Saturday Reading: 1 Corinthians 3 1-4
 
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 3 2
2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

Devotion:
When we were babies we were fed with milk because our bodies could not take real food. As we grew up we slowly were able to convert to eating solid foods and then onto things like meat. Our introduction to life was just milk which contained enough in it to get us going. In our spiritual life we have to start out by getting to know the simple things in Christ’s life before we can grow enough to enjoy the more complex and more meaningful things. Christ has given us a complete diet in His Word whereby we can grow from babies through to adults and then beyond when we do die and can commune with Him.

Just like people are all different and take to different food stuffs we are all different in our Spiritual lives and take to different parts of God’s Word. My favourite verse may not be the same as other Christians favourite verses; mine just happens to be one of the most loved verses in the bible and certainly one which is said the most: John 3 16. My favourite “food stuff” from Gods Word is all the places where He tells us of His love for us and how we can give that same love to others – you could say that my diet is towards Gods Love – much the same as calling someone a vegetarian because they eat mainly vegetables.

When we look at the world around us we should be looking at it as a parent would look at a newborn baby or babies. We may well be petrified to start with because we don’t know how to feed them, we don’t know where to start, we don’t know what is best... But just like a real parent we will figure out things is we follow God’s example. Start with the essentials and work your way forward. We don’t have to hit people with the whole bible at once but rather give them a little at a time showing them by example as we go. God will be with us every step of the way. Give someone their first taste of God’s precious milk today.

Points to Ponder:
What is your favourite food?

What are your favourite verses from the bible?

Friday Reading: 1 Peter 2 1-3

Key Verse: 1 Peter 2 1

Devotion:
If I had to pick a verse from the bible that summed up what my mother has taught me all my life it is 1 Peter 2 1. Mum has always taught us to try our best to be decent to others at all times, to try to put aside our pet hates and things that wind us up and to move forward with an open heart. I have a tapestry in my bedroom that Mum made for me which echo’s this by saying that peace must start at home; or in other words we have to be the ones to start the ball rolling...

But it is not just about being at peace with things or offering peace but rather that we should be at peace with God to start with. Mum has always continued to show us just how much God has meant in her life no matter what the rest of us got up to. It is that core faith in God that all of us need to seek; not as a pirate seeking a treasure but rather as a child seeking its parent. God wants us to come to Him with open hearts so that we will be able to listen to Him ad to e able to grow with Him.

No matter how hard we try to make peace we will always find that we fail before too long. What needs to happen is that we need a higher authority to intervene so that all parties will stand up and listen. What better or higher authority can we have than Jesus Christ, our Creator? With Christ as our guide and spiritual leader we will be able to start that peaceful walk and others will be able to be encouraged through what we do. We may be an example but it is Christ that will work in their hearts to bring about the same love and peace that we can carry forward with us. Live for God. Live with God.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you listen to you mother?

How often do you walk with God?

Thursday Reading: James 1 18-20

Key Verse: James 1 19
19  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

Devotion:
How many times have you disappointed someone through the things that you have said or done? When we look back on things in our lives we begin to see things in a new light and we begin to realise how many things we have done that are out of character – or at least we think they are out of character. You see, many of the things that we have done in the past are not so much out of character by indicative of the character that we were at that time. We change as we go along, changing with moods and with actions or reactions towards others.

We can be thankful that Christ does not change over time because He does not have to; the truth will always remain the truth! He is the one that created us in the beginning and He is our God; we are the ones that turn our backs on Him or on His people. We are the ones that have times when we are slow to anger and times when we blow our tops at the slightest thing. Christ remains as constant now as He always has been and it is that example that we need to look to every day of our lives.

The emotive times that we show do not all come from God because we are the ones doing our own thing. God has given us emotion so that we can live in peace and happiness with others not so that we can blow our tops off and have great big arguments. His creation was for peace of forbearance and not for hatred. How are we going to be the examples for Christ that He wants us to be unless we walk forward in His light? How are we going to be his likeness unless we at least try to be more like Him? Christ is Love. Christ is Just. Christ is always. Christ is ours and we are His.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you monitor your actions?

How often do you think “what would Jesus do”?

Tuesday Reading: Colossians 4 5-6
 
Key Verse: Colossians 4 6
6  Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
 
Devotion:
How often have you tried to set an example only to find out afterwards that what you were trying to portray or the example you were trying to set was not what has come over? Maybe it was something that you did or something that you said that now has someone else thinking that you are not how they thought you were? Each one of us tries to show others what we are like by example. Each one of us tries to say what we are like through the clothes we wear, the things we do and the things we say. How others see us is not always going to be how we would like them to see us...

Beside being honest with other people, we need to be honest with ourselves and not to try and pull the wool over our own eyes! You will be surprised at how easy we can do that too... You may think that that may be impossible because we should always know what is going through our own minds but conning yourself into believing something different can be easily done! Of course you will find out the truth a whole lot quicker because you cannot hide from it all the time; but it is quite doable.

The first thing that will most likely get ourselves into trouble is our own mouths. We do tend to allow our mouths to come out and say all manner of things we have learned from others... and that then becomes the yardstick by which other people then start to judge us by. If we are going to want to take Christ's example then we have to say and do what He would have us to. He wants us to be able to shine with His light in a manner not unlike He did when He was physically here amongst men. We need to be like a freshly picked spice giving out the best flavour and right where it is needed. Christ was and continues to be our example by which we can live.

Points to Ponder:
How bright is your light?

How bright could it be?