May 3: Hebrews 6 1-8
Key Verse: Hebrews 6 1
Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God…
Devotion:
I do love learning more about God, more about what is written in the scriptures and more about what is to come; to me, it is a never ending journey as I grow each day in Christ. This letter to the Hebrews is an instruction to the people to get them to move on from the basics and get to know Christ in a more personal and life-changing way. We all get to pass on the knowledge of the beginning of our Christian walk, but we also need to be willing to continue that journey with those around us.
The foundations of Christianity are very important, because, without them, our discussions and decisions will most likely fall apart as people try them and disagree with us; but with solid foundations we stand firm in God’s Word and we move forward with Him and the Holy Spirit. One thing we need to recognise first of all is the statement in the middle of this section. It does not say that a back-slider will never be able to come back to God! It says the act of forgiveness or original act of repentance should never have to be revisited and cannot, hand-on-heart, be redone.
If we do believe that Christ has forgiven us for our sins, then that forgiveness is permanent. If we go off and taste the world again then we need to come back and say we are sorry for walking away from Christ and not to beg for the forgiveness as if starting again. If we do that we are effectively re-crucifying Christ! When Christ said the words “it is finished” He did not mean to come back to do this all again just because you want it. He meant it is finished, once and for all.
I thank God I did not have to ask Him to go back on the cross every time I walked away from Him. I thank God He has done everything that needed to be done so I can have forgiveness – just as you can/have. When we want to grow further with God we need to continue receiving from Him; that does not mean receiving the original forgiveness over and over again but receiving our daily bread and growing in faith as we realise just how much He loves us!
Points to Ponder:
Have you asked Christ to forgive your sins?
Will you now aim to move into a deeper relationship with Him?
May 2: Acts 28 11-16
Key Verse: Acts 28 16
When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him.
Devotion:
How much do you fear the authorities or the people in charge? How much do you fear God? We live in societies where we have people in charge and if we are lucky then they have been chosen by God to serve us all; most likely they are chosen through pride, sometimes greed and even corruption. On the other hand, God was not chosen, He created everything.
So why do things go wrong if He created everything? Well, we are left to make our own choices in life and when we do make the choices which are not sound, God tries to show us they are wrong, but leaves us to make those decisions. If we listened to Christ all the time, our choices would be sound, but we don’t, and we allow corruption into our lives. Some people allow a lot more corruption in and things go wrong for many more people than just themselves.
Paul tried to show people the Gospel and be a Christian example at all times after his conversion. The Romans were ready to lock him up, but because he was a Roman citizen by birth, he was allowed to live under house arrest. What did God do? He made sure the soldier who was going to look out for him supported him in his ways!
No matter what choices we make in our lives, Christ is going to look for a way to help us out. He wants us to stay close to Him so we can live under His protection; the closer we live with Him, the easier it is for Him to support us. It may well be in circumstances we just don’t understand at the time, but Christ is always there! For any non-Christian reading this, it may sound a bit poetic but it is so true and so great to know Christ has our backs!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you look to for support?
Do you ask God for daily support?
May 1: 2 Timothy 1 15-18
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 1 16
May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.
Devotion:
What do you do when someone you know gets into trouble? Do you try and distance yourself from them because they are on the wrong side of the law, or do you go out looking for them to try and support them? I know these are two totally different sides of any coin and it is not fair to ask when not done so in context, but it is the whole question of what do we do when someone falls from grace that we need to look at.
Paul did find out the hard way about how some people are vehemently against Christians and supporters of Christ; they may seem like super people on the outside, but inside they oppose everything we do. I cannot begin to understand why they should be the way they are, but we do have to face up to them in most societies. Sometimes it is the governments who are against Christians and we have to fight in secret but fight we must.
When we are in fear of our lives, our stance may change somewhat – just as Peter denied being a follow of Christ when he was confronted by angry people, we may well buckle and deny knowing Him at times. But Christ knows what is in our hearts and knows we need support at all times. When we feel threatened or are at our weakest, that is when we need the most support to bring us back in line with Christ’s ways..
So if Christ is willing to support those who deny Him or go against His ways and His law, then do you not think we should be supporting those who deny Him too? I now live in a deprived area so I can support people from the inside rather than trying to talk at them from the outside. This is the type of thing Christ did throughout His ministry and one we should be trying to echo if we can. We cannot all move from our homes and shack up in deprived areas otherwise those areas will become deprived of Christians too – the balance is never an easy one to start, but one which needs Christs leadership and direction.
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to Christ when He tells you to go somewhere?
Or do you listen to the world and tell Christ where you are going?
April 30: 2 Timothy 1 6-8
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 1 7
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Devotion:
Paul wrote this letter to Timothy while he was in Ephesus. What it shows us is an encouraging set of instructions written from on Christian to another. We need to be like Paul as we reach out to other Christian and encourage them in their own walk with God. Now, we are all made different and we will live different lives; we also live with Christ in different ways so our own walk will be different, but the principals should fall in line with the gospel.
Each of us will face hardships and come up against things which are going to discourage us in our lives with God; as we face things which go wrong we start to think whether we have things right, whether we have made mistakes or whether we are in the right place. God calls each one of us to do His will in different ways and in diverse places. He does not call us out to go and rest in a corner and watch the world go by!
The steps God has taken to make sure we have all the support we need are just amazing! He gives us all we need to get to know Him in the bible. He gave us His Son to die as our sacrifice, so we will be safe from an eternal death. Then He steps forward and gives us the Holy Spirit as our daily guide, protector and power so we can walk through all the stuff life throws at us and keep on going, uplifting the gospel as we go and showing how self-discipline can make us better examples for Him!
So, don’t be ashamed of what is written down. It is God’s instructions for us to live by and with. It shows us His incredible love for us, demonstrating many wonders and even some horrors. We live in a very messed up word, torn apart from evil and messed up people. But with Christ in us and the Holy Spirit guiding us, we can live a different life as He gives us the self-discipline to live it. Trust Him and live with Him!
Points to Ponder:
Do you find life difficult?
Are you willing to fully trust in God?
April 29: 1 Corinthians 15 35-50
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 15 36
How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
Devotion:
Two questions which will always be asked, one by the people who oppose doctrine and the other by curious doubters – How are the dead raised up or how can they be, the next, what bodies will we have?
Well, look at it this way, what makes a seed produce a plant and then move on to produce thousands more seeds? What makes a person produce another person? We like to think we know the answers by explaining exactly what goes on in each step of reproduction, plant or otherwise, but that is the key, it’s reproduction, not production! In order for the reproduction to start, we have to have had some productions in the beginning. The answer is simple, yet so many choose not to believe it – God created a heaven and earth which could start the reproduction cycle.
Every day we see how His promise continues to come to fruition. Every day we see how seeds are planted in the ground, how they die, but how a part of that seed brings forth a plant. If only we could see that sort of growth daily in the church as well! When we die, leaving our earthly life behind, we live to Christ. Our first death can be when we accept Christ as our Saviour and King. Our final death is a bit more drastic; but that is the one which will bring forward our new body which we get to take to heaven. Just like Jesus showed us how He could raise Himself from the grave and ascent with a spiritual body, so it can be done with us. His body was remade whole. What a wonderful life that is going to be!
We are not going to come back as a plant or an animal or even another human being. Our body will be changed once and for all. Each species has its own properties, its own kind. Each species produces after its own kind – just like God said it would, just like He made it so. All we need do is watch creation around us and we can know He has created us and we can follow in His steps.
Points to Ponder:
Do you want to continue sowing on earth, hoping for earthly sprouts?
Or do you want to sow for heaven, hoping for heavenly sprouts?