Monday Reading: 1 Timothy 5 1-2
 
Key Verse: 1 Timothy 5 1-2
1  Do not sharply rebuke an elder, but exhort as a father, and the younger ones as brothers,
2  older women as mothers, the younger as sisters in all purity.
 
Devotion:
I wonder, have you seen any old people “get the short end of the stick”? Quite often we see people being ignored or treated badly just because they are old, infirm, disabled or even in the “wrong” ethnic group. We have news items just about every day reminding us of people who have been taken advantage of just because someone else knew they would not be able to fight back. This seems to be a part of society that has stayed with us from very early on in human existence; and yet it is a part that we do not like...

You would think that we (as humans) have been around long enough that we should be treating people as people and not as segregated groups according to our own sets of rules; yet we persist on dividing up people into boxes so we can treat them differently. One of the things that Christ tried to instil on people while He was on earth was that we ought to treat people with respect, no matter where they come from. We also need to respect the older people because they are the ones that have been around longer and should be able to guide us in what we do – so long as they too are following Christ’s examples.

When we come together as a church we need to put aside our political and official stations or positions and come together as one family under God. When we apply God’s laws, it must be equally to all. When we echo Christ’s love, it must be equally to all and not targeted at the people we think that deserve it. When we come together we need to remember that Christ is not a respecter of social and political positions but rather how we treat Him. Our treating of each other shows that directly!

Points to Ponder:
How do you like to be treated?

Are you treating others like that?

Sunday Reading: Ephesians 6 1-4
 
Key Verse: Ephesians 6 1
1  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Devotion:
How often do you remember that we are all God’s children? This verse may well be challenging all people who are children (fostered, adopted, all included) to remember that they should obey their parents but it is the second part of this verse which is most important... “obey your parents in the Lord...”. It is one thing to know exactly where you came from, being able to trace your heritage or ancestry back in time but God is not a respecter of flesh and so we are not seen as exact descendants of our parents, grandparents etc but as people who are being brought up in God’s church. As such we have ‘parents’ who teach us the gospel and they should also be respected.

We can go right back to the commandments given to Moses and see that this is something that God has encouraged us to do right from the beginning; honouring our parents should be part of our lives and not an afterthought once a year when Mother’s day or Father’s day comes about. The more that we can live closer to our parents, the more we can help to support each other and encourage each other rather than just relying on them to keep us alive! The words used here are open so that we will apply them to more people and not just our immediate family.

And yes it is a two way thing; we cannot hope to achieve a special relationship with anyone who is not willing to enter into a special relationship with us... Our parents have already started this by doing all they have to bring us up so far; we can return that favour by honouring them too. It may well sound like a duty or rule but this is something that we ought to do as a promise to and for each other rather than because it is written in stone. Doing things because they are righteous goes much further that doing things because someone told you to!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you honour others?
 
Do you honour God too?

Saturday Reading: Philippians 2 5-11
 
Key Verse: Philippians 2 7
7  but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.

Devotion:
When we look to others for an example of how to live we will always manage to find a fault somewhere; no matter how close we are to others we will always see something which we think should be done differently or should be managed in other ways. This is because we are all human and we all have faults. Who would ever want to then lower themselves from a position of faultlessness to be amongst us and counted as one who looks like others who have faults?

Christ’s love for us is so great that that is exactly what He did for us. There is no fault found in Him. He looks at us each day and sees all the things that we do wrong. He knows what we are going to do... And yet He still lowered Himself to be in our stead on the cross so that we would not have to be there. He jumped right in amongst us, as dirty as we are, just so that He could lift us up out of the mire that we find ourselves stuck in.

He knew that every knee would still have to bow to Him one day. He knew no sin. He will not abide sin. Why should He even consider being amongst sinners then? Well, He also knows that as soon as we take our first step in sin we are separated from God. From that moment on we have no chance of working our way to heaven because we are ‘dirty goods’. He also knew that if He took on our debt that we would be able to be viewed as clean as fresh driven snow. He knew that there was only one way that He could save us from our own sins and that was to pay the ultimate price in our stead. His love for us is so great that He did exactly that and at the exact right time too.

Points to Ponder:
How far would you go to get a friend out of trouble?
 
How far has Christ gone to pay for your sins?

Friday Reading: Romans 10 12-17

Key Verse: Romans 10 14
14  How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without preaching?

Devotion:
How could anyone hope to learn things without having some sort of reference? Yes, I am sure that we could all learn from trying things out by ourselves, but is it not wise to learn from other people’s learning as well rather than going through all of the same things again? When we go to school it is to learn from others who have learned by going to school. When we go to church it is to learn from others who have learned by going to church and more. All of these suppose that you have some sort of reference point to go back to as well – at school we have text books that have been written by people who have had the appropriate experience and at church we have our bibles.

Now it is debatable whether all text books are profitable for our learning or not. Over the years many have proven to be wrong because man has got things wrong because of his own pride or even misinformation. When the truth is found out the appropriate books are then taken off the circuit and removed from the curriculum to be replaced by books that inform us of the truth. As we learn more information about subjects the books have to be replaced by books that go into more and more detail too.

Our bibles, however, have remained with the same words for a very long time because they contain the truth and have always contained the truth. We need to make sure that we let others know that they contain God’s Word and that it is the truth! When we take God’s Word out to more people, more people get to know the truth and they can then come to the same conclusions as us about God being our one true God! Let the truth be known!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like telling lies?
 
Are you telling others about the truth?