Tuesday Reading: James 1 12-18
Key Verse: James 1 17
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.
Devotion:
When things go wrong in our lives we always try to turn round and blame someone else, not always because we don’t like to accept responsibility but because we feel a whole lot better if we can blame someone else rather than taking on the blame ourselves. But when we turn round and start blaming God for things that go wrong in our world we are simply not thinking about what we are doing. That tends to happen most of the time when things do go wrong; we blame before we think! If we turn round and start blaming someone else or something else when we are the only thing that has changed then we are just not being logical!
The first thing to do when things go wrong is to look at what has actually changed. That is going to give us a pretty good idea of what has gone wrong to start with. If we look at our lives we will see that when things do go wrong in our lives it is mainly because we have done something different or we have changed something. I’m not saying that we stick to one thing and never change just because it works because we can always find better ways of doing things, but when we start with the best way then there is no better way. God’s ways are perfect and when we recognise that fact then we should have no problem with following His ways – especially when we see that they do work!
Our problem is that we always think that there could be a better way because we want there to be. Our temptation is then to go off hunting for some other way through which we do not have to stick to the rules! That then makes us wander off away from God and into sin. When we do that, how can we expect things to go right? But no matter how much we do this, Christ is always ready and willing to bring us back into the fold when we do admit that we have done something wrong. He wants us to have His perfect gift of eternal life even when we have done every conceivable thing wrong already! He created us to enjoy eternal life with Him.
Points to Ponder:
Who do you usually blame?
Do you know God is on your side?
Key Verse: James 1 17
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.
Devotion:
When things go wrong in our lives we always try to turn round and blame someone else, not always because we don’t like to accept responsibility but because we feel a whole lot better if we can blame someone else rather than taking on the blame ourselves. But when we turn round and start blaming God for things that go wrong in our world we are simply not thinking about what we are doing. That tends to happen most of the time when things do go wrong; we blame before we think! If we turn round and start blaming someone else or something else when we are the only thing that has changed then we are just not being logical!
The first thing to do when things go wrong is to look at what has actually changed. That is going to give us a pretty good idea of what has gone wrong to start with. If we look at our lives we will see that when things do go wrong in our lives it is mainly because we have done something different or we have changed something. I’m not saying that we stick to one thing and never change just because it works because we can always find better ways of doing things, but when we start with the best way then there is no better way. God’s ways are perfect and when we recognise that fact then we should have no problem with following His ways – especially when we see that they do work!
Our problem is that we always think that there could be a better way because we want there to be. Our temptation is then to go off hunting for some other way through which we do not have to stick to the rules! That then makes us wander off away from God and into sin. When we do that, how can we expect things to go right? But no matter how much we do this, Christ is always ready and willing to bring us back into the fold when we do admit that we have done something wrong. He wants us to have His perfect gift of eternal life even when we have done every conceivable thing wrong already! He created us to enjoy eternal life with Him.
Points to Ponder:
Who do you usually blame?
Do you know God is on your side?