Tuesday Reading: Matthew 6 19-21

Key Verse: Matthew 6 21
21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Devotion:
If we are going to be aiming at making sure that our relationship with Christ is a real relationship then we are also going to find out that our outlook in life changes. That is where another problem is for many people where the draw of earthly riches is greater than the call of God. It is a sad thing that we do focus so much on things on earth rather than looking forward to our heavenly eternity with Christ – but I guess that is life for many people.

Have you ever had anyone break into your home of your car and steal things? It really is very upsetting to come home and find that someone uninvited has come into your home and taken things that you may have held dear. Just after I first moved into my own flat in South Africa and just after having bought a new stereo system someone decided that they needed my new prize possession! Again, soon after having installed a tape deck (yes that was the in thing back then) in my car, someone decided to relieve me of that too. Needless to say I have kept my possessions a bit quieter since then... But that is the thing, everything that was taken was replaceable – nothing really was lost.

When we come to what we will keep in heaven that is going to be a different story. For one thing our stay in heaven is going to be a tad longer than our stay in any one place here on earth; come to think of it our whole stay on earth is going to be nothing compared to our eternity in heaven. So why should we look at the short term here when we should be focusing on the forever in heaven. If we want to be able to be in possession of treasures in heaven then we had better start preparing now and not waiting until we get there and finding out that we have none! God wants us to aim for our future with Him and not just wait until we get there. He wants us to prepare now for what is ahead. Be ready. Be busy now!

Points to Ponder:
How long have you lived at home?

What do you look forward to in heaven?

Monday Reading: Matthew 6 16-18

Key Verse: Matthew 6 16
16  And when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, of a sad face. For they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to fast. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.

Devotion:
How often do you do something just for others to see you do it? Yes we have all been there and done something just to make sure that others have seen us – and where did it get us? Well, if you were lucky enough and they did not find out the real reason yet then you may be thinking that you have got away with it... not so... Your reward was the reaction that you got but the truth will still find you out and the truth will give back it’s just reward as well.

We may be able to fool people some of the time but we can never fool God and doing anything that fools others into thinking that our relationship with God is anything but that it is is asking God to lie to others. Guess what. He will not go there! How can we expect anything from God that is not just?

When you have had the privilege of having children and have seen the things that they try to get up to then you begin to see what it would have been like when you tried to pull the wool over your parents eyes. Yes there would have been times when they would have quietly ignored your ways just to try to get you to learn things for yourself. Yes there would have been times when they tried to point you back in the right direction. Can you not see that that is what Christ is constantly trying to do with you? Can you not see that His love for you knows no bounds? It is not a love that is pushed in everyone else’s faces but rather a love that is private and secure. I long to hug the people that I love to show them that I love them; but I don’t have to because I know that my love for them is true and secure. God does not need our love and respect to be a public show, He wants it to be real! God longs for a real relationship with each one of us.

Points to Ponder:
Who are the people that you really love?

Make your love with God real!

Sunday Reading: Proverbs 22 8

Key Verse: Proverbs 22 8
8  He who sows iniquity shall reap vanity; and the rod of his anger shall fail.

Devotion:
No matter how many people you look at and think about how doing things wrong can benefit you the reality is that they cannot. Yes we do see many people doing things wrong and even evil things being done and we see that those people seem to enjoy a good life and... well we could go on about describing all the earthly things but the reality is that those things are just earthly. No matter how much money you can gain, belonging or other earthly possessions, nothing of what you gain here can be taken to heaven! That means that in eternity, everything we have here is but dust...

The more we like to build up earthly treasures and the like the more we are becoming vain because the only profit we have is earthly profit. Is it so bad to have earthly profit? Far from it because there are many things that will lift up your soul but it is the way that we go about things that brings us down. The more we get involved in the world the more we find that we are willing to bend the rules just like all the other people around us. The more that we bend the rules the more that we separate ourselves from God. The more that we do that, the more that we find that we break down our relationship with Him.

No matter how much we build up things on earth the reality is that they end as soon as we die. No they won’t go up in a puff of smoke because there will probably be a long queue of people waiting to pick up the crumbs, but as far as we are concerned, we no longer have them. We may like to think that we are in charge of so much on earth and we might like to think that we have built up an empire where we have followers or people that we are in charge of – well, guess what, when we pop our clogs they are probably going to be the ones that breathe a sigh of relief! Why should we even try to do that if we know that it may be damaging to their souls right now? God wants us to learn from Him. He is JUST!

Points to Ponder:
Do you have your own empire?

Do you realise what happens when you die?

Saturday Reading: Matthew 9 16-17

Key Verse: Matthew 9 16
16  No one puts a piece of new cloth onto an old garment; for that which is put in to fill it up takes from the garment, and the tear is made worse.

Devotion:
If you happen to tear your favourite shirt you may well try to get it repaired rather than throwing it away and buying a new one, but trying to repair a good shirt that has nothing wrong is a bit pointless – unless you are adjusting it to fit properly. Likewise you would probably not put on your favourite shirt before climbing under the car to have a go at fixing it; that would be left for the proper overalls or old clothes! So what has this to do with God? Well we could look at our relationship in the same way as a shirt. When it is new and fresh it is best treated with care so that it will not get messed up before you can enjoy it. When we are young Christians we should be treating our relationship with Christ with respect and care too.

Likewise with the comparison with the wineskins. Granted we do not keep our wine in wineskins anymore but rather is bottle that we can seal properly. But would you take a freshly make drink of any kind and place it in a dirty, used bottle for keeping until later, or would you make sure that the bottle you were using was clean so that your drink would stay fresh too? So why then do we take our life with Christ and dump it into dirty bodies and expect something clean to come out of it?

When we place our faith and trust in Christ we are made clean because Christ forgives us of all our sins. That means that our bodies are clean of all that sin; no longer do we have all the left-overs and dregs left behind. God would not want to be with us if we were not made clean because He cannot abide sin. What we do from that point on is normally quite an uphill struggle because we are constantly fighting against our old ways which are ways of sin. We have a new spirit within us so why should we try and force all that old garbage back into the same body? The answer is, we shouldn’t. As time goes by we may feel like we are getting worn out, but Christ will continue to give us the strength by continuing to mend us and make us as good as new.

Points to Ponder:
Do you play in your best work clothes?

Do you expect Christ to work in your rags?