Monday Reading: John 21 14-23
 
Key Verse: John 21 23
23  Then this saying went abroad among the brothers, that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him, He shall not die, but, If I desire that he remain until I come, what is that to you?
 
Devotion:
How selective is your hearing? We all like to think that we are good at listening and hearing instructions, but if truth be told and we were all to receive a bunch of instructions to do something, we may well all remember slightly different things. This is just because of the way that our brains work (or don’t). We use many different ways to remember things and because of that, we remember things in slightly different ways to others. Just what we do remember, though, is actually going to be down to what we want to remember more than anything.

I come across many things in my life and I chose not to remember certain things because I think I will not have to use them again, or I presume that I will always be able to look up the answer somewhere. Other things I read and remember thinking that it will be useful to know those things even though I may still be able to find them out in the same way as the things I choose to forget! I make choices as to what to remember.

God knows this is how we work because He is the one that created us! He knows that we will each chose to remember different things and some things that He wants us to remember, we may well chose to forget. When talking to Simon Peter He made sure that Simon Peter would remember to teach others by repeating it three times. There are many things that Christ repeats for us but we still continue to choose to forget them because we are not listening properly. And then there are things which we hear once and remember – but even there we sometimes remember those things incorrectly. When we go out to tell others of Christ we need to be sure that what we tell others is God’s Word and not our own; we can do that through making sure we read His Word...

Points to Ponder:
What sort of things do you like to remember?

Are you reading God’s Word enough to remember it?

Sunday Reading: Mark 16 9-14
 
Key Verse: Mark 16 14
14  Afterward He appeared to the Eleven as they reclined. And He reproached their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

Devotion:
Just these few verses paint such a picture that we look at them and realise that we too are in a world where belief seems to be something that only comes through seeing rather than faith; and even then seeing does not always mean belief... The disciples had been told that Christ would raise Himself from the tomb after three days and yet when they first heard it, they would not believe. They were told from two different sources but would only accept the truth when The Truth stared them in the face!

We think of Thomas as being the only one who did not believe that Christ had risen until He stood before them in the chamber; but clearly from this passage, he was not the only one. This is the great thing about having the four gospels is that we can get a personal account from each of the men, each giving their own views on the events that happened. The fact that each of them agrees in so much detail should leave us in no doubt that Christ is our Lord and that He has risen!

So why the unbelief? I think that we can safely say that we suffer from the same thing that everyone in the past has suffered from – even though we have suffered from very different things! That sounds a bit weird but what I mean is that we have all suffered from some temptation that has drawn us away from God’s side at some time. These disciples were caught up in mourning which in itself is a good thing but not when it takes over and blocks out God. Whatever we do do in our lives, we must always make sure that we invite God into all that we do because He belongs with us! It is only the hardening of our hearts that will exclude God from our lives and we are the ones that have the choice as to whether we do harden our hearts or keep God in them...

Points to Ponder:
Are you hardening your heart?
 
Are you allowing God to have a chance?

Saturday Reading: Matthew 27 62-66
 
Key Verse: Matthew 27 62
62  Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,

Devotion:
As you read through your bibles, you will find that very little is written about the time that Christ spent in the tomb. The time He spent in there spanned the Sabbath day so nobody should have been doing anything because that was God’s Law – Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Because this was the Sabbath, all the disciples and followers of Christ went to their homes; I’m sure some may have been a little late getting there because of all that had happened, but they kept the law as best they could.

Yet still we find a passage telling us of some that were doing things on the Sabbath just to try and make sure that they remained in control instead of Christ. They were still not in any mood to believe Christ was who He said He was because that would mean that they had to admit to the corruption that was growing in their midst. The chief priest and the Pharisees came together and went to see Pilate to try and work things out to their advantage. They wanted to make sure that nobody would be able to come in and steal Christ’s body from the tomb so they made an agreement with Pilate for some guards to be posted in front of the tomb. To this extent they sealed the tomb as best they could and set the watch outside to ensure nobody was coming or going!

The very people that were supposed to be upholding the Laws of God and teaching the people the truth were the ones breaking God’s law and trying to do their own thing. This is what happens to us when things don’t go our own way – we try to bend the rules a little to suit ourselves and make things happen that way we want them to. It will not work! It has never worked. God is the one who is in control and He allows things to happen the way they do so that we can learn not just how to live but how to keep His ways instead of our own. Think on Christ this day.

Points to Ponder:
Do you like it when things do not go your way?
 
Do you ever think that maybe God wants things this way instead?

Friday Reading: Mark 12 1-12

Key Verse: Mark 12 7
7  But those vinedressers said among themselves, This is the heir! Come, let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours.

Devotion:
Looking back on the things that Christ taught about, it seems to be a wonder that all who heard Him speak did not know who He is! But this parable helps us to understand the mind-set of the people that were there at the time of Christ and to help us also to understand what we face today when we tell others of Christ our Lord and Saviour.

We are not always going to be faced with crowds of people wanting to know everything about Christ. We will not always be able to convince others that Christ is even real. There will be times when we will be reviled for even mentioning that Jesus is God! But that does not mean that what we know is not the truth; all it means is that there are a whole lot of people out there who do not yet know the truth.

Christ wanted the Jews to know that what was about to happen was because of what they were doing. God is the man who planted the vineyard and dug the vat and built the tower. The Jews are the people to whom it was let. When God sent His only Son to come to them, they rejected Him and even despised Him because of whom He was (and is). Because of that they are the ones who will have to face up to what they have done.

But let us not turn this into anything against the Jews because we have all now been given that same chance at tending God’s vineyard. If we continue to reject Him then we are going to find that we will be the ones with the problem when we have to face God. We need to acknowledge Christ now for who He is so that we can be sure that when He does return we will not be on the receiving end of God’s anger. Jesus willingly came to claim what was rightfully His. We must be willing to admit that He is who He said He was and praise Him for being willing to do all He has for each one of us...

Points to Ponder:
Are you building your own stash?
 
Do you realise it is what God has given to us?