Sunday Reading: Hebrews 8 1-6
 
Key Verse: Hebrews 8 6
6  But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much He is also the Mediator of a better covenant, which was built upon better promises.

Devotion:
As you read through the Old Testament you get to know about the priests that would have to stand before God and give sacrifices for the sins of the people of Israel. It may seem unfair that one man should have to stand up and do all the work for all the sins of the whole country, but that is the way that God said things must happen. When the people listened and obeyed God, things would go along smoothly and when they rebelled, they would have to pay for what they did wrong. When they followed God without question, He continued to help them without question and made them into a great nation. As you continue to read through the bible you find out how they squandered their inheritance and ended up being a broken nation because of their belief that they could cope by themselves. When the priest failed the people, the country would have to pay as a whole as they sunk into sin...

We are still very much like that but we have one great advantage nowadays – we are dependent upon a High Priest that will never fail us! That does not mean that we will not sink into sin because as soon as we start to believe that we can go it alone we sink faster than Peter probably did when he tried walking on water. So long as we reach out and depend on our Saviour Jesus Christ to lift us up, we will continue to be safe and secure. Our substance is Jesus Christ. Without Him we would be lost in sin. With Him we have a Priest who will never let us down; One who has already paid the sacrifice for our sins and One who continues to secure our paths.

We serve a Priest who no longer has to give sacrifice according to the law given to Moses because He has already paid that sacrifice. His new promise to us is that we will be eternally secure if we believe in Him and what He has done for us. Our bibles tell us of everything we need to know to reach out and grab hold of Christ’s hand as He holds it out to save each one of us.

Points to Ponder:
Can you always depend on everyone?

Are you trusting the one that you can actually depend on?

Saturday Reading: 1 Timothy 3 14-16
 
Key Verse: 1 Timothy 3 16
16  And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among nations, believed on in the world, and received up into glory.

Devotion:
Being able to read the letters that Paul wrote to various people concerning Christ is a privilege as well as a great learning tool. The words chosen by Paul were meant to inspire Timothy just as they are set in our bibles to inspire each one of us. Paul was hoping to be able to get to Ephesus to see Timothy but could not make any promise so made sure that Timothy got as much detail in the letter(s) as possible. For this single account we need to take note and remember that we can reach others by simply writing to them.

I can imagine things beginning to change after a short while of Christ’s death and resurrection – just as we have things change nowadays. Everyone was witness to what happened and many were shown the truth, yet those that did not want to believe were not going to let go! We are faced with people like that all around us who seem to be afraid at the truth and will do as much as possible to prevent things from going as planned. The truth may now have been raised as a controversy by some who rejected Christ but Paul was writing to set things straight!

There is a great mystery – how can a man be born to a virgin, live a life, die and be raised from the dead... This goes against all our physical laws. But God made sure that Jesus life was out of the ordinary to ensure that we remember Him for what He is! Christ’s human existence was a miracle from beginning to end to show us that anything is possible through God. He was, and always has been the second person in our God Head; He was there during creation and will be there at the end of time. He took on human form and nature so that He may be visible to all without any man fearing his life. He did this all so that He could show us His most extraordinary love for us. He came in person. We may not be able to go and visit all our friends in person but we can encourage them through our bibles and through our communications.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you communicate with others?

How often do you communicate with God?

Friday Reading: John 10 22-30

Key Verse: John 10 30
30  I and the Father are one!

Devotion:
One of the hardest things that we have to grasp is that God is three persons but one God. We can do what we like to try and explain it by earthly means by comparing Him to and egg with shell, yolk and white or by the three ways in which water can exist as solid, liquid and gas; but none of these comparisons can truly give us insight into how this is true as much as the bible can do for us. Each time that we read about God being three persons or one God we have it in context and the old languages describe it adequately for us to know the truth without having to fully understand how it is possible.

There are many things in our lives that we accept as the truth without having to understand fully, my favourite explanation being how a wing is able to lift a huge aeroplane into the air when it moves through the air. Many people do not know the scientific reason for why an aeroplane can fly but just about everyone trusts aeroplane flight implicitly – because they can see that it happens. If you were to tell this to a person from Victorian times they may well think you are mad because they cannot see it happening, but we do see it happening so we can believe. As Christians we can see God working in our lives and know Him as real – if only we were able to bring others forward to see how real He is...

Our text today shows us that Christ has done everything to bring us forward and see that He is real. We are the ones who doubt and stay behind in the shadows of unbelief. The original text describes verse 30 as being more like “I and Father, we are one” because it uses the plural form showing us that Christ is distinct from God the Father, being further strengthened by Him reminding us that only God the Father knows of the returning time of Jesus. But we are also told that everything that Christ did was of the Father, from the Father and for the Father – in other words they act in perfect unison as one because they are one (as said by Christ Himself). We don’t have to fully understand but we are given enough details for us to know the truth for what it is...

Points to Ponder:
Do you accept aeroplanes can fly?
 
Do you accept God is real?

Thursday Reading: 1 Corinthians 13 8-13
 
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 13 13
13  And now faith, hope, charity, these three remain; but the greatest of these is charity.

Devotion:
When you enquire about going on holiday one of the things that you may want to find out is how the local people will treat visitors because the last thing you may want to do is to go on holiday in a place where you will be hated! The Corinthians prided themselves in their charity towards others and Christ would have us to pride ourselves in our charity too. How each one of us will think of our love or charity towards others will depend on us because we do each have a different notion of what we should be doing. As we grow older we gain more insight into how much we can affect others by showing them our compassion; but our view is always limited by our experience here on earth. It is hard for us to know anything outside of what we have learned and that is why we have very differing views of compassion towards others.

When we get to heaven we are going to be able to see just what true compassion, love and charity are. We are limited to what we know here and we can already see the difference that it makes here – so much more then when we get to heaven. The writer compares this difference as the difference we realise between being a child and being an adult but that is only because we cannot grasp just how different things will be for us in heaven! We will no longer be limited by our earthly thoughts and experiences.

How big a difference we can make whilst we are here on earth by showing others the love and compassion that God has already shown us through His mercy and grace. We have begun to know just how much more there is to love by what Christ has done for us and what He continues to do for us. If we can impart just a little of that onto others by allowing them to see what God does for us, then they too can be encouraged to find out more about God. It’s not all about how much God can do for us, but how much we can do for God to those around us. God wants to be able to use us to reach others and in order for that to happen we have to be open and willing to do His will by showing others charity, love and compassion.

Points to Ponder:
Do you doing things for others?

Do you like doing things for God?