August 21: Proverbs 11 9-11
Key Verse: Proverbs 11 9
With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbours, but through knowledge the righteous escape.
Devotion:
We all like the judge people by whatever comes out of their mouths but we cannot always get it right. If a person wants to deceive you, they will go about it in such a manner as to conceal the truth from you and convince you of the lie. It will only be when the truth comes out that we find out the deceit and the lies; by then it may well be too late as we have already launched into retaliation or broken down friendships before waiting for the truth!
God has been warning us for a long time that we will sin, we will lie, we will do bad things and we have to try and work against this. He knows who is behind this all and has warned us against siding with Satan too – but still we get caught up in the emotive side of things and don’t always think about our words or actions.
The wrong words and actions are going to hurt the people around us, quite often the people we least want to hurt too. We don’t think things through and we race ahead blurting out anything we think sounds good at the time… but when things backfire and we hurt the people we care about it is all too late! Does this mean we are Godless because we cannot hold our mouths? Certainly not – but the evil one is the one who has taught us those ways and encourages the breakdown whereas God is trying to build up the church and the community!
When people all gather together and start sharing the truth, start sharing the love and respect for each other, the whole area begins to thrive as people enjoy working together. The few then who continue to try and spread gossip or lies will find themselves being separated because of their gossip; they lose themselves in their own deceit! But the more we work together with God, the more we find we have in common and enjoy our lives together in a way Jesus tries to teach us!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you gossip?
Have you ever heard God gossip about you?
August 20: Proverbs 25 8-10
Key Verse: Proverbs 25 9
If you take your neighbour to court, do not betray another’s confidence,
Devotion:
How many times have you been caught up in something and blundered in to try and fix things or sort things out, only to find you get caught out by someone else who actually knows what they are doing? Maybe you have had the right idea and tried to do what you thought was right, but because the other party had sat down and prepared, they ran circles round you and made you look like the fool in the wrong. Or maybe you jumped in being sure you were right, only to find out you did not see things clearly and were in the wrong all along.
Humans can be very emotional and far too often we allow our emotions to get the better of us. We allow ourselves to get caught up emotionally before we have had any time to think about the circumstances surrounding us and the situations. When we see something we jump in and immediately try and put the blame on someone else, not knowing all the details or reasons behind what we have seen. If we see a friend doing something which we do not immediately agree with, we should be trying to find out exactly what is happening before spreading the blame.
But again, we tend to get carried away with our emotions and allow ourselves to get caught up in arguments we should not be in. When we do, we quite often will let slip things which we should not be talking about. Maybe we heard through the grape-vine something about an associate and in the heat of the argument we let slip what we heard only to find out it was given to us in the strictest confidence and we may as well have destroyed that person’s life. Gossip is spread through emotive times. In the heat of the moment we all let slip details we should not – all because we allowed our emotions to rule the moment instead of trusting in God to help us through our rough times.
Points to Ponder:
How many times have you blown up at your parents and said the wrong things?
How many times could you have asked God for guidance?
August 19: Proverbs 25 6-7
Key Verse: Proverbs 25 6
Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among his great men;
Devotion:
We like to think we are as good as anyone else in society, but the truth of it is that we all have our places. We need to show respect for those people who are in places of authority or indeed those people who are of royal families or governments. If we did not show them some sort of respect, then what would be the use of having such positions within society? We need to be able to show some humiliation in all sorts of circumstances in life. Our parents have tried to teach us some semblance of respect and authority when we were young, as did our teachers in our schools; but how much did we listen? The most important, however, we do not see enough off; the respect and humility that we should show to God!
It would be bad enough to presume we have a place to be able to walk up to a dignitary and stand by their side only to be tackled to the ground by the body guards. But what would it be like to presume we had a place by God's side, only to be judged unworthy and to never see Him again. That sort of presumption is something we often learn the hard way by being told off or pushed out of the way when we try to do something. But when it is our final act we are facing, choosing the wrong way is a bit too late and will haunt us for eternity.
We need to be able to learn about our place in society – and we do learn this quite quickly through parental and other teachings as well as the few bumps and bruises we get along the way. But when it comes to showing our humility to God, we need to stand up and take notice of what it says in the bible. We need to read and study our bibles to make sure we know just how much we do need to respect God. It will take time as we slowly learn just how much He has done for us and work out in our own hearts and minds just how much we do owe Him! With this knowledge should come the humility and respect which we deserve to have toward God…
Points to Ponder:
How many times do you have to be told to respect your parents?
How many chances do you think you will get at the judgement seat?
August 18: Matthew 6 1-4
Key Verse: Matthew 6 1
Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Devotion:
I know that giving can make you very happy and we should always be willing to give, but how you go about giving is the matter under discussion here. When we are giving just to make ourselves happy or worse still to show off to others, then we are not doing anything worthy! Take a look at some of the charities around today – how they have turned themselves into a business of giving a portion in the face of advertising so they can look good, maybe even better than their competitor charities…. Competitor charities – that just does not sit right with me!
God does not want people who are all talk and very little doing; He wants people who are not going to shout about things as they try to do good. God wants people who are willing to step forward and do things without the need for rewards or congratulations.
Some of the finest examples of bravery during wars only comes out many years later when the truth surfaces about the people doing things without the expectation or rewards. Some of the best charities I know are doing the work without shouting about stuff before they go out and help people on the streets; they go and help people first and foremost, giving God the glory for those success stories which come out after they have happened!
Too many people are focused on doing the counting and summing up rather than the work and following up. It may be one thing to gain a great number of people into God’s Kingdom, but unless there is going to be constant and sustained discipleship following those conversions we are not really focused on doing God’s work. An evangelist makes a big difference, but a true evangelist will make sure there is support in place before they come forward and do their own work. God’s kingdom is about the sustained growth of the church and not momentary blips which look great at the time. Grow with people, grow with Christ.
Points to Ponder:
Do you seek rewards for your work?
Do you seek God for your work?
August 17: Matthew 5 17-20
Key Verse: Matthew 5 17
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.
Devotion:
The rest of this chapter in Matthew shows us a new way of looking at the bible; not as in we must forget what the bible said to the Jews but our interpretation of the bible must be looked at. God did many things over time because of the state of the people at the time; He even destroyed most of mankind once because of the reprobate state of the world. We have to look at what has happened, why it happened and then think about the modern consequences of our actions nowadays.
We will not face a global flood which will kill off almost every living thing because God has said it will not happen. We will not face the same things as the people of Israel faced in the desert, because God gave them a new home. We will not face having to sacrifice animals to try and appease God for our sinful actions, because Jesus Christ gave His own life as the ultimate and perfect sacrifice to cover all sins. Jesus knew this all to be true and He wanted people to understand how things were changing.
Does this mean the bible or scriptures have changed? No. It means we have changed and how we look at things has changed. If we corrupt things by making our own rules (as people have done time and time again) then we are in danger of facing God’s judgement right now. We must not change the bible, but our view of the bible. We continue to try and impose our own ways of thinking instead of listening to God’s ways and following what Christ came to teach us.
I hear many people rant about things such as different races not being able to marry, about different sexes and all manner of things going on which they think are all sinful. To be honest, we are all sinners and need to look at our own faults before we try and judge others; but we also need to know these things have been going on for thousands of years – but mankind went through a stage of trying to stamp them out on the grounds of religion. What Jesus teaches us and what they think seem to be growing apart. Let us get back to what Jesus teaches and to love and serve Him and our neighbours first of all.
Points to Ponder:
Do you have views of what is right and wrong?
Are you trying to follow and obey Jesus as your primary goal?