June 17: Psalms 119 65-72
Key Verse: Psalms 119 72
The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of coins of gold and silver.
Devotion:
Just how willing are you to listen and learn? How willing are you to take notice of people when they try to teach you things? Does it depend on whether you think the subject is interesting or important? What could be more important than where you are going to spend the rest of your immortal life?
Whilst we may not think of these questions all the time, we do face them all the time and we do make these decisions without thinking. Much of the time we are persuaded by what others are doing around us and we go with the flow rather than standing up for what is right or correct. Being seen to blend in with the crowd seems to take centre stage!
The one thing we need to realise is that God deals with us like a loving parent does. He does allow us to get into trouble when we deserve it. He does allow us to find out things the hard way when we are not listening to reason. He does reward us when we do get things right and He does protect us whenever we need it and sometimes when we least expect it too! He has given to us more than we deserve because His grace is something special! Why then do we not listen intently to His Word? If we do listen, why do we not apply it in every walk of life?
So many of us have shortcomings in our lives where we have heard what we need to do, know what we need to do, but still do something different. We walk a different walk to Christ – not because we don't know any better, but because we choose to do so! You may say “but I didn't do anything,” but the fact is you may well have chosen to do nothing instead of doing what was right – you still made a conscious decision to do nothing! We really do need to stand up to the truth and do it, not just read about it!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you “do nothing”?
How often do you ask God for guidance to do the right thing?
June 16: 1 Corinthians 8 4-9
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 8 7
But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.
Devotion:
There are many ways in which we show our reverence to God. Just because we are following His laws and doing His work, does not mean we are any better than others who are not carrying out His work. God looks upon us as we are. He does not judge us by what work we are doing or by how much we do get around to doing; instead, He judges us by how we face Him and fear Him. He is the one true God and He looks within our hearts to know what sort of people we are. We cannot fool Him by doing extraordinary work to try and appease Him.
There are many who will do extraordinary amounts of work to try and appease their own gods (albeit false gods). They will go out of their way to do things to try and get in their god's good book. They get to such a point where they are convinced their god is real and they make offerings to them as well as do works for them. We have to be very wary of being tied to such people for two reasons. Firstly, we should not be persuaded by the works they do as to the validity of worshipping their god. But secondly, others around us must not be persuaded away from our God by seeing us doing stuff which can be seen as supporting other gods.
Peer pressure is something we always seem to underestimate. Allowing others to see us doing something that we ought not to be doing may well weaken their resolve and allow them to think they can go off and do those things as well. We have to be sound in our conscience and to follow God's will so others will be encouraged to do the same thing. Whatever we do should be to His glory and not our own.
Points to Ponder:
How often are you persuaded by others to do things you know are not right?
How often do you call upon God for extra support to get through tough times?
June 15: Mark 7 14-23
Key Verse: Mark 7 15
Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.
Devotion:
So many times we turn round to blame other things or other people when we do things wrong in our lives. We like to blame films for changing the way we do things or for us doing bad stuff. We like to blame teachers we don't like for not teaching us properly and for us failing our exams. We like to blame computer games for the violence which we carry out. But what is the real path of blame?
Whilst it is true that if we never were exposed to half of the violent and morally wrong things we have been exposed to, we may not do half the things which we seem to do, it is not really those things which are to blame for us doing wrong. Yes, we have learned how to do things wrong by being exposed to them. Yes, we have been conditioned into doing things wrong by what we expose ourselves to. But we are actually the ones to blame for doing things wrong. No matter what we are exposed to, we still have the choice as to what we do. Nothing has changed us on the inside... We have just learned that there are other ways of doing things, wrong ways. We are the ones who have made the conscious choice to do wrong!
Just as our bodies are able to process all sorts of food and gain the goodness from them, we are able to take in so much in our lives and gain the good things from them. If we watch or see something bad, we don't have to go out and do that; we can learn from these scenarios and apply the good into our lives.
If we eat poison or get bitten by a poisonous snake, we can get medicine to prevent the poison from killing us; but we do need that medicine, we can’t just sit back and hope the poison will not take effect! If we take in bad things in our lives, we can walk away from them; but we often need outside help to do that. This is what God wants us to realise; He is all-powerful and He can cure us of those evil things we have taken in before we let them out...
Points to Ponder:
Have you tried and failed to do things right?
Have you asked God to help you do the right thing?
June 14: Matthew 22 23-33
Key Verse: Matthew 22 32
'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Devotion:
You may often get confused by all the things which happen in the world today and how they will be resolved by God, or if they will be resolved at all. We see so many of God's laws being broken all the time by so many people, including ourselves. We see laws being broken which we think are such common practice and we think that maybe the law should be changed to accommodate the changes in society. Basically, we look for laws to be changed to suit us when we want them to suit us!
The Sadducees came to Jesus to see if they could trip Him up by quoting laws from the Old Testament to see how the “modern age” then was going to cater for them. Jesus was quick to answer the question simply and to point the error in their thoughts. The law they referred to was one from the days of Moses and was designed to make sure that the proper family lines were kept because it was important then. Being more political than anything, it was there to stop the arguments over inheritances etc. and to keep people from having to bring such things before the council all the time. (Ref: Deuteronomy 25 5 and Ruth 4 5)
The Sadducees were acting very much like the scientists and politicians act today. “What if...” scenarios being banded about without substance. Just like people try to put a spanner in the works by bringing up hypothetical questions against God today, they did so back then as well. But as long as we do know the answers from reading up in God's Word, we will be able to put people’s minds at rest. How will people be able to find peace without getting the explanation from The One who knows? God! We think of all sorts of scenarios about what will happen when people in our families die, or face difficult times sorting things out when they do die... As long as we think with carnal minds we will face all manner of difficulties that we build up ourselves. Give it up to God to get your explanations!
Points to Ponder:
Do you have problems with understanding issues in your life?
Do you think of them as a Christian would or as a 'normal' person would?
June 13: Hebrews 10 32-39
Key Verse: Hebrews 10 36
For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise
Devotion:
One thing we always have to keep in mind is that God is in control and He knows exactly what to do to ensure we can receive our eternal joy in heaven. He has already allowed His Son to die on the cross for our sins, He has already paved the way for us. All we have to do is to realise these things are exactly what He has done for us and for us then to live within this knowledge! We don't have to worry about thinking whether it is possible to get to heaven, we don't have to think about how our sins will be forgiven, we just have to depend on His promises because of what He has already done.
Whilst we find it very difficult to trust in many people in our lives, we can be sure our strength can come from Christ and we can actually depend on Him for anything and everything. We only have to look back at what has already happened in history through our bibles to realise just how reliable and dependable God is. We don't have to worry about when Christ will return – only that He has promised to return and that means He will return! It is a promise for us and not a threat about something which will happen if we don’t listen!
Why should we allow worldly problems to get us down when we can know He is always there, making sure we are able to survive for as long as He wants us to. Why should we worry about all the trials which we face when we know He allows each one of those trials to enable us to be stronger than we were before. Faith in Christ is all we need. We don't have to make sure we live without sin, though that is what Christ would prefer to allow others to be encouraged. We don't have to work ourselves to death, though Christ would have us to do some work for Him to help others. We can know for certainty that any work we do do for Him will not go unnoticed!
Points to Ponder:
Do you find Christian life hard?
How much do you really depend on Christ?