Friday Reading: Matthew 21 28-32

 

Key Verse: Matthew 21 31
31  Which of the two did the will of his father? They said to Him, The first. Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you that the tax-collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

 

Devotion:
One of the things that you could absolutely count on with Jesus was that He would plainly tell the truth in ways that you would remember. How many times have you told a lie in the past few days; it may not have been a whopper, it may have been saying something that would lead others to believe something else… What about your actions? Have you done something just so that others will get an impression of you that is not strictly true? That is one thing that most of us do all the time without thinking about it. We do something just so that people will get an impression that we are either doing something good or so it looks like we even do it all the time!

 

A lie is a lie in any words or actions you care to put it in. There is no going round that fact that you are telling a lie verbally or physically. We even think them through before doing or saying them; premeditated or what! And yet we sweep them under the carpet as if we have not told a lie before!

 

Jesus’ parable was quite simple. The one son plainly said “no” to his fathers request but after a while felt guilty about not doing what his father had asked and decided to go and do the work after all. He may not have pleased his father in the beginning, but he did not lie as to his intentions at the time. The second son said “yes” and did not even go anywhere near the work. He was the one that lied through his teeth just so that his father would think good of him. How long do you think it would have been before his father found out the truth? Just like that, our sins may well go unnoticed for a while; but you can count on them being brought to light before too long and when they are brought to light, who is the one that is going to have to face up to the consequences?

 

There are many people in this world who were criminals but who have since repented of their lifestyles and begun to follow Christ. But how many more people are there that make it look like they follow Christ but are not living the life that He would have us and maybe do not even believe in Him?

 

Points to Ponder:
Do you live out lies?
 
Do you really think God cannot see the lie brewing in your mind?

Thursday Reading: Matthew 21 18-22
 
Key Verse: Matthew 21 19
19  And seeing a fig tree in the way, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only. And He said to it, let no fruit grow on you forever. And immediately the fig tree withered away.

 

Devotion:
Faith is much the same as a fruit tree that is planted in that it does grow if it is able to obtain goodness from somewhere. But if it does not have enough goodness supplied to it, it may well not give you any fruit. The simple fact is that the tree needs to be supplied with nutrients in order to grow and must have enough in order for the fruit to be bountiful. Our faith is nothing different in that we need to have a source from which we can obtain our nutrients – that is God’s Word. We also have to make sure that we do obtain those nutrients at regular intervals…

 

How many times have you expected someone to be able to do something because they have talked about it for so long; only to find out that they cannot carry it out? We come forward and profess ourselves to be Christians. If we tell others that we are a Christian, then they will expect various things from us: commitment, attitude, behaviour, honesty, kindness and endurance to name but a few. If they do not find those qualities in us then we are going to disappoint them in some way. How are others supposed to obtain fruit from us if we are not bothered to feed ourselves?

 

We are given everything that we need in order for us to be able to be fruitful and to be able to support others. Whether we are able to or not is going to depend on whether we have been growing with the nutrients that we have been given. If we allow ourselves to have our supply of nutrients cut off then we will not continue to grow; we may have a wonderful start as a Christian, but if we are not willing to continue growing then we are not going to be of much use. If we reject Christ then we are like the barren fig tree that Christ rejected. If we are not strong in our faith we may well find that the first hurdle that we have to face will be the one that breaks us and cuts off our supply of nutrients so that we cannot grow. Christ is more than able to strengthen us to make sure that we can withstand any hurdle that we can face in life so long as we put our faith and trust in Him!

 

Points to Ponder:
Have you ever had a plant die on you because it could not stand up to the weather?

 

Will you have faith enough to allow Christ to strengthen you properly?

Wednesday Reading: Psalm 1:1-6
 
Key Verse: Psalms 1 3
3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivulets of water that brings forth its fruit in its seasons, and its leaf shall not wither, and all which he does shall be blessed.

 

Devotion:
How long did it take you to learn to read? Well, I’m still learning… If you are going to be honest with yourself as well, then you too will admit to still learning new words. They seem to come up with new words just about every day which we have to get to know. Once we have the basics of learning to read, we can apply those basics to most words and have a good go at reading them. Understanding them then becomes the next stage – a stage that continues to move!

 

I’m sure you will agree that it was that first stage, learning the basics, which was the most important and allowed you to then move forward. If you did not take that first stage too seriously, then the next stage continues to be hard and you continue to struggle. Getting the most from the first stage allows you to have a solid foundation upon which you can be sure that everything else is going to be based. Don’t be afraid about having messed up that first stage because there is absolutely no reason why you cannot go back and revisit it again and again until you are satisfied.

 

Just like that important first stage in reading, we have to take our first and most important stage in being a Christian. I’m not talking about the first choice of becoming a Christian but rather the key stage of learning about Christ. There is no substitute for learning about Christ. Without our knowledge about Christ we would never learn of His extraordinary love for us nor His total commitment to us. We have to read God’s Word in order to find these things out. But just reading through your bible like a novel is going to get you about as far as any other novel does… it will bring a smile to your face but not a whole lot more! We need to be able to read and think about what we have read. When we eat food our bodies take time to digest the food so that we can get the most out of it. When we read our bibles, we need to take time our for our minds to think about what we are reading about so that we can get the most out of God’s precious word!

 

Points to Ponder:
How well do you read?
 
How well do you remember what you read?

Tuesday Reading: Galatians 6 6-10
 
Key Verse: Galatians 6 7
7  Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he also will reap.

 

Devotion:
How many people do you know that will make a fuss about going to church and about being seen at church and then when it comes down to working outside church times, they don’t seem to be around? I’m sure we have all met that sort of person and we begin to question whether they are actually faithful in their works toward God. It’s not that we think they are lazy or that we think they should be doing something when they are not; it’s just the fact that they have built up an expectation and don’t seem to follow it through. These sorts of people may well be able to fool us into believing that they are God’s children, but they are never going to be able to fool God because He is able to look straight into their hearts.

 

God cannot be deceived, nor can He be mocked. He is all seeing and He knows our very thoughts. Whatever we do, He is going to be able to know exactly what is on our hearts and on our minds without us having to tell Him. If we are then going to try to hide that from Him, the only ones that we are then deceiving are ourselves! If we are going to go out there and work for ourselves, then all we will get is rewards from ourselves. If we go out there to make a good name for ourselves, the only lasting recognition that we will get is from ourselves. Yet if we are willing to go forward and work for our God with all honesty and openness, then we are going to get rewards from Him!

 

No matter how hard we try to keep going at full steam for Christ, we will all get to a point where we feel like we cannot do any more. It is at that stage that we have to dig in and try a bit harder because it is at that stage that we have reached our own endurance. Moving forward from there means that we then have to depend on Christ – and that is exactly what He is trying to make us realise… we need to depend on Him!

 

Points to Ponder:
How quickly do you tire when you work for God?

 

How much do you really rely on Him?