June 7: 1 Corinthians 15 51-58
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 15 58
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Devotion:
Before I realised what it was going to be like to die as a Christian, I would dread being placed in a sealed box forever. I could think of nothing worse than being in a box without light for eternity. But when I realised that to die on this earth does not mean we have to stay in darkness, I was more than willing to find out more about this Light and learned about Christ and what He had done for us.
Whilst it is true we will not all have to physically die before we meet Christ, we will all be changed so we can be with Him. We know God cannot abide sin. We know He cannot be with sin. We know our bodies are living in a world with sin and that we ourselves do sin, dirtying our bodies with that sin. So to make sure we will get to spend eternity with Christ, He will physically and spiritually change us so we can be with Him. He will put away our earthly bodies that can be corrupted and give us bodies which will not be. How He does that is beyond my comprehension – just like we do not know how He created us, nor how He is able to control the universe. But we can stand on that promise knowing it is true!
The bad part about living is that we have to die! The bad part about sin is that it will keep us apart from God. The most wonderful part is that Christ was willing to go to the cross for our sakes so we would not have to pay the horrible price for what we did. With this knowledge behind us we will never have to look back thinking we are ever going to be in darkness continually. No matter what we personally try to do in our lives, nothing we can do will be able to keep us from eternal darkness – But what Christ has already done for us will keep us in His eternal light... if only we accept He is our Lord and He has done exactly what is written in our bibles. Remain safe in the knowledge He has accomplished what we can never hope to!
Points to Ponder:
What do you fear about death?
We are safe in the knowledge that however we physically die, our soul will live on.
June 6: Mark 1 1-8
Key Verse: Mark 1 6
Now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
Devotion:
The gospel of Mark begins with an account of John the Baptist. By all accounts a very humble man who was not much to look at. But there were those who would question whether they should worship him because of the authority by which he spoke. There were prophets of old who prophesied about his coming and where he would preach. He was a man of God and showed no pretence about who others should think he is. What an example we can follow!
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting we arrive at church each week wearing garment that are pure, rustic, straight from the camel’s back like he did. What I am suggesting is that we take a look at the way he presented himself spiritually. Physically I am sure he was not much to look at. But spiritually he was a giant who so many people looked up at. People would come to listen to his words so they could find out the truth. They knew he was telling the truth. They knew they would find honesty behind those words because he showed honesty on the outside as well.
There was no pretence about having to wear the best or make sure people had to be their best before they could be forgiven. He wanted us to know that Christ is able to forgive when we are in any state. We do not have to present ourselves to God in a blameless state before He will forgive us! He takes us when we are at our worst and forgives us, totally! When we feel like we are not worthy to even shine His shoes, when we feel like we are not worthy to even look upon His garments, when we feel like we are not even worthy to have our name mentioned before Him; that is when He is willing to come forward and accept us into His Kingdom! He is the one who forgives us from the inside!
Points to Ponder:
Do you always dress up before you go out?
What do you try to hide before you go to church?
June 5: Psalms 106 34-44
Key Verse: Psalms 106 35
But they mingled with the Gentiles And learned their works;
Devotion:
Isn't it amazing how the first thing we do when someone catches us doing something we should not be is to spring forth a lie along the lines of “I didn't do it!” We have this built-in tendency to cover up a sin with another. And better yet, when people tell us we need to stay away from something, we go towards it! Where danger lurks, we seek it. Where uncertainty reigns we dive in.
And then we turn around and say that nothing like these things written here will ever happen to us. We say we will never fall into such sin like it is described here. Well, we as individuals may not, but we are part of the human race who is doing things like this right now! The Israelites are God's chosen people; you would think that being His chosen people would be enough to keep them from sin and to allow them to walk closely with God. But they are human too, just as we are... They do the same silly things as we do and they head for the same pitfalls as we do. The only difference is someone wrote all about them so others would have an example of how to sort our lives out!
But instead of taking notice about all that is written down, we come up with our own theories, we move forward in our own ways, we try to sort out the world with our own strength. It is only after we find just how low we did sink that we begin to realise we are the ones who are weak and we are the ones who need guidance and strength to make it through each day. We don't want to be the ones who are remembered for doing evil things. We don't want to be the ones doing those evil things, but we do get caught up in things and do them without thinking – until we find it is too late!
God is the one who has the forgiving heart. He is the one waiting patiently for us to come back to Him. He is the one we need to focus on! He is the one listening to all of our prayers! If we are willing to open our hearts to Him, He is willing to do amazing things with us!
Points to Ponder:
How many things have you got caught up in without realising?
How many times have you stretched out to God?
June 4: Proverbs 22 24-25
Key Verse: Proverbs 22 24
Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered,
Devotion:
Would you go out and walk across a beam of a skyscraper which is being constructed without a safety rope? Or even with a safety rope! I know I would have enough fear inside of me to make sure I would not venture out where I could see directly below me without ultimate safety! I may enjoy being able to fly in a light aeroplane, I may enjoy the views from a sky scraper; but unless I am certain that I am safe, I gain a healthy respect for height very quickly! Height is not the only thing we gain a respect for in life; things like fire or even sharp objects are there in the forefront of our minds as well.
But how many of us think about the things which may be able to harm us spiritually? How many of us think about the things in our lives which will draw us away from God, from our Protector, from our Guide, from our position of safety? Far too often in our lives we look at a situation and think that it poses no physical threat so we go forward knowing we may have fun or we will get a kick out of it; but giving no thought as to how it will affect our relationship with Christ.
One of the things which can trip us up without us even realising it is a very strong spirited person. That type of person will push their personality around, imposing their ways and views on everyone they meet. They will be dynamic and may even look like they are in control. They will be encouraging, promising much, taking little... so you give a little... and a little more, and before you know it you are caught up in their sales pitch and are running with them... away from God.
It is so easy to allow yourself to be drawn in by a furious person – one who is rushing around looking good, exciting, successful... but without God. We may think we are strong and can turn them round, but it will be like us trying to stop a rampaging bull by ourselves!
Points to Ponder:
Do you always walk in danger every day?
Why ignore God when He wants to protect you?
June 3: 2 Corinthians 6 14-18
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 6 14
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
Devotion:
One thing we have to remember is just who the light is. When we start to go out and talk about Christ to someone or when we want to show others we are Christians, we need to remember that we are not actually the light... Nothing we can do will make us shine by ourselves! It is only the fact God is able to act through us that others will see His light and not our own light. We always tend to get carried away thinking we are able to do anything and we go forward and try our best to do things... But this is when we stumble and find out we are not as strong as we think we are!
Do not forget, also, we are living in a sinful world. We are still part of this world for as long as we live here. This means all of the sins and temptations we followed before we came to know Christ as our Saviour are all still there, ready to tempt us. If we are going to continue to follow on in the ways which we were before we were saved, then we will continue to fall and trip in those same ways.
If we are going to go out and try befriending the people whom we know are wicked and unbelievers, then we should not expect to come out the other end clean and smelling of roses... We will pick up the bad habits, we will fall into the temptations, we will be tempted to go and do the things they can do – always thinking we are strong and able to resist anything. We cannot hope to find strength in Christ when we follow others instead of Him.
We gain our strength from Christ. We are safe in His hands. We need to continue to follow in His will so He can strengthen us in His ways before we go out to face people that will most likely otherwise pull us apart spiritually! God has not made agreements with evil to let us alone; we still have to depend on Him for our daily protection and strength. But we cannot stay clean all the time; thankfully Christ is ready to pick up the pieces when we do fail at things.
Points to Ponder:
What sort of friends do you mix with?
How many Christians do you mix with?