August 21: Matthew 6 25-34
Key Verse: Matthew 6 33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Devotion:
How many times must Christ continue to tell us how much we can trust in Him before we start to believe it? The answer is different for each of us because it comes from our own wants or desires. I say wants and not needs because our wants drive us in the worldly society we live in. We look at things and we covet after them. That drives the way we act and the way we react. Our world becomes centred on the physical things of this world instead of being centred around God...
We don’t have to look very far to see the awesome beauty of the land we live in. Even in the most inhospitable deserts we find life, put there by God. We find flowers which are so delicate and beautiful we wonder at their creation. We see birds all around and yet they do not all have to be fed by human hands because God has given them the seeds of the land to live off. Wild animals all have a place in what we call the circle of nature, living off things that live off other things. Why then do we have the need to dress better than others or to spend more than others or to drive cars better than others? That answer has already been said – greed; we covet things.
How are we going to be able to focus on God when we spend all of our time focusing on the physical things surrounding us? How are we going to focus on God when our lives are taken up in material progressions which have no other reward than personal gratification at the time? None of this is going to help us to get to heaven and it will certainly not be coming with us when we die... There is no call for us all to live like cavemen but there is no call for us to live like kings either.
We need to find a balance in each of our lives where we can live a life which others may see as a good example to Christ. We should keep our focus on Him and not on our own personal gain. With our focus on Christ we will begin to see the needs of others around us and not just the need to satisfy our greed!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like doing things for others – what resources do you use?
How much do others see in you from Christ?
August 20: Jeremiah 2 1-5
Key Verse: Jeremiah 2 5
This is what the Lord says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
Devotion:
There are so many things in life which need us to persevere before they succeed; if we start to think we can get fit and then give up half way through, we will not continue to be fit. We need to stick at things when we start them. Just like a normal relationship, our relationship with Christ has to be maintained from both sides; if we give up on our side of the relationship then it is going to go cold. We need our constant companionship with Christ to continue our relationship with Him right up until the moment when we meet Him face to face.
It is very sad to see someone go cold in their relationship with God. It is even worse when you see them going down-hill and facing all manner of problems which they then blame on God rather than thinking about what they have been doing or what life and this world is really like. As we walk with Christ we grow with Him and we see how much He does for us. When we start to walk off on our own, do we really expect Christ to have to follow us on our sinful path or should we be the ones turning back to Him? Those first steps seem to be taken when we have a bountiful blessing in our lives – it is when we are most comfortable we start to look at our blessing and count them for our own. The next step is to celebrate by ourselves, leaving God out of it. From then on, we are walking by ourselves again, turning our backs on the very Christ who gave us those blessings in the beginning!
How vain we are to think we are the ones who can maintain our own spiritual lives. How vain we are to think it was all down to what we did and not what Christ has done for us. But, when we are down, we blame God! What has He ever done against us? He who cannot bear sin, He who will not tempt us? How can we ever think it is He who turns His back on us when we have already turned our backs on Him? We need to celebrate our relationship with Christ by continuing to keep Him involved in everything!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you forget simple promises you have made in the past?
How can we ever think God can ever break a promise when He never has so far?
August 19: Proverbs 27 9-10
Key Verse: Proverbs 27 10
Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you - better a neighbour nearby than a relative far away.
Devotion:
Just as a nice smelling perfume or ointment will bring some pleasure, so too will kind heart-felt advice from someone else. If you drop something without knowing, is it not nice to have someone to tell you that you have dropped it or even to pick it up for you? The simple act of smiling at someone as they walk past can make them smile... And yet such a small act of indifference as ignoring someone can dwell on their hearts for a long time. There is a fine line between being a social friend and a social enemy!
Friends, be them your own friends or the friends of others in your family should be valued. A friend is someone who has passed the test of time; they have stood up to friendship test for a while and now can be depended upon... They need to be valued for what they are and not ignored. How easily you could break down a friendship by a simple unsociable act... one who may well put an end to the trust that was built up over time.
If you are in a spot of bother you need to be able to go to someone who you know will stick by you. When you are down you need to be able to know who you can turn to; you need to know who is going to put up with you in your state of panic or distress. This may well be someone other than a brother or sister... If you are in a panic, the last thing you want to have to do is to fly half way round the world before you can get to see your brother or sister!
This is why Christ continued to promote loving our neighbours. If we are able to make friendships that will stand the test of time and calamity, we will have found a supporting partner close by. Let us never forget the friend we have is Jesus. Let us never forget that He has never turned His back on us, never ignored us, and never stopped looking out for us! What a friend we have is Jesus!
Points to Ponder:
What stops you from smiling or greeting people?
What stops you from smiling to or praying to Christ?
August 18: Acts 17 1-9
Key Verse: Acts 17 3
explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said.
Devotion:
When you start talking to people about Christ you are generally going to find some people listen, some disagree, and some may even turn violent! People who are going to act normally and listen (or not) will probably not put you off your stride and they will not interfere with what you believe. Those who do listen may encourage you or even discourage you; but they should not be able to change your mind about Christ! On the other hand, the people who are going to rebel and even go out of their way to stop you from speaking are going to be the ones who do challenge your faith the most.
Even as an adult teaching young children you will still get those who seem hell-bent on stopping you from teaching others about Christ. Fortunately, children are a bit easier to side track when they try to interrupt teachings; but peers will always tend to get the better of you if you do not have faith that Christ will carry you through.
If Christ is in your conversation, teaching or discussion, then you can know He will make sure His Word will get told in some way. You can know that whatever happens will be to His glory (so long as you are willing to allow Him in). You can know He will carry you through the discussion and even get others to listen.
Paul was able to tell a lot of people about Christ and how His life lived up to the prophesies which foretold of His coming and His resurrection. He was able, through use of the scriptures, to convince many of the truth... But there was a substantial group who would not accept the truth because it would mean them having to give up their “self made rules” and follow the truth. They would rather use the law of the land to put down the Law of Christ and were willing to use whatever means it would take... That also meant taking other believers and dragging them through the mill to try and turn people against Christian teaching. We need to be aware of people like that, but also to place our trust in Christ!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like it when people side-track your conversations?
How willing are you to allow Christ to win the conversation?
August 17: Luke 1 1-4
Key Verse: Luke 1 4
so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
Devotion:
How often have you been frustrated by other people who have not told your story properly. I mean, here you go, trying to explain things properly to one person, and they go off and tell someone else something different and have the cheek to say you told them that! I am sure we have all been there at some stage, and may well have been the one who got the story wrong too!
Luke must have got a bit frustrated by the “broken telephone syndrome” when he would do his best to go out and preach God's Word as it was told to him only to have others get it wrong and then for them to explain it incorrectly to others. He decided to make sure they got the whole truth by writing it all down and giving it to the church as a written document; that way they could not get it wrong! If only things were as simple as that in real life!
No matter how much we write things down and explain it to people, some will always come up with their own ideas. Some will even think their ideas must be better than yours and start telling others their own ideas in preference to the truth. That is just part of human life – each one of us seems to want to be known in some better way than others. Until we can let go of that need to be recognised in some way more than others, we will continue to bend the rules, bend the truth and go off on our own ideas!
God wants us to come forward humbly to accept His Word as the truth and to faithfully recount His word to others. This does not mean we have to stick to reading His Word directly from the scriptures and nothing else... What it does mean is that we need to find out the truth before we start spreading it to others. What good would it be if I started to tell you how to make birds nest soup if I did not even know what ingredients to use? We need to find out the truth by reading all of it so that we can understand it, only then can we get to grips with telling others about it...
Points to Ponder:
Do you like talking to others about things you know nothing about?
How much do you actually know about God's Word?