June 27: Romans 13 13-14
Key Verse: Romans 13 14
Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
Devotion:
Do you think you have changed at all after becoming a Christian? Are you still the same old you or do you feel like a different person? There are so many arguments about whether you should change or even if you can change after becoming a Christian; even in Paul’s letters he tries to encourage people to change from their old ways to the new ways. Our bibles try to encourage us to do what is right; that often will mean stopping doing things we used to do – not because other people tell you to do so, but because it is what you want to do to please God.
When we obey our parents, we know it will please them. When they tell us things we should not be doing and we change our ways to not do those things, we are showing our parents we are pleased to do what they think should be done and in doing so we show them we love them. But when Christ said we should love our neighbours as ourselves, He wanted us to start to think about what we do to others and in front of others. We don’t like it when people say or do things against us, so we should not do or say things against others… but it’s not as straight-forward as that… As we know, many of the things we do are based on our hearts as well as our minds. If we are not willing to change our hearts to love one another, then how will we ever change our physical to show that love?
If we are going to change, that change has to start in our hearts. That change has to start because we want it to. That change will happen, one way or the other. Why will it happen? Well, when we invite Christ back into our lives, we invite someone special in to live with us forever; by doing so, we now have someone loving, just and righteous with us at all times. If we continue to be our own old selves, we may just find we are troubling our guest every day through what we do in front of them. We need to think about our closest neighbour and that is the Holy Spirit who is with us always…
Points to Ponder:
How often do you do things to please others?
How often do you do things that you think will upset God?
June 26: Proverbs 3 7-12
Key Verse: Proverbs 3 12
because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.
Devotion:
One of our biggest problems within ourselves is the fact we think we know it all and we don’t like to admit that maybe we can be wrong. Whilst there is nothing wrong with self-confidence, self-conceit of our own wisdom is the thing which will bring us down. We need to always remember whatever we think we know, God knows more! We don’t have the wisdom to create life, nor the wisdom to create worlds; in fact, we struggle to cure some sick people and to know what makes up the atoms of the universe… but God knows it all. There is no way we can be an astronaut, brain surgeon, computer wiz, avid farmer, veterinarian and a wonderful person all at the same time because we need to focus on one thing at a time if we want to be proficient in it. It’s not just the brain we need to consider but the heart as well because most of our interaction with people will be done from our hearts. Wisdom is the collection of everything that our minds and hearts have learned – without both, we are nothing.
That is why we need the direction of someone who has all of the knowledge of the universe and all of the love as well. Once we realise we can learn from others, we need to seek out that wisdom and learn from it all the time. As soon as we think we know better than that wisdom, we falter! Whilst we are still children, listening to our parents and other adults allows us to pick up an enormous amount of wisdom which we can then apply to our lives. We never stop learning because we can continue to learn from both the right and the wrong that we can pick up on.
God needs us to listen because there is so much ‘noise’ out there which will distract us away from that true wisdom He alone can give. When we go against His will, we should not be surprised to find He tries to correct us just as our parents would correct us when we do wrong in their eyes. Don’t ignore that correction! Instead, we should use that extra wisdom to correct ourselves both in our knowledge and our hearts so we can bring out actions which will please God and give Him all the glory!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you regret not listening to others?
Do you realise how long you may regret not listening to God?
June 25: Matthew 7 1-5
Key Verse: Matthew 7 2
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Devotion:
Have you ever tried to keep the law all the time? Have you ever tried to do every single thing as the law states it should be done? How far did you get before you found you had once again bent at least one of the rules before completing a task? Just from the fact we cannot always keep the law, no matter how hard we try, we should be willing to see the same in others too. If we try our hardest and cannot keep the law, then should we expect others to be able to keep that same law no matter how hard they try? The key should be the fact they are trying… just like we try.
Being able to accept people for what they are and to be able to live with them will allow us to make for a more peaceful society. If we are willing to allow people to work at being good at their own pace rather than expecting them to be perfect, we will be a lot better off. There is nothing wrong in encouraging people to follow the law, just don’t be too disappointed when you find that they cannot keep the law either!
Our example to others should be a solid example they can look to for encouragement. If we are judging others every time we see something wrong, then they are going to see someone who thinks that they are above anyone else. If, however, we are able to accept people the way they are but with sound biblical encouragement, they will see in us the Christian we hope to be! When they see that sort of example, we then are going to be treated in the way we hope we can treat others. We are the ones who have to start the ball rolling because it will not start to roll by itself…
If we can give to others the same love that God has already show us, then just maybe they will see in us a bit of that love; just maybe they will be encouraged by it and seek Him out in the way that He wants them to. That is the will of God.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you break rules?
Do you expect others to be better than you at keeping the rules?
June 24: Isaiah 56 3-8
Key Verse: Isaiah 56 5
to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.
Devotion:
No matter how small our ‘unbelief’ is, it will rise at the most inopportune moments to throw all manner of things our way so we will be discouraged in our belief in God. God has expressly told us this will happen and that we should not drop out guard against such things. One of the most important ways of guarding against it is to make sure we mix with other Christians so we can all help each other to build up our strength. What better way than to follow God’s commandments and keep the Sabbath day holy? The way to look at it is to remember that our spiritual blessings we will get are going to be better than having sons and daughters. I cannot express just how wonderful it is to have a son and a daughter; but God has promised us our spiritual blessings are going to be far better than that!
Our sons and daughters may be the most wonderful things in our lives, but they will only last as long as either we do, or they do. All of us have a finite lifespan against which we have no power. We can extend it slightly by looking after our bodies and being careful, but there is always an end. Our spiritual blessings, on the other hand, have no end!
The closer we draw to God, the more we realise that doing His will is not grievous; there is no hardship in doing God’s will when we compare it to the blessings we will have. We can look at our children (something to look forward to for those who are young) and we can remember the good times and remember the bad times, but those bad times all seem worth it when we can hold our children in our arms. Nothing will compare to being in God’s hands in heaven! When we are reminded to keep God’s Commandments, we should look forward to doing exactly that because of the awesome blessings that lie ahead for us in heaven.
Points to Ponder:
What has been one of the highlights of your life?
Can you imagine feeling better than that - always?
June 23: Exodus 21 1-17
Key Verse: Exodus 21 1
These are the laws you are to set before them:
Devotion:
There is nothing new about the Ten Commandments. You may well think that they are a few thousand years old, but these are the things God designed into our very being. But, because of sin, we have allowed things to corrupt our lives to such an extent they become part of our lives. Why else would God have personally spoken these words and written them on tablets of stone other than to bring them back into our memory. Just because Jesus has died for our sins and we have forgiveness for everything we have done and everything we will do; it does not mean we have the right to flout God’s Ten Commandments. He constantly reminds us of His laws so we will bring them back into our lives.
We are born into sin… What does that actually mean? It means that we are born into a world where we are introduced to and experience sin all the time. It’s not a case of us having to go out and learn how to sin, we just do go out and sin. We try it out for ourselves because that is what we start to think about. Cain did not go on a course to learn how to kill someone before killing his brother. He did it because of the thoughts that went through his head, the jealousy and feelings of wrath.
We have been given these Ten Commandments so we will be able to realise just what we are doing wrong. It does not stop there because the more we find out about God’s will in our life, the more we find that we do wrong. The more we find we do wrong, the more we feel down and depressed about what we do. With those sorts of feelings spinning around our heads is it little wonder then we turn away from God just to try and get away from those feelings? People do not want to feel bad about what they do, they want to have some excuse about the things they do wrong, something that will allow them to get off the hook!
Jesus has given that to us; but we have to seek out the truth and accept it into our hearts before we will understand that Christ came into our lives to save us and not to condemn us!
Points to Ponder:
What rules get you down?
Do you find excuses to not go to church?