January 28: Proverbs 28 19-22
Key Verse: Proverbs 28 21
To show partiality is not good - yet a person will do wrong for a piece of bread.
Devotion:
Have you ever noticed how a hard and honest working person will always seem content with what they have. There is often no greater example than a labourer who works diligently knowing that his honest work will not only bring in a reasonable wage, but also go to helping others. But, it is no use simply working hard for the money otherwise you will very quickly get caught up in a working life where God is left out and where money takes over.
True happiness can only come from good and honest work. That does not mean doing a job with the best of your ability excluding all else! We always have to consider just who is in charge and what we should be doing. Taking off and focusing on exactly what you want and leaving God out is again putting God in second place. No matter how good a job we may think we are doing, our judgement is always going to be jaded by our lusts in life. We no longer have the right to judge fairly after what we do in our lives – judgement must be left to God alone. That does not exclude us from learning what is right and wrong and teaching others what we learn. That does not exclude helping others to see their mistakes – just never forget that you probably made bigger mistakes!
Going after a “quick buck” or “easy money” will always rub someone up the wrong way. Quite often we do that without thinking about what we are doing. Back when I was first looking for work, one of the jobs I tried was door to door sales. I could not bring myself to convince others they needed something which I was quite sure they did not need – despite the ranting and raving of the salesman trying to teach me to “sell”. Being honest must come before money. Being true must come before vanity. Being diligent must come before chasing shadows. Keeping your relationship with Christ must come before all of our lusts and desires.
Points to Ponder:
Do you have a go at anything?
Do you think about others in your quest for “life”?
January 27: James 5 19-20
Key Verse: James 5 20
remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
Devotion:
If anyone is bold enough to say they are without error, then they are misleading themselves before anyone else. No wise or holy man can say they are without error or and they certainly cannot refuse to acknowledge anybody when an error is exposed. We do tend to build up bad principles upon our mistakes – when we think we are correct in something, we continue thinking so until someone is bold enough to point out our mistake. At that stage we need to admit to the underlying mistake or sin and change our ways or principles.
Being a Christian is not just about changing from following your own ideas (or someone else's) to changing to following God's ideas. Being a Christian is about changing your way of looking at things and admitting to your faults. There is no way we can ever hide sin; so, the only way of ridding ourselves from it is to expose it to Christ. Once we do that and we turn our backs on that sin, we are then heading in the right direction! Most of the time we will see our own mistakes but we will try to cover them up. It is only when someone else points them out we start to take notice of them!
Likewise, when we see someone else walking in the path of sin or doing something against God, we need to be bold enough to try and persuade them from doing or saying what they are. Most people will get angry with you if you try and tell them they are doing things wrong – but most of those people will accept you trying to show them the right way of doing things especially if you are able to tell them you once did things the way they did. Directing just one soul away from a life without God to a life with God is a most rewarding thing – not only do we rejoice, but the heavenly host does too!
Points to Ponder:
Do you ever think you are the only right person?
Which way would Christ have done it?
January 26: 1 Peter 4 7-11
Key Verse: 1 Peter 4 8
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Devotion:
The destruction of the Jewish church and nation had been foretold and was close at hand. Even though these words are targeted at that stage in history, we need to take earnest advice from them nowadays, being careful not to read into it what you want, but what is actually there!
Too many times in our lives we think one way and if any rule or warning comes along, we change it so it fits into our way of thinking – into our own little world. We change just about anything just enough to make it look like the original, but so it will seemingly cover our sins – so we can bend the rules and entertain sin with some sort of backing.
Too many times we take a brief phrase from God's Word and we twist it's intended meaning so we can entertain something new in our lives. We may take the phrase “love will cover a multitude of sins” and say that it is OK to do some small sins because Christ has shown His extraordinary love for us and they are automatically covered. We may do things like think that a traffic warden will not give us a ticket because we will only be a couple of minutes – the law states that they can give us the ticket... it is only their own compassion which will prevent it. This phrase is dealing with compassion between people of a community, not between Christ and us.
Christ's love is not under discussion, ours is! We are the ones who need to show more love. We don't show love by breaking the rules Christ has set. We do show love by following those rules. We don't show love by disowning others as soon as they do anything wrong. We do show love by saying that we are willing to forgive, setting an example by which they can be encouraged to do what is right... Speak God's Truth. Don't twist His Words...
Points to Ponder:
Do you often take other people’s words out of context to win an argument?
Do you bend God's rules to suit yourself?
January 25: 1 Peter 4 1-6
Key Verse: 1 Peter 4 3
For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
Devotion:
There is absolutely no point trying to ever justify sin, because all sin works against God and against Christ and all He has done for us. If you want to justify it, then maybe you need to try and relate your sin to how much suffering it caused Christ. He died for our sin! That may sound a bit extreme when we first hear it, but the plain truth is the penalty for sin is death and that is exactly what Christ had to pay to cover our sin debt.
A true Christian will aim to follow the will of God and not try to do everything their own way. But it’s not just our aims; feelings, wants, desires are all given in to because of our lack in will power. We are not here to rule our own lives or others, but to submit to the will of God. He wants us to willingly submit but not to be like robots doing exactly what we have been told. When we follow Christ, He changes our hearts so we can see His will more clearly and are able to do His will when asked to. He gives us the ability to turn away from sin and towards Him. That change is a marked change from before we submitted to His authority – it alters our ways of thinking and gives us the ability to see what we do for others or against them.
It is little wonder that we see many people who are not believers in God having all manner of lascivious tendencies in their lives. Indeed, many of us may well think back on the days when we may well have been in that category; the lusts of the flesh cover more than just sexual activity. People who still live like that consider us the odd ones out because we dare to be different, we dare to stand up against their immoral lifestyles. Some will even say we are prejudice because we think they are wrong! It is not us who judge them, but Christ, the one who paid for their sins that judges them...
Points to Ponder:
Do you do some pretty wild things?
How much do you hurt Christ with the things you continue to do?
January 24: 1 John 4 1-6
Key Verse: 1 John 4 5
They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
Devotion:
Each time I hear people saying we should not live according to the world I am reminded of passages throughout 1 John. So, even during the time of Jesus, people were caught up in the world and all it had to offer. Is it so bad then, because we are born in this world and live in this world? Well, it is not the things of this world but the meaning behind things and the spirit within which things are done that makes the bigger difference. If we want to support people then we definitely have to do something of this world to support them!
There are the obvious things we should look out for; we may find it hilarious to see a certain object but have to think what other people will think of it before we go out and buy one to put on display. We should not do things when we know they will cause offence to others. But then there are the times when we hear about something and think it must be good because so many people are doing it or so many people are talking about it. That is where these reminders come in – don’t just do things because they are there, make sure the things you do are in line with Christ and His teachings.
We have got our bibles, an invaluable resource which shows us many things which will please God and many things which will not. They teach us how we can be more in tune with God and Christ. Yet, so many times, we leave the teachings behind and go and see what the rest of the world is doing! Stand up and make a difference by standing up for Christ and His teachings. Compare things of this world with His ways and see whether we should be involved with them or not. We can reach people in desperate situations without having to get involved with what they are doing – just being there and showing them the exit will help!
We know we are of God and we know we can depend on Him to strengthen us; don’t become complacent and expect everyone to know how God is in control! We all have to learn about God and about the things He is capable of; so we have to teach people through example and through word and deed.
Points to Ponder:
Do you still live the same life you did before you knew God?
Do you get involved with everything just because it is there still?