February 21: John 8 31-38

Key Verse: John 8 34
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

Devotion:
You will be amazed at how many things have control in your life, the things you hear, the things you see and the things you do all act towards what you think and do. They normally get to you in that order as well. First you hear about something, then you get around to seeing it and then you get around to doing it. By that stage you have accepted it into your life and it becomes a part of your life. What you probably have not done is to think about whether it is the right thing or not – you just heard others were doing it, saw someone doing it and now you want to do it... we have come back to us wanting things in our lives.

We think we own our lives and that we are able to do anything with our lives. We think we alone are the ones who should be in charge of our own selves; that is why we do not listen to good advice! The advice may well be good, it may well help us, but we object to others having control of our lives, so we rebel against those suggestions. Straight away we have rejected something from our lives because we think we know better. The most common thing which is rejected in anyone's life has got to be solid Christian advice.

First you hear about the rebel who has a good time. Then you see a film portraying someone who rebels against society and seemingly wins out at the end. So, you start to think you should be able to rebel as well; you start to change your life to fit it with some rebellious ideas you have thought up. You may well know they are not correct, but the more you allow them in your life, the more normal you think they are! The only normal thing we should be doing is listening to the best advice on earth – the advice our God gives us through our bibles. Christ came to make sure people stood up and took notice. He made sure we would have enough information recorded so that generation after generation could hear the truth and act upon it – not against it!

Points to Ponder:
Do you think you would make a good escape artist?

How can you escape from the truth?

February 20: Jude 1 5-7

Key Verse: Jude 1 5
Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.

Devotion:
One thing nobody is going to escape is the final judgement. Not a nice thought, but something which has got to be remembered all the time. We are living in a world that has been created by God, is maintained by God and will ultimately perish or be changed through God. This world is but here under God's grace and nothing more. We like to think we are in control of things and that we can control various things about this world, but we are only changing how we live in it.

At the allotted time we will all have to face up to God's wrath. From the beginning of time He has shown how people will not get away with evil and how we have to pay for doing things our own way instead of His ways. Just because civilisation was almost entirely wiped out thousands of years ago, we don't tend to think about it. God saved the Israelites from Egypt thousands of years ago, yet few people believe it. Christ came to earth only 2000 years ago, yet man insists on taking those truths away from us now too. God has shown what has happened in the past and has warned about what will happen in the future – yet man continues to try and ignore the truth.

Pride, lust and want will continue to separate us from Christ until we do acknowledge Him as Lord. No matter how clean a life we try to live, no matter how good we are, our hearts still have evil in them. Even when we inwardly acknowledge Him as our Saviour, our hearts still have that evil. No amount of outward displays of Christianity will prevent us from facing God's wrath. The only thing which will keep us from paying the penalty is our total inward belief that Christ is our Saviour and He paid our debt. Only then will Jesus be able to stand up and say “I know this person. I have paid for their sins. They are not guilty”.

Points to Ponder:
How much do you believe your friends?

How much do you believe the bible?

February 19: Jude 1 1-4

Key Verse: Jude 1 3
Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.

Devotion:
The whole basis of this letter is summed up in the first few verses – watch out, evil is about. Jude's letter was written to specifically remind all saints in Christ that we do tend to follow earthly ways and very quickly lose sight of God and His ways! As you can see, it is not just a problem for us nowadays, but something that has been going on even in the days following Christ's time on earth. Jude was going to write a doctrinal work on salvation but instead writes of his grave concerns for the way we conduct our Christian lives.

All of us are guilty of allowing things into our lives which are not Christian. We all follow our human nature at some stage in our lives and that is exactly what we have to remember. Not only do we need to watch what we do and say, but we have to be aware of those people in our lives who we think we should follow. We need to make sure we are following them because of their correct and faithful teaching of Christ and not because they sound good or look good! We need to make sure we do learn from God's Word so we can compare what we are doing with what Christ would have us to do. How else are we to know what is right and wrong unless we are able to delve into God's Word on a regular basis and listen to His teachings?

Most of us look upon the bible as being a very complicated and huge book which would be worse to read than something as long as “War and Peace”. But the difference between God's Word and any other book is that it is all relevant. Most books have a lot of fluff in between the interesting parts; God's Word has interesting stuff between the interesting stuff! It is not a book to sit down and read in a day or two and then discard. It is a book which we need to read slowly whilst thinking about each part that we do read.

Points to Ponder:
Do you like reading?

Digest the bible slowly and it will stay with you for longer.

February 18: Proverbs 29 25-26

Key Verse: Proverbs 29 25
Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.

Devotion:
Isn't it sad to see so many people not owning up to knowing Christ. When people get into positions of trust, power or importance, they would rather say they trust in other people than admitting to trusting in Christ. And when they start to do that, their life in Christ starts to suffer too – the more they tell others of their convictions or unbelief, the more they will tend to believe those things themselves. Pretty soon they find they are trusting more in man than in God!

It is not something which is limited to people in important positions – this same reasoning can be applied to people in any walk in life. The less we admit to knowing Christ, the more we are hiding Him from others... including ourselves. The less that we walk with Christ, the less we are going to feel and be safe. The only sure way of making sure we remain safe in Christ's arms is to be there always. The more we show others that we are willing and able to openly trust Christ, the more they will want to know why. Try it... hold back some piece of information from someone and they will come running to find out what it is you are holding back... so long as they know you are holding something in the first place. If you do not allow them to see you have inside information, they will simply ignore you.

The more we put our faith and trust in the people around us, the more likely we are to face a hard fall when push comes to shove. When people are finally put in a position where they have to admit to the truth, they will not hold back on saying just who else was around at the time – it is human nature. When they have to face God in their final judgement, they will certainly be telling the truth... Do you want to have to face up to scrutiny just because you let things ride when it suited you? There is no way any man can judge another in fairness because we are all guilty to start with. Christ alone is the judge and all judgement must be left to Him!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you trust other people?

How often do you trust God?