Wednesday Reading: 1 Corinthians 1 25-31
 
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 1 27
27  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

Devotion:
Have you ever thought “well, I’m not good enough to do anything for Christ”? Well, you are not alone because that was my attitude until His work was dropped in my lap; the rest, as they say, is history. Now if I can do things for Christ then I’m pretty sure that most people could. I was (am still) very shy and found it hard to mix with people and especially hard to be able to get up in front of others and talk! My first experiences of doing that kind of put me off doing that. Looking back, I can see why... I was seeking the glory!

If you are going to seek glory for the things that you do then you are always going to be disappointed because you will never live up to your own standards that you set; or worse still, you may flop totally and loose all credibility! But when we are willing to put aside our self glorification and take to work to glorify God, we are going to find out that things actually happen a whole lot better than expected. If we are willing to glorify God then He is going to make sure that that is what you can do – so be prepared to get down and do the work!

God is not going to choose the brightest and most handsome people to go out and do His work (that goodness) but His choice is rather for people who do not have anything left to prove. In other words He is going to go for people who have nothing to lose. His disciples were mostly fishermen. His workers around the world come from all manner of different walks in life and some pretty rum characters too! But He knows that if He chooses them, they will not seek the glory themselves but will work to glorify God! That is all He is after – so she some pride and join His side!

Points to Ponder:
Who do you work for?
 
Is God being glorified in what you do?

Tuesday Reading: John 6 36-40
 
Key Verse: John 6 37
37  All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will in no way cast out.

Devotion:
How many times have you been invited round somewhere only to be turned out after a while? Or maybe you were told that you could have something and then found out at the last second that you could not. Or maybe you bought something and found out just after you bought it that it did not work. These are the ways that people look at God and His Work. They look in from the outside and think “well, what if it doesn’t work for me” or “what if I can’t find what I’m looking for”. That is because the outside world looks in on religion and not in on Christianity.

Far too often we are all lumped into the same boat because we all believe in the same God and we all believe that Jesus was born over 2000 years ago. But if you are a Christian then you are not following a religion; you are following Christ and His teachings. What good is a church body if they are not going to follow God’s Word? Even the children of Israel got things wrong and corrupted God’s Word; they had to pay the penalty for doing so as well! Being a Christian is not being part of a religious crowd or following the rules to the tee or even making sure that you always go to church no matter what. Being a Christian means entering into a relationship with Christ.

Once we realise that it is a very personal thing between us and Christ, we will then be able to worship Him wherever we go and with whomever we meet. What better example than to show others just what Christ means to us. When we look at these words we begin to realise just how much we mean to Him! He came to save us from our sin debt, no matter who we are and what we have done. He came to claim us for His own. He will never think of rejecting us or leaving us behind because He has promised not to! We are safe in His arms as soon as we accept Him as Christ and King.

Points to Ponder:
Do you feel safe?

Do you know how safe your relationship is with Christ?

Monday Reading: 1 Corinthians 6 13-20
 
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 6 17
17  But he being joined to the Lord is one spirit.
 
Devotion:
It is amazing how much we often put of ourselves into things, not just relationships with other people, but relationships (if you can call them that) with work or other activities. So many people turn to The Lord at the weekends and then bury themselves in their work or other activities during the week. Each time we do that we are turning our backs on our relationship with Christ and inviting in every other thing in our lives instead. When God commanded that we should have no other gods before Him, He meant exactly that; if we allow other things in our lives to become more important than Him, we have a problem!

Earthly things and earthly means are exactly that. They will perish with time. Heavenly things are everlasting and will continue forever more – that is what we need to aim for. If we enter into a relationship with anything or anyone else we need to be sure that it is going to be sure. The only way we can make that happen is if we invite Christ to be a part of that relationship. So no matter what we aim for, we need to keep Christ involved in everything that we do. Unfortunately for me I did not see that as being important when I was finding my way in life; but looking back on things does not make me sad that I have messed things up but rather that I have learned to walk closer to God than ever before.

When we enter into a relationship with someone (or something), that person (or thing) becomes part of our lives. If we treat that relationship with contempt then we should not expect it to last nor to be pleasant. If, however, we are willing to commit to a long term relationship and are willing to work towards a better end, then things will look a whole lot better; but still it may well perish with time. If, however, we are willing to make Christ central to that relationship and to trust and obey Him, then we will find things can only grow stronger with time.

Points to Ponder:
What do you look for in a relationship?

Are you keeping Christ with you?

Sunday Reading: Romans 8 28-31
 
Key Verse: Romans 8 31
31  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Devotion:
One thing you will very quickly find is that when you are working for God and not against His will, the work that you do will take on a whole new meaning. The more that you do for Him, the more that you want to be able to do. Conversely when we start to get lax with our work for God we quickly fall into a spiral whereby we do less and less until we find that we have drifted far from God’s side. All works that we do in His name, for Him and for His glory will bring us joy and fulfilment.

God has given each one of us abilities that we should be using to glorify Him. Far too often we either use those abilities to try and bring glory to ourselves or for our own good. It is not us that He has given those gifts for but for His glory. Don’t get me wrong here because using those gifts will bring us joy and fulfilment, never more so that when we are able to glorify God in what we do. So if God has done this for us, why then are we not using our abilities? Sadly many do not care to find out what they can do for God and more still try to find out what God can do for them instead.

When Jesus came to earth as a human being it was not just so that He would be able to die but that He would be able to show us what can be achieved through faith and trust in our Awesome God! Yes we will get things wrong, we will even upset others, but that must never stop us from trying to do our best for God so that we may glorify Him! We worship God Almighty. We worship the creator of everything. If we work to glorify Him and He has already chosen us to do that, then who can actually ever hope to come up against us?

Points to Ponder:
What things do you think you are good at?

Are you doing that for yourself or for Christ?