June 11: John 8 1-11

Key Verse: John 8 11
“No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Devotion:
Double standard? What’s wrong with double standards? Personally, I think our biggest problem with our double standards is the way we then treat others because of those standards. We like to think the law is laid out specifically and that all should follow it; but when we get caught out transgressing that same law we want it to bend to give us leniency. The sad fact is when we see someone else breaking those same laws, we tend to blame them square and fair for what they have done.

Right from the beginning God has told us we do not have the right to judge one another because of this very fact. We break the laws, so we should not be the ones who judge others for breaking those laws. However, if nobody upheld the laws, we would all be in great trouble because we would have chaos in everything. We therefore have to follow the standards as laid down by God in the beginning. The basic law which He gave to Moses still stands today. The reason for it is not to throw everyone in jail that breaks the law, but for us to see we are breaking the law and encourage us to stop breaking it. If there were no punishments for breaking the law, we would simply go out and break them. But because there are punishments, we shy away from getting caught breaking the law. When the law does not punish people properly, they go back and break the same laws time and time again.

One thing we always forget… God is watching us break every law every time. There is nothing that can be hidden from Him because He can see it all. There is no sin that can be hidden from Him; but there is no sin which He has done. That fact alone gives Him the right to judge us righteously. If we want someone to be able to show us when we go wrong, the only one who can do that justly is Christ. This does not mean we should ignore people who are breaking the law because they may not know they are breaking the law or we have done it before... If they are able to see they have broken God’s law, God will be the one to judge them accordingly, but they do need to know it in the first place. Thank goodness we have a loving God who is willing to forgive us when we admit to our faults!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like people saying when you have done wrong?

Can you stand up to God and say you have done nothing wrong?

June 10: Matthew 15 16-20

Key Verse: Matthew 15 18
But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.

Devotion:
Let us continue to talk about double standards, but this time let us look at the standard which we have for our physical life and the standard we have for our spiritual life. Far too often we think of them as entirely different standards and hold them apart whereas in reality we should be looking at our life with Christ and making sure it is right – everything else should then fall into place. Christ was quick to point out that what we do physically is not what will keep us from going to heaven; it is what we do against Christ which will keep us from His side.

Some religions have strict rules about what you can and cannot eat or drink, but Christ is clearly stating that what we eat or drink will go down our throats, be munched up by our stomachs and leave our bodies as waste. The only thing to go wrong would be if we ate in excess or what we ate worked against our bodies (such as poison). How can any of that keep us away from Christ if we are still focused on God whilst we partake of it? On the other hand, what comes out of the mouth is entirely different…

What is going to come out of our mouths is what we have learned (whether it be intentionally or otherwise) and what we have heard and what we have built up. We are not always taught things correctly because man wants to be able to prove himself in some way. We do not always hear the right stuff because we are not always amongst Christians who are always saying the right things! In fact, the more we are exposed to things, the more we think about them and the more we start to introduce them into our lives – the more they start to come out of our mouths!

Once those evil thoughts get into our minds, it is very difficult to get them out because they always seem to surface at the most inopportune times! We have essentially become polluted with things… That is why we need Christ to cleanse us. Only through His help and guidance can we be “deep-cleansed”!

Points to Ponder:
What “standards” do you keep for the things you listen to?

What Would Jesus Listen To?

June 9: Matthew 23 25-26

Key Verse: Matthew 23 26
Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

Devotion:
This is just one of the crimes of the Pharisees listed here, but it is one that to me needs a bit of thought and draws parallels with our modern lives. So many people like to display a different image to the outside world from what they are like on the inside. It has almost become an art form where you have a public image and a private image. This used to be the art of the actor where they would portray a person on stage or film which was not themselves. Now, however, more and more people are doing this in their normal lives. How then are we supposed to work out if they are genuine or not?

Our lives seem to be surrounded by people who have “double standards”, even companies which have them too. People can no longer be described by how they are at home and business because they seem to be two different people. But, to me, Jesus was pointing out the fact that we are all guilty of either living double lives, or guilty of living with double standards. He could see what the people were like on the inside and could also see the public image they were portraying. Other people would only see the public image that was meant to be seen and would not know what the person was actually like. Is that not living a lie? Is that not the same as telling a constant stream of lies to everyone around you?

If we think we may be guilty of this in our lives, then how much of this has crept into our spiritual lives? How much of our double lives has begun to soak into our spiritual lives? Are we now the equal of the Pharisees, showing others we live a life for Christ but secretly work against Him. Or worse still, only love Jesus in secret and live a life against Him. If we want to be honest with Christ, then we have to start by making sure honesty starts on the inside, just as you would make sure you cleaned a cup on the inside if you wished to drink from it.

Points to Ponder:
Do you portray the same image as you really are?

Christ never relayed a false image!

June 8: Romans 3 5-8

Key Verse: Romans 3 7
Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?”

Devotion:
The law is the law… No matter how many ways we try to look at it or try to justify other things, the law is the law. If we try to convince people otherwise, then we will eventually be found out. We like to bend the rules to fit our own ways; but when someone spots how we are bending the rules, we need to own up to the fact we have done things our own ways. If everyone starts to bend the rules in the same way as you have done, it does not make the “new way of doing things” the right way, it just means that everyone is doing things the wrong way!

Just because everyone drives along a certain road at 40 miles per hour when the sign posts say that it is 30 miles per hour, it does not mean that the law has changed. Just because someone drives at 45 miles per hour because they do not want to be late for work, school or church does not mean that it is ok… even if they are the boss, teacher, pastor or priest… The law is there to show us what is right and acceptable; anything else must therefore be wrong and unacceptable. We cannot bend the rules to fit into our own plan saying that it works for the better because, by doing what we think we can, we are allowing others to think it is ok to break the law. If we are ok with breaking the law in one manner, then why can it not be broken in another manner?

We do break God’s laws all the time. We do bend His laws to fit in with our own lifestyles. We like to think we are doing things right because God will get the glory in the end. But what happens when we do break a few laws to “get there in the end”? Does that not then tell others that it is ok to break the law? How can we be the judges of what is right and wrong when God has already set forth the law for us to follow? He is the one with the wisdom to set the laws in the first place so that we will not fall into temptation and be “forced” to break a law or two along the way. He has given us the law that is right. He has shown us the way. We just need to follow it!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you break the rules?

How often do you think of God when you break His rules?