone telling you to your face how stupid you are or how weak you are but about the times when someone says something simple like ‘but you’re not as beautiful as ...’ What goes through your mind at those times when you know that someone is putting you down even if they are not saying it in so many words? What goes through your mind when someone puts someone else down? Do you allow your feelings to take over, or your anger to well up? Do you not realise that this is like a dam wall with the water building up more and more – soon enough something has got to give...

Maybe you have already been there and you have already blown your top at those other people, maybe you said something publicly when they said something in private? The more that we allow ourselves to get caught up in these type of arguments the more we find that the issue grows bigger each time it is raised. It may even grow to such an extent that you lose control and do something stupid and bring shame to yourself when that is not what you thought would happen. When we try to tell off those that are wicked we will always find that things backfire pretty spectacularly and we are the ones that end up getting egg on our faces and not them.

God does not want us to be the ones trying to tell those people about how they are doing things wrong. God wants us to continue spreading the truth, His Word. He is the one that will do the convicting because He is the one that is without sin to start with. We cannot and should not try and do His job! There is nothing wrong with telling those that wish to listen because they have chosen to listen and learn. They are the ones who have chosen to fear God, to respect Him and to find out more about Him. It all begins somewhere; don’t let it end because of you!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you argue?

Who do you look at as the ultimate authority?