August 31: Matthew 23 37-39
Key Verse: Matthew 23 37
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.
Devotion:
Have you ever noticed Christ would not dwell on the sufferings which He was about to go through but rather dwelt on the rejection of the people. He did not lay down a “guilt trip” about how much He would have to go through just because we are the sinners. He just gave them a reminder of all the things the people of Jerusalem had done, would do and then reminded them of His love.
Just like a hen, He is willing to lift up His wings and cover us when we scramble back to Him for help and shelter. But just like a hen, He will sit and cover those who do scramble back, but cannot do anything about the others who refuse to come back to Him. He calls us and He encourages us, but if we are not willing to listen to His instruction, then we will not be able to get the help and protection that He is offering. We are the ones that have to make the choice to go to Him.
Christ knew what would happen to the Jews and He knew that He would not be able to protect them unless they came to Him. As soon as they turned their backs on Him, they were on their own again. When they try to get shelter from others, that is all they get; but if they are willing to come back to Him they then get the full benefit of His protection with eternal life in Christ Jesus. It is sad to see so many people who refuse to make that simple step of coming back into Christ’s protective arms by just admitting He is our Saviour and asking for that protection. There is no way He will reject anyone who calls out for His help when they believe that, He will help them.
The young chicks would scurry back to the hen knowing they would get protection. We need to scurry back to Christ and know He is going to protect us. We need to make sure our faith is strong enough to believe that His helping, loving arms will cover us as soon as we declare Him as our Saviour because He IS waiting...
Points to Ponder:
Who do you call out to for help?
Do you know the power of God?
August 30: Romans 15 4-6
Key Verse: Romans 15 5
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had
Devotion:
How many times do we pick our friends because of their stature in society? How many times do we shy away from certain people because they do not fit into the same circle of society as us? Are we doing the right thing? No! If Christ had stuck to His circle of people (the Jews) then none but the Jews would have been able to go to heaven because they would have been the only ones whose sins would have been forgiven. Instead, Christ opened His heart for all of mankind.
Whilst it will still be hard for us to allow our enemies into our lives as friends, we can make a start by not just sticking to our own circle of friends but taking a look at other people in society. What about the people who cannot live as we can just because they do not have the same opportunities? What about the people who cannot mix with others as we can because they do not know the right people? You see, just as we think we have problems in our own little world, there are others who have problems in theirs. We do not hold the exclusive rights to being left out of something!
Yes, our first place is to start by showing everyone that they have the right to be able to like us because we will not turn others away; but we have to remember we are not the only ones who live the way we do nor are we the example by which all others should live. We can try to be that example, but there will always be someone who cannot. We need to open our eyes to other people’s situations so we can find out why they cannot do what we can. Understanding someone may be the first step towards being able to show them we love them and that they can love us. Christ had a head start there because He already knew us – but that did not stop Him from loving us and showing us His awesome love and care for us even though we are nothing like Him!
Points to Ponder:
What is your first step towards selecting friends?
Are you giving others a sample of Christ’s love?
August 29: Matthew 5 43-48
Key Verse: Matthew 5 46
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
Devotion:
How many people have told you to love your enemies? I bet not too many! We tend to follow the edict to love our friends because they are our friends and hate our enemies because they hate us. But how would we ever get out of that circle of hate if nobody wanted to make the first move? Someone somewhere has to make the first move so the distrust or bad feelings may be broken.
What do you think life would be like if God had not made the first move to show us His love? Who would have had to pay for our sins? Who would be the one standing up and admitting they did something wrong? Without some sort of goal to look forward to, nobody is going to want to make the first move. If we present ourselves as people who nobody can trust or like, then nobody is going to want to trust or like us. Yet if we present ourselves as likeable people that can be trusted, we are making that first move.
You see, it does not have to be a case of going out and buying an enemy a new car to show them you love them. We can demonstrate love in so many ways and we need to because the world is full of very different people. If we are able to at least show the people who do not like us that there is a side to us they will like, then they may want to look for that good side. Yes, there are going to be those who just refuse to even look for any good side, but that should not stop us from showing it.
God continues to show us His love every day by continuing to make sure the world continues to exist and support us! He does have the power to destroy the world in just the same way as He made the world, yet He chose to promise us He would continue to make sure this world “works” so we can continue to live in hope even when we do not show it.
Points to Ponder:
Do you show others you can be liked?
Do you see just how much Christ loves us?
August 28: Proverbs 27 6-7
Key Verse: Proverbs 27 6
Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.
Devotion:
Nobody likes being told off! But when we are told off, it is normally for a good reason – somewhere along the line we have gone astray from the rules we should be following and we need to get back on track. Have you also noticed when people have to ask you quite a few times when they are asking you to do something that you do not want to do, but when it is something you want to do they hardly have to get the sentence out of their mouths! Then there are the times when you see someone doing something bad and they are totally enjoying themselves, so when they get around to asking if you want to have fun too, you jump at the chance... We have just demonstrated how much we are willing to bend the rules when we want to have fun!
When a friend openly rebukes us, it hurts; but when we look back at that time after we have done the right thing, we can look back and thank them for telling us off at the time. When someone tempts us into doing wrong things, we don’t have to spend too much time thinking about it before we blame them for encouraging us to do what we did – even though we are the ones who made the choice!
The more we are willing to learn God’s Word, the more we will be able to identify His Word from man’s word. The more we know His Word, the stronger we will become in living within His will. When we learn how to live within the limits that God has set for us, we will still be able to enjoy ourselves and we will be able to push aside those tempting times. But if we corrupt our lives with all manner of things, we will not be able to identify the bitter from the sweet and will take in both thinking that they are ok. The more we corrupt God’s Word in our lives, the more we are willing to accept corruption into our lives; but if we are able to keep God’s Words pure in our lives we will be able to see the difference between what He wants and what we want!
Points to Ponder:
How often do people have to rebuke you?
How often do you work against God’s Will in your life?
August 27: Galatians 1 1-7
Key Verse: Galatians 1 6
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel
Devotion:
How easily do you get side-tracked? With so many things in this world which can take us away from the things we should be doing, it is a wonder we can stay on track for some things – but those things which you really do like doing, those are the things that you will be least likely to be tempted away from... There are chores which we all have to do, and they tend to get put aside as soon as anything comes along! But there are certain things which you cannot put aside because your life (or livelihood) depends on them. Where do you place your relationship with Christ?
We all get excited when we first get saved because we can see how important it is and we are all eager to show God we are happy for everything that He did, does and will do in our lives. But as soon as things are going along smoothly we tend to forget that importance of our eagerness just because everything seems to be being taken care of. Our relationship starts to suffer because we are not upholding it in the position we should be. That is when others will come into our lives and tell us of the things which are important in their lives and we will be tempted away from God and may well follow their gods – I say gods because they will be treating what is important in their lives like a god because it comes first, before God.
The churches in Galatia had done exactly that. They did not have the disciples with them at the time and so someone else came along with something that sounded better. They may well have been doing it saying that it was coming from God, and we will face people like that too. But if it is not written in God’s Word, then it is most likely to have come from man and not God. That has got to be the defining line – if it comes from God it will be written down or backed up with what is written down. He has already declared we do have everything written down and we do not need more – why should we seek for more? The only reason can be that we are seeking pleasure for ourselves and not for God. We like it so much we leave God out of it...
Points to Ponder:
What do you uphold first in your life?
Is God being given the position He deserves in your life?