October 20: Philippians 2 1-4
Key Verse: Philippians 2 3
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves
Devotion:
If there is any one thing we should learn from the observations of Christ’s human existence it should be that He loved everyone; He did not separate those who did not believe from those who believed when it came to showing His love and preaching. His compassion was for all of humankind and not just those who said they would follow Him; and when He went to give His life on the cross, it was for everyone so we all have the ability to accept Him as our Saviour – He did not leave anyone out.
We are reminded here by the apostle that we need to be like-minded; having the same focused love to all men. That does not exclude us from having best friends or from having partners because that in itself is a show of our affection to others. What it does exclude is leaving people out just because they don’t like you or you think you don’t like them. Let’s take a step back and think about why that is so – why do we not like them, or they not like us? Does this not come back to the fact we have judged them not to be fit for our love in some manner? Is it simply because we have cut them off because of something we do not like? Is it because we don’t like something they have done? Who says we are right? Who says we have the right to judge them by our own standards?
Jesus had every right to judge others because He is the Son of God. He has every right to shut us out because we are sinners. Yet He is the one who has shown us by example how we should love those whom we think are not good enough for us! He knew we were not good enough, but He continued in going forward to the cross out of choice – because of His love for us! Far too often we act on personal feelings of vanity, pride and greed or react to those same feelings. We trap ourselves by our own bad judgements done through trying to promote our own ways or thoughts! We need to put aside our own corruption and take on the perfection that Christ has laid before us.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you regret your actions?
How often do you still do things against God that He forgives?
October 19: Acts 21 27-32
Key Verse: Acts 21 27
When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him
Devotion:
How many times have you seen people being stirred up in the name of a religion? We see it all the time nowadays on television where people are stirred into seemingly unlawful actions in the name of religion. Here the Jews from Asia stirred up the rest of the Jews to the extent where they all tried to get Paul, grabbing him and taking him outside the temple and then started beating him up. It seems a familiar sight to see crowds of people beating up another because of some difference in their views... a sad time we live in!
Paul used to be one of them. He used to be one of the men who were now beating him up. He used to be one who would stir up the crowds to beat up Christians and the like... just because they were saying something different to what they wanted to hear! We read our Old Testaments and we know we are looking at the same Law and scriptures that those Jews were trusting. We compare what happened in the days of Christ with various scripture references and we can clearly deduct Christ is our Saviour... Yet there are still people who continue to refuse to believe this one fact. There are other religions who will also say that Christ is not our Saviour but simply a prophet. And some extreme groups who will take that a step further and harm others just because they disagree!
What our bibles do not say is we should treat all other people who do not believe the same as we do as objects that we can beat up! What our bibles teach us is that we need to love others as we love ourselves and our God. We need to tell others of our God and the things He has done for all of us. Yet Jesus also tells us we need to make sure we are not a stumbling block against others, preventing them from coming to know Him. We need to lead by example, love and mercy, just as Jesus would want us to them a part of Him. Let us go forward in peace and love and not in vanity and strife.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you see others argue over religions?
How often do you show them God’s love through what you do?
October 18: Acts 5 12-16
Key Verse: Acts 5 12
The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade
Devotion:
When we do separate ourselves from non-believers and from hypocrites; joining instead with other believers, we set ourselves as examples for others to show our relationship with Christ. The apostles did that. They made sure they stuck together, but they also separated themselves from non-believers. The people around held them up as examples of Christians and wanted to be more like them, so they too could be close to Christ. The apostles did not stop preaching to the unbelievers, nor did they hide themselves away; they chose to stay close to believers so that they could encourage and strengthen each other... that is the difference.
Our duty is to the church; we need to promote God’s church to others by leading by example. When others can see the peace that we gain by living with Christ in our lives, they too will be encouraged to find out about Him. When we are able to tell others of the blessings that God gives to us because of our relationship with Him, they too will be encouraged to form a relationship with Christ. We are here to promote the enlargement of Christ’s church, the body of believers that we belong to. We cannot forgive the sins that sinners do against God because that is not within our power – but we can sure show others that we have Christ who is willing and able to forgive us of our sins.
Our bibles are centre to our church. It is by God’s word we are able to understand how much He cares for us, how much He loves us, how faithful He is, how merciful He is and His endless grace. Through His words we are able to understand how we need to live as examples for others to be encouraged by. Through His words we are able to show others how He is willing to forgive them. We cannot do that forgiving, but we can show them how Christ will. He simply wants us to be true and faithful servants and He will show us His love when we do exactly that...
Points to Ponder:
What sort of people do you mix with?
How often do you mix with God?
October 17: John 13 31-35
Key Verse: John 13 35
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Devotion:
This was the time when Jesus introduced the disciples to what some will call the eleventh commandment; one that should have been implicit in following the previous ten, but one which we need to be reminded of because of our fractious ways. We get upset by the smallest things and those moments then bring us to feelings of anger against others – even over the smallest of things! Jesus told us He was about to give His life for our sins. No other act in history has or ever will be remembered and glorified as much as this – that a perfect man give his life as a thief and a murderer just so we may be forgiven our sins which we do each day against God...
We cannot follow Him into heaven now, or indeed as soon as we accept Him as our Saviour; that time has to wait until we either die or until He decides to take us home with Him. We are assured of a place in heaven because of what He has done for us; we are assured a place by His side as long as we know Him and He knows us. We must realise we do not get a place just because we are here on earth, but because we got to know Him whilst we were here on earth!
But one of the biggest things that keeps us from knowing Him is our own feelings. We harbour feelings of lust, anger, jealousy and so much more. These feelings keep us from concentrating on Him and on glorifying Him. We are the ones who need to put those feelings aside and concentrate on our feelings towards Him. Just as we should concentrate on our feelings in a relationship with another person, we need to do so with Christ. When we do that, we will find the love He has for us and with it will come understanding about how to pass it on to others rather than our own frivolous and vain feelings. With those new feelings in our lives, we will be able to keep this commandment; that we should love one another in the same way as He has loved us. If we cannot do this, we have to question our own sincerity with God...
Points to Ponder:
How often do you argue over little things?
How often do you argue with or question God?
October 16: John 14 12-17
Key Verse: John 14 17
the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
Devotion:
What a glorious promise... Whatever we ask in Christ’s name, assuming that it be for our good and suitable for us (according to God’s will), He will give it to us! To ask in Christ’s name is to ask in honesty, knowing He has promised to listen and to answer, and then to depend on the promise that He will answer. In other words, when we ask, we must expect our prayer to be answered... because that is what Christ has promised us!
But just as we are expected to depend on those promises, we are also expected to keep His commandments. It is not a dependency. He is not saying that He will answer our prayers if we keep His commandments. He tells us He will answer our prayers and then reminds us we need to keep His commandments as well – that is what He expects from us. He expects us to believe Him in His promise and also to keep His commandments, not for payment of what He has done, but to show Him we do love Him.
And then He backs things up by telling the disciples He has already thought of them in the future when He Himself will no longer physically be amongst them in person; He tells them of the Great Comforter who He will give to all those willing to believe. Again, this is a promise we can depend on, but this promise does have strings attached. Nothing sinister. He knew that when He left the Holy Spirit, the people of the world would not readily accept Him because they could not see Him. They could not see the need for a Saviour and could not see how an unseen Saviour could save them. We have all the truth in our bibles we need so we can learn about How this is possible and how we too can receive the Holy Spirit by believing in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It may be hard for us to grasp the truth at first, but once we put our trust in Christ, the Holy Spirit helps us to understand it in our hearts...
Points to Ponder:
How often do you keep all things that you say?
How much do you depend on Christ’s promises?