May 18: Genesis 3 16-19
Key Verse: Genesis 3 17
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
Devotion:
When was the last time you were caught out doing something you really should not have been doing? I’m not talking about something like talking in class, but something a bit more drastic, something you would rather not have to tell other people about… How did you feel at that moment of being caught? Can you remember how it felt like the blood drained totally out of your head? Can you remember the dry feeling in your mouth? How about your brain? Did it seem to suddenly go into neutral and there was just nothing you could do? I can remember a few moments like that in my life…
What sort of punishment did you have to face for what you did? Adam and Eve had to face up to the ultimate authority, an authority previously with whom they had been able to commune with, been able to walk with and talk with. And yet now they had to face up to admitting that the one thing they had been told not to do, had just been done!
When we are placed into a position of trust, the last thing we would want to do is to break that trust. Unfortunately, there is one who is more than willing to encourage us into breaking every trust at every conceivable moment. We always have to be on our guard against him and always have to try and make sure what we are doing is God’s will on not his will. We do not always think of the consequences of doing things and we most certainly do not think of them when we are having fun – that is going to be our weakest point, the point at which we will be tempted by the greatest tempter of all…
Because of our sins (and no, you cannot blame it all on Eve because we are the ones who continue to sin) we have been condemned to a life that is nothing like that which Adam first knew. For all intents and purposes, it is like we are in prison! It does not take much to turn your life around, so you can at least get out on parole!
Points to Ponder:
When did you last get caught out?
Do you think you have got away with it just because no human saw you?
May 17: 2 Corinthians 2 1-2
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 2 2
For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved?
Devotion:
If you want to be happy, then the best place to be is around happy people. It is very hard to be happy when you are surrounded by people sunk deep in depression. If you do have any feelings for others, then you too will be deep in sorrow. If you are a true friend to someone, then when they are down, that is the time to go to them and say that you feel for them. Until you know why they are feeling down it is probably not a good idea to burst in all happy and gay. Sometimes just being there for someone is the best that you can do for them.
God is there for us all the time. He is waiting for us every day, every night, every minute in every day. We do not know when Jesus is going to come back and end this time of grace that we are living in so we do not know how long we have to live. What we need to do is to make the most of the time we may or may not have!
How can we do that? Well, we could help others showing them we do care. For if we are willing to do so, then we are showing them there is someone who cares. That is when we can tell them this is all because we have someone special who cares far more for us and is always there for and with us. That is when we can tell them God is ever present. He is the one who has given each one of us our lives, and He is the one who we should be going back to when things are not what we expected.
Consider this. If you made something for someone and they used that item in the way it was meant, would you feel good? How about if they totally ignored the item? How about if they used the item as a murder weapon? God has given us our bodies to do the right stuff. Let us therefore obey His requests and show brotherly love one towards another. Show someone there is always someone who really does care! That also means when we are feeling down, we should be able to get support from those around us simply by asking. The people who care the most are most often the people you see most often… unless you have surrounded yourself with the wrong people!
Points to Ponder:
Have you given someone a hug of comfort recently?
When we mess things up there is always one place we can go... back to our Maker!
May 16: 1 Peter 2 13-17
Key Verse: 1 Peter 2 16
Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.
Devotion:
A Christian must be honest. There is no other way to fully serve a just and honest God other than to be totally honest oneself. That honesty has to be throughout your life and not just in what other people see of you. It is all well and good to be an honest person on the outside so others will trust you with everything and even come to believe you, but if you are not being honest with God as well, then you have a problem which is eating at you from the inside and will eventually make itself known. Once again, we can take our wonderful members of parliament to see this. They seem honest on the outside, but eventually their back-hand deals are exposed and we see many of them for what they are – mostly honest but willing to break the rules when it suits them!
If we fall into this trap as a Christian, we are not any better than someone who is openly doing evil things – we are doing evil within our hearts! That is the place where Christ looks! It is no good our going around trying to be an example to others when we cannot be honest with God. Once we are open and honest we can then be that example to others – hiding things behind the scenes is nothing more than being a thief, taking peoples trust without asking them.
When we start our honesty with God, we will find that being honest with everyone else becomes second nature. Others will then be able to see we are honest, trustworthy and someone whom they could listen to. That is when we can then give them the truth about God and allow them to get to know Him too.
We have to make sure we do honour those to whom honour is due, but we have to make sure we do fear God above others because He is our rightful King having created us and paid for our sin debt.
Points to Ponder:
How often are you forced to lie?
Would you have had to lie if you had been honest up front?
May 15: 1 Peter 2 9-10
Key Verse: 1 Peter 2 9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Devotion:
Of all of the things in the universe, God chose us! He chose us to be the best of the best. He chose us to be in His image, to be like Him. If that does not set us apart from anything else, then nothing can! But more than that… He gave us the ability to know who He is and He gave us a choice to make; that choice being either to believe the truth about what happened, or to try and think up some fantastical story about how we came to be just so we can be by ourselves. When we look at the astronomical odds against the random chance of life evolving we must come to the conclusion it is easier for me to win the lottery every week for a few months than it is for life to evolve in a world where it is breaking down (and I don’t even buy lottery tickets!)
He has chosen us to be the ones who have the intelligence to work out He is God. He has chosen us to be the ones who will carry His name forward so we may tell one another of our Great and Awesome God. He allowed us to be born into a dark and helpless world but gave us the foreknowledge to be able to seek out the truth and light. He has not forced this truth on us but has given every one of us the choice as to what we want to believe. When we are born into this world, we think we are a people, we think we are of various races, we think we are countrymen… and yet we do not act like it!
Should not men help men? Should they not be free to help one another? Should we not have the choice to be able to give help when and where it is needed? Why then do people hold us back and force us to make choices about whether we should follow them or do God’s will? The answer is simple – lust of the eyes, lust of the heart and lust of the spirit. When we do not see God’s Light, we come up with all manner of things. We create an artificial light because we see the need for a light. That light can never compare to God’s light, but it may be the only light some are ever introduced to – spread the true light today, allow people to see the real light, the Gospel Light…
Points to Ponder:
How often do you try and tell the truth?
How often do you show others the Gospel Light?
May 14: Acts 4 24-30
Key Verse: Acts 4 29
Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
Devotion:
“Oh to have the courage of Peter and John” you may be thinking… But this is exactly what God wants us to be able to do – to fully trust in Him and allow Him to enable us for taking His gospel out to the people around us. Each one of us has the ability to talk to others in some way and it is that God-given ability which we should use to show others the way we feel about God; to give them the courage to make a stand for themselves and allow their own faith to grow through example.
Jesus showed the apostles just how much they could do and how much God was going to protect them all the time. He also showed them there would be difficult and dangerous times – but that we should always strive to fully trust and believe in Christ even in those times. Peter and John were released because the authorities could not work out how to charge them for what they were doing. They were telling people the truth and the Sanhedrin knew this.
As long as we strive to keep to the truth, we should be able to show the lies up in this society without having to judge people. Allow their own lies find themselves out because Christ will be supporting us in the truth. We need to be bold and show people we do trust our God to deliver and support us all the time. We need to show people we are not afraid when they face us with their lies.
Lift up every circumstance to God. Lift up your prayers and ask for guidance, courage and truth to fill your lives as you move forward with Him in your society. God wants you to use your own words to tell people about Him. He has chosen you because of the way you talk to others. He has chosen you because of the place you live. He has chosen you to stand up for Jesus and make a difference. Be bold and tell someone about Jesus today!
Points to Ponder:
Do you ask God for courage every day?
Will you be bold to tell the truth?