Tuesday Reading: John 21 15-19
 
Key Verse: John 21 17
17  He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? Peter was grieved because He said to him a third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.

Devotion:
How many times have you been asked to do things that you did not want to do? I am not just talking about the simple things such as tidying your room when your parents asked you to do so but to the things that have been asked of you when you could come up with many arguments as to why you should not have to do things. One such thing may be to have to tell of the things that you friends have got up to when confronted by people in authority. None of us like to be the one who lets the cat out of the bag as to what our friends have got up to, even when we know that they have done wrong; but the truth has to come out.

When Christ confronted Peter before His death He told Peter that he would deny Christ three times before the morning, and he did. Now that Christ had risen and Peter knew his own weaknesses, Christ reminds him of those weaknesses but also forewarns him that he will have to face up to things that he does not like because of his love for Christ. When we go out and try to tell others of Christ’s ways and His Word we are faced with all manner of criticism, mockery and even persecution for the truth that we try to tell. Christ warned Peter that he would have to face such things and even to face a terrible death because of those beliefs. Thankfully the law does protect us to a large extent today but there is coming a time when that will not be the case.

When we love Christ we have to be prepared to stand up and be counted as a supporter of Christ. He was the one who willingly stood up in our stead even though we willingly went against Him in our lives. He was the one who showed us His amazing love first and did it completely. Let us therefore be willing to complete our love for Him by showing others we too are willing to lift up the truth – always...

Points to Ponder:
Do you like to always tell the truth?

Will you always tell others the truth about God?

Monday Reading: Matthew 28 11-15
 
Key Verse: Matthew 28 15
15  And taking the silver, they did as they were taught. And this saying was spread among the Jews until today.
 
Devotion:
How many times have you been told a lie from someone whom you thought you could trust? How many times have we seen stories in the news about people in positions of trust and authority having being caught out doing terrible things? This is nothing new because this has been going on from the beginning – men have created their own stories to cover up their evil deeds and then have corrupted many others by propagating those same lies, spreading them faster than the truth. But note how the truth always comes out in the end; maybe not within the lifetime of that person but the truth does always prevail. So much more the corruption is seen when that person has already died themselves.

All too often we like to cover over the lies so that we do not have to admit them to others. All too often we hide the deceit so that we do not have to talk of it. God’s Word is different because it does tell of the deceit and yet we continue to cover it over. The religious leaders at that time thought it good to spread lies about Jesus’ resurrection because if they had to admit to it being true then they would have to admit to the lies that they were living themselves. They rather kept themselves looking good in the eyes of those around them than to tell the truth and set everyone free. They wanted to be in charge and they would do anything to keep it that way.

Christ warns us that many people will pretend to come in His name and many people will do things saying that they come from Christ. Unless they agree to what is in God’s Word then they most certainly do not come from Christ. He has already given us the truth in His Word and He will never go back on that truth – how could we trust Him if He did. Man is the only one who will corrupt God’s Word just to get his own way. Man is not the one we need to follow – Christ alone is our Saviour and our King.

Points to Ponder:
What lies have deceived you?

Did you compare it to God’s Word?

Sunday Reading: Matthew 28 1-8
 
Key Verse: Matthew 28 6
6  He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

Devotion:
As we read our bibles we can see so many promises that have been made by God and have been kept by Him, and yet we still have doubt in our minds as to whether He will continue to keep His promises. There is so much talk and conspiracy against Christ’s teachings that we grow weary of it and start to listen to it. There is no truth in such talk and yet we give it time. Those that do not yet know Christ believe the web of lies that is told so that they too can have something to believe. They do this because they don’t want to have to admit that Christ is real. Why? Because that would make them sinners too...

None of us like to be in the wrong and to have to admit to being wrong goes against what we desire. We would rather bend the rules or believe in a lie so that we can look like we are right rather than bend down and beg for forgiveness for doing wrong. We know we should do that because we know that we have done wrong. And yet Christ, who did no wrong, willingly bowed down and took the blame for all those things that we did wrong. He willingly took on the punishment for our sins... in full!

But the most amazing part was a promise that even the disciples would not believe at first; and that is that Christ would arise from the tomb and be glorified with God in heaven! I would love to have seen the joy and excitement on those ladies faces when they were told that Christ had risen. I would loved to have been there are they told the disciples the fantastic news. Why is it such a big deal? Because none of us can raise ourselves from the dead apart from Christ Himself. None of us can be declared innocent after all our sins, unless Christ declares us innocent – because anything is possible with Christ and He wants to forgive each and every one of us!

Points to Ponder:
Do you admit to your errors?

Have you admitted them to Christ?

Saturday Reading: Matthew 26 6-13
 
Key Verse: Matthew 26 7
7  a woman came to Him, having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on His head as He reclined.

Devotion:
Can you remember a time when you gave an extravagant gift to someone? How good did it make you feel to be able to give such a gift? Has there ever been a time when someone gave you an extravagant gift and how did that make you feel. When gifts are given both the people giving the gift and the people accepting the gift know how good it is to exchange gifts. It does not have to be two way because it will often be that the person giving is the one that can afford it and the person accepting is the one that needs it.

How do we decide who is going to get a gift from us? Do we wait to see who is going to give a gift to us before we give one back to them; if we do that we could be waiting a long time before we get round to giving gifts to others! Do we wait to see who is worthy in our eyes of receiving a gift before we give them; we could be waiting a long time as we see others sin in the same way as we do. Or do we give gifts to those that we love in the hopes that they will love us more?

One thing that Christ reminds us of is that He knows what is in our hearts and if we start giving gifts because we have to or because it looks good to do so then we are the ones who are deceiving ourselves before Him. We may be able to deceive others for a short time too but the truth will always find its way out. The only way we should be giving to others is through love, be it brotherly love between Christians or love for a partner. Gifts should be given because we want to give them and not for any other reason. Gifts should be one way in that we should never expect anything back from a gift given with an open heart. Christ has given us the most amazing gift and He is not expecting anything back. For those of us who are willing to respond in our own way because we want to love Him back, He has already made a special place for us in heaven with Him. Christ wants us to remember His gift!

Points to Ponder:
DO you like giving gifts?
 
What are you willing to give to Christ?