Thursday Reading: 1 John 3 1-2
 
Key Verse: 1 John 3 2
2  Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He shall be revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

Devotion:
When you first met a Christian who really loved God, what was your honest opinion of them? Did you see that sparkle in their eyes that showed you that they were strangely happy for some reason? Now that you know Christ you can share in that happiness but before you knew Him it was an alien thing to look upon; I mean, how could anyone be happy with something they did not have in their hands? That is the sad thing about people who do not know Christ is that they will never be happy until they have things in their hands – even then they move the goal posts and strive after more. Whilst there is nothing wrong with growing and striving after more, if you make that the centre of your life then you can only get disappointed!

We are God’s adopted children! We are given that position when we put our faith and trust in Christ. By accepting us into His family we are no longer orphans and can be happy that we now belong to a large family of very happy people. Yes we all have our times when we find ourselves deep in the doldrums but when we remember all that Christ has done for us and all that He continues to do for us we cannot help but to be happy in Him! We know He has gone to prepare mansions for us. We know He is coming back some day to receive us into glory. We know His love for us is very public. We know so much through reading His Word... yet what is revealed to us is a fraction of what we shall receive...

Being a child in a family allows you to experience so much more than just living in a house, having food and being called part of the family. The family constitution does so much more for you than the physical that is revealed; being part of a family allows you to see so much more than someone else looking in from the outside – you are open to much more privileged information than anyone on the outside looking in. We have got so much to look forward to!

Points to Ponder:
What is special about your family?

Do you know what is special about God’s family?

Wednesday Reading: Romans 9 14-16
 
Key Verse: Romans 9 15
15  For He said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

Devotion:
Jesus did not re-write God’s word. He did not change what God had laid down. He did not give us a new set of commandments but rather gave us a deeper meaning behind the scriptures. When He gave us His new commandment to love one another it was for the purpose of us seeing how important the Old Testament was and still is. Without that love for each other we cannot hope to advance deeper into His love. He is the one that has created things from the beginning and He is the one trying to show us the way back to Him. He is doing this through an amazing show of His own love towards us and through the compassion He shows us each and every day.

We could never have got as far as we have without His compassion in the first place. He is the one who has shown us that compassion since before we came back to Him. He is the one who has chosen to show us His compassion. It is not us that have chosen to receive the compassion but Him who has given it to us first. Yes we have to be willing to receive it in order to advance in our relationship with Him, but He is the one who gave it first.

We can see a long list of people listed in our bibles that God has shown extraordinary compassion to. This list is not exhaustive but is a list that is there to encourage us and show us just how much He does love us. Our bibles show us that His mercy knows no bounds but is directed towards people that He has chosen. There is nothing changing about who He directs His compassion towards because He has declared that from the beginning of time – even before; His will does not change. Our understanding grows with each day and our relationships get deeper and more meaningful with each passing day too. We can depend on His love and compassion standing the test of time and being directed to all those that are willing to realise that He has directed it towards us all!

Points to Ponder:
Who gets most of your compassion?
 
How passionate is your relationship with Christ?

Tuesday Reading: John 15 14-17
 
Key Verse: John 15 16
16  You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you.

Devotion:
Each conversation that Jesus had that is recorded in our bibles was done so because Christ wanted us to remember the things that He said; not just the things like “love one another” but the reasons behind them too. Christ’s love for us is unconditional though our eternal life is conditional. We have the choice as to whether we spend our lives with Him or without Him through the choice that we make but He has already chosen us before we make that choice; we are sealing the second half of the choice He has already made.

When you call someone your friend it is not a one way thing because they would not be much of a friend if that were so. Friendship and love are both two way things and both side have to agree on that for it to be so. No matter how much one side loves the other, that relationship is not going to flourish until both sides take action. We are the ones that need to take the action to complete the relationship that Christ has started with us.

God’s love for us knows no bounds. If it did have limits then we would be in serious trouble because of the way that we treated Him before we realise just how much He did love us! Can you imagine turning to Him and finding out that you have gone one step too far and broken things down before you could start? We can come to Christ in any state and gain the forgiveness that He wants us to have. We can do that because His love is without bounds. We can do that because His love was there before we knew Him. We can do that because He chose to love us whilst we were still rotten to the core. We need to thank Him for doing exactly that and showing us how much we need to love one another.

Points to Ponder:
When do you stop loving someone?

Aren’t you glad He never stops loving you?

Monday Reading: John 15 9-13
 
Key Verse: John 15 9
9  As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; continue in My love.
 
Devotion:
One thing that continues to amaze me is how much God does love us through Jesus Christ. Just one small sentence is His Word can also mean so much to us too; take verse 9 for instance. At first glance it may not mean so much for those who see it for the first time; I mean, we even tell people that we love them as much as other people. But when we realise that Jesus compared His love for us with God’s public love for Him then we have to think twice. God openly declared His love for Jesus through an audible voice from heaven! God appointed Jesus as the head of the church and He then turns round to us and says that He loves us that much too!

We have been described with many names is the bible from the not so nice through to His children. He took on the very nature of a human being so that He could declare His love for us in a way that we can not only relate to but aspire to. His declaration to us is honest but also carries an expected stance from us. He wants us to follow His commandments so that we can receive the most of His love that He can supply. If we are continually sinning then He can declare His love for us but cannot approach us when we are full on sin. We need to admit to that sin, asking for His forgiveness so that He can then be with us continually.

We can understand part of what His love means by following His commandment by trying to love one another. Sometimes it is very difficult to love someone else when they are seemingly doing wicked things against you – think how Christ must feel. Jesus wants us to see that His love for us extends far beyond the simple love that we maintain with others by seeing that He willingly gave His life for us. We may never understand why He chose to love us but we can understand part of what we mean to Him through what He has done for us.

Points to Ponder:
Do you always love others?

Do you know Christ loved you first?