Wednesday Reading: Luke 6 32-35
 
Key Verse: Luke 6 35
35  But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
 
Devotion:
So, you think you are just as good as the next person... Well, you probably are! You see, we all do at one time or another do good things. Just doing good things for your friends will ensure that you can stay in your circle of friends. Doing good things for neighbours can be done by anything; it's just keep you as a good neighbour. What is the next step that is going to set you apart from others? Surprisingly easy – expect nothing back.

 

Too many times we go off and do things for others because we are expecting them to do something in return. Too much of our lives are taken up in “I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine”... We always expect someone to do something in return for the things that we do for them. That is human nature. Anyone can do that! To make a difference spiritually, you have to have the right attitude and that attitude is to expect nothing in return for anything that you do. To be totally unselfish!

 

“But I'm not selfish” cries coming from the back row... If we are only doing something because we expect a return on it, then that is selfish – we are only doing it for our own good. Even if we are only doing it for respect, we are still doing it for personal reasons. Jesus did not go to the cross to demand respect. He went to the cross with love and willingly laid down His own life so that we may have a choice as to what to do. He did not lay it down so that we would feel guilty. He laid it down out of love, nothing more. He does not expect us to do anything (after all, He knows what we are like!). He simply gave us a fighting chance at making the right decision by doing something personal for each one of us. He showed that same attitude to the murderers and thieves as well as the priests and kings...

 

Points to Ponder:
What do you expect others to do for you?
 
Have you done something for God lately without expecting a return?

Tuesday Reading: Luke 10 30-37
 
Key Verse: Luke 10 37b
37b  ... Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
 
Devotion:
How far are you willing to step out of line to help someone. Yesterday we heard how God wants us to be neighbourly to others and how Israel had been taught that from the beginning, yet we continue to turn our backs on people in need every day. Now we have a global society, we get to hear all about things happening all over the world and whilst some are willing to go places and help out it is not everyone that does. I'm not saying that we should all jump on planes and arrive in Africa to help out with the people in need – besides a logistically impossible situation, the extra burden on all services and on Africa itself would probably cause even more chaos.

 

We, each of us, have needy people close at hand. This parable alludes to helping those that are close at hand, even if they are people you would not normally get involved with. God wants His light to shine through us when we step out of line and show people that we care. It is not just going to make us feel good, it is going to show others a small facet of God's love.

 

Many people are very religious but do not show God's true love. They will make sure that they are always in church and that everyone knows about them going to church, but they will not stop and help someone in need. They are more concerned about their image in and out of church than they are about the people around them. God's church is the people, not the buildings nor the splendour, nor the pomp and ceremonies. We are His church and we have to act like it because that is His wish.

 

Being willing to go a bit further than most will allow others to see that you are genuine. Just doing it will not. The willingness has to be there otherwise some will see right through you like God does!

 

Points to Ponder:
How much do you help around the house?
 
How much do you do for the church?

Monday Reading: Proverbs 25 21-22
 
Key Verse: Proverbs 25 21
21  If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
 
Devotion:
Have you ever said something like “give me one good reason why I should do anything for you”? Well, here is that reason! And don't use the words “heap coals of fire upon his head” as a reason to get back at them because that is not what this proverb is about! This proverb is about the exact opposite.

 

God wants each of us to give time for those in our lives that would work against us. He wants us to give time to those that are trying to show us up, trying to bring us down, trying to make themselves look better than us. Why? Well for a few reasons. Firstly, because we may well be just like them. We may be looking for attention and doing things that we can see are wrong in others, but not when we do them. We may be the ones going a step too far just so that we can make ourselves look better. We may be the ones taking other peoples glory to feed our own appetite for the lime light! We need to know that God must get all the glory and not ourselves – we need to remember that we are doing things for God because of all that He has already done for us.

 

Secondly, because we need to show others that we care about them enough for them to know that they don't have to be like that. Most of the time people go about doing things because they need attention of some recognition that they think is lacking in their lives. If we are able to show them that they do not have to go that far for attention, then we have shown them a very small aspect of God's love. Heaping coals upon someone's head does not mean heating their head until it explodes but rather giving them so much to think about that they are willing to change their ways. Giving them enough to think their problem through and see that God is their helper and that we are just an instrument is what this is all about!

 

Points to Ponder:
How often do you do things to gain attention?
 
How often do you do things to give God attention?

Sunday Reading: Exodus 23 1-9
 
Key Verse: Exodus 23 4
4  If you meet your enemy's ox or his ass going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.
 
Devotion:
After Moses had given the 10 commandments to the people of Israel, there followed a whole string on further laws which had to be learned and followed. Each one of these laws finds it's way through to modern society because they are sound for both moral and political reasons. But in our modern society we find them breaking down because man no longer wants to adhere to them. One of the biggest problems we face is that nobody wants to love their enemy.

 

This has lead to so many things breaking down in society simply because we no longer want to love our enemies. We would rather find fault in them so that we do not have to like them. We rather join up a few laws together to make our own. In verse 7 God talks about not killing the innocent and righteous; so we join that together with love your enemy and we come up with love those that are innocent and righteous... We are the ones corrupting God's laws to suit our own lifestyles.

 

If we read the laws that Moses was given from God, we do find that they are sound. If we were all to follow them, we would have a much better society. Whilst we no longer have any need whatsoever to offer sacrifices, we do still have a need to follow the rest of the laws. We need to make sure that we do stay away from evil, but that we do still offer a helping hand to everyone that needs it. We cannot go ahead and invent our own laws just so that we can live the life that we want to live – that is not what God has said anywhere in the bible!

 

It is time that we went back to reading the laws that God has laid down and started following them instead of the corruptions in modern society, be them from the East or from the West... God's Laws still stands above all!

 

Points to Ponder:
Do you turn a blind eye to people you don't like?
 
What would you think if God turned His back on everyone who sinned?