Thursday Reading: Romans 13 8-10
 
Key Verse: Romans 13 8
8  Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves another has fulfilled the Law.

Devotion:
As Christians we really do need to think about how we live... We need to take note of the first phrase of this verse – we need to “owe no one anything”. Granted there are times where we do have to borrow something in order to live, but there must always be a desire to be able to pay back all that has been given to you. We are struggling through a financial crisis at the moment that seems to have been caused by people borrowing far more than they could pay back and the result is depression (and rather depressing for everyone else). Our lives are the same, not just with finances, but with spiritual and social gifts too; not forgetting love.

The one thing that separates us from everything else is our ability to love but with that comes an ability to hate as well – the result of the lack of love. Just as we have the wherewithal to know how much we should borrow and how much we can pay back, we have the ability to know how much we should be able to depend on others. Taking more than we give can look like we are robbing others – just as it looks in the financial world. We need to be aware that the more that we take, the more we have to be willing to give as well. The more love we are willing to give, the more others will allow us to give and take.

God has given us the commandments so that we can know what is right and what is wrong. The commandments remind us to stay clear of things like adultery, murder, theft and lust so that we can continue to love. If we get caught up in our sins we lose the ability to love as much as we should. Love and sin cannot work together because they are opposites. If we are willing to show God that we are ready to love Him and to love all of His creation, then we have moved a step closer to Him. He wants to show us His love for us too – that means that we have to be close to Him to start with. He does not want to lend us His love, but to give it to us knowing that we will give that same love to others too. With love as our focus we will learn to live properly with Him in our lives.

Points to Ponder:
Do you like giving things to people?

Do you know how much God likes giving things to you?

Wednesday Reading: Romans 3 27-31
 
Key Verse: Romans 3 31
31  Do we then make the Law void through faith? Let it not be! But we establish the Law.

Devotion:
How many Christians do you know that go around boasting? Bit of a trick question that because I’m sure that we are all guilty of boasting about something in our lives at some stage or another. What this passage allude to though is not the boasting about the physical things we have, but the boasting about the religion! Yes we have an Awesome God. Yes we have a Saviour. Yes we have the Holy Spirit – and we would be totally lost without them. Yes we should be proud that we can stand up and say that we have God on our side and that we believe in Him but we must not do that through boasting about our lives.

I hear churches in various parts of the world talk about the amount of money that they will get because they believe ‘more than others’. I hear talk about churches prospering and the people within them prospering more but am yet to see proof that all that go to those churches all prosper. In reality there are those that prosper and those that do not – life is like that; but the bigger the church congregation, the more people you may hear about that are prosperous... It’s not about living right so that God will give you money or belongings. It’s not about giving enough to the church so that God will give you more. Yes, we should live right and yes we should give to the church but that is because that is what the law says.

God’s law gives us the answers as to why we should do things. God’s law gives us what we should be doing. God’s law is open to the whole world – and indeed it is as it has been translated into so many languages. But no matter how hard we try to live and how hard we try to do it all correctly, we will not get closer to heaven without believing in Jesus Christ! The law is there for a reason, but our faith is what will get us to live with God in heaven, not our works... The law can keep us straight and strengthen our faith but Christ does the saving and our belief gives us faith to continue on and faith to believe that He will give to us what He thinks we deserve.

Points to Ponder:
Do you strive to do things right?
 
Do you strive to do what God knows is right too?

Tuesday Reading: Acts 5 1-5
 
Key Verse: Acts 5 3
3  But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart for you to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

Devotion:
I’m sure that we have all heard this account of Ananias and Sapphira at some stage before but it is not one that we like to remember because it shows a side of God that we don’t like to know about. When we talk about God being just, we like to think that He is our protector and guide and will keep us from the evil around us; we like to think of Him as the one who will judge those around us who do evil things against us. What we do not like to think about is that He is a just God and will carry out judgement even if it is us that break the law! I thank Jesus Christ that He is my Saviour and that I am looked after by Him and that He promised to take away all my sins that I lay down before Him; without that promise I would have been taken out a long time ago!

We don’t like to admit to being hypocrites, but that is something that we have all been guilty of at some stage in our lives – we say one thing and do another. Ananias and Sapphira took it upon themselves to withhold a portion of the price of that possession they had and they did it before God. We may turn round and say that we have not been so stupid as to do something like that before God but in reality we have because we have been hypocrites and in doing so we have done that in front of God! Christ reminded us that when we do things against our fellow men we do it against God because we have been made in His image and He indwells us...

There is no way that we can serve both God and man. We either serve one or the other because they are like two sides of a coin. Man is corrupt by default... we know that because we too are corrupt to start with. We only need to switch on the news for a few minutes to realise just how far corruption goes within our society because we see it right through governments around the world. Each one of us has to remember just who we are doing this all in front of. Each one of us has to remember that we are guilty and we are doing this in front of Christ our King. Don’t be like Ananias and Sapphira... don’t try and hide something after God has already seen it!

Points to Ponder:
Do you always do what you say?

Just how much do you admit to God?

Monday Reading: James 1 12-18
 
Key Verse: James 1 18
18  Of His own will He brought us forth with the Word of truth, for us to be a certain first-fruit of His creatures.
 
Devotion:
It is not every person who suffers that is blessed for suffering is something brought upon us through the sins of the world. Whilst our own sins may well bring us hardships it is most often the sins of man that bring us the most suffering. Just because we put up with these things does not mean that we will be blessed later; if you are seeking a blessing then you must be working for God. Being surrounded by suffering does not mean that we have to give up our work for Christ but rather to stick to it more so that others will see an example of faith. It is when we are able to continue resisting temptation through Christ’s strength that we will shine and others will notice because we no longer seek to give ourselves the glory but to give it to Christ.

God will not send us temptations to test our resolve and see if we are worthy of His love. He has already shown us that He is willing to give that love and mercy to everyone who is willing to believe on Him. Yes He may allow temptations to come our way, but these are the temptations that all around are seeing too because they come from the world and not from God. We are to separate ourselves from man by depending on God for the strength to resist these temptations. Though those around us may give in and be led away, we are to remain strong in our faith that Christ will deliver us from those same temptations. He will not allow us to be consumed by temptations that He knows we will not be able to resist because He knows our limits.

When we give in to temptation we are seduced by worldly things and turn away from God. That is when we bring sin into our lives and with that sin comes our death. Christ has given us the way forward so that we will not have to pay that death penalty because He has already paid it for us. God is the one who supplies us with the positive and righteous gifts that will lead us away from temptation. We are the ones that have to take what He gives us and know that He is protecting us all the way. We are His and He will not let us go.

Points to Ponder:
What do you give in to most?

Are you asking for His protection and strength?