April 18: Matthew 7 1-5
Key Verse: Matthew 7 2
For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
Devotion:
Oh how easy it is to say just how much we know is wrong in someone else's life, or to say just what we think about someone... But how hard we take it when they talk in that same way about us! How easy it is to pick up on what someone else is doing wrong, and yet we ourselves do things wrong without thinking twice about it! You see, we live in a world where we have double standards... everywhere...
Whether we like it or not, we always seem to have a standard by which we think others should live to and then we have the standard by which we think we are allowed to live to. They are different and we are the ones making up the rules; or at least we think we are. We get carried away with the things we do because of those standards, or lack of them. If we were to apply God's standards to our lives, then we would see very quickly just how far we do fall short of a good life. When we realise that, then maybe we will take a step closer to realising how much we do judge others.
Far too often we jump in and say that something is wrong when we ourselves are guilty of that same act. Far too often we accuse someone of doing something when we ourselves are just as guilty. Whilst we should be able to help others by opening their eyes to what is wrong when they do not realise it, we should also open up our ears to those criticisms that come our way when we fall short of the mark.
When it comes time for us to leave our lives behind and face Christ, we are going to have to face up to what we are doing wrong. If we are not willing to forgive those that do things wrong against us, then how do we think that we can be forgiven? We need to get ourselves straight with Christ before we can even think about blaming anyone else for anything!
Points to Ponder:
How easy is it for you to spot others mistakes?
Are you admitting your mistakes to Christ?
April 17: Romans 13 11-14
Key Verse: Romans 13 13
Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
Devotion:
It is not just our human laziness that is drawing us away from God, but our conceited pride too. The longer we continue to give in to it, the longer we will be separated from God. Now is the time to wake up to the fact we have issues. Now is the time to get things sorted. Why continue to put things off when we know there is something amiss in our lives? Pride is one of those things which will continue to keep us away from admitting to problems and facing up to them. Pride keeps us from putting on God's armour when we know we are going in to battle. Pride keeps us from walking by His side when He invites us. We just think we know better all the time and continue to do things our own way...
It is as though the day is dawning and we are not ready for anything on this day. It is as though we have been given a task and have put it aside far too long. We do need to take off the blinkers we have on and face up to the situations that we are coming up against. But let not those same situations cripple us with fear because we have a partner who is willing to take on those things we fear. We have a partner who is willing to carry us when we cannot walk. A Partner who is willing to protect us from what we face... so long as we are willing to call Him our partner and walk with Him.
There are so many things we can do to ensure we do walk closely with Christ... Simply being honest with our situations and with our feelings towards Him is the first starting point to reach. When we can face Him with honesty, then we can cast aside our pride within ourselves and trust in His strength and in His wisdom rather than our own. Admitting we need a Saviour is what He wants for each of us so that He can help us...
Points to Ponder:
Do you ask for help from friends when you need it?
Do you admit your dependence on Christ even when you think you don't need it?
April 16: Mark 16 1-6
Key Verse: Mark 16 6
But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.
Devotion:
Why were Mary and Mary on their way to the tomb after Jesus had already been buried? They wanted to finish doing the job of having Jesus body buried in a manner which would befit the life He had lead. The burial was probably all done in a bit of a rush so they would not be doing any work on the Sabbath and they now wanted to make sure that everything was made good. They also wanted to use their own sweet spices as their own mark of respect for Christ.
Can you imagine the shock they must have been in to see the grave open and no body inside. Never mind the angel inside who spoke to them. Never mind the armed guards who lay outside in a dead sleep. The fact that anyone would take away the body of Christ from the tomb, just before they got there would be spinning round their heads. Then the words of the angel telling them they should not be afraid and how Jesus had risen from the dead... Boy, that must have shaken them up even more.
They should have been prepared for this moment. They should have expected it. They had been given the time He would rise through prophecies. Yet still they did not believe it or could not understand it. Can you imagine the commotion which is going to follow when Christ takes us to heaven. Ok, it may not be in our lifetimes, but can you imagine the feeling of absolute hopelessness that some will face when they see they are just a few minutes too late... when they suddenly realise what has happened.
What should have been a moment of joyous relief was a moment of terror when Mary and Mary found the tomb empty. That feeling was shared by others up until the moment when Jesus showed Himself to people to show He had indeed risen from the dead, that the scriptures, His promises, had been fulfilled.
Points to Ponder:
Are you surprised when someone does something for you without having to be asked?
Should you be surprised when God shows you His love?
April 15: Mark 7 20-23
Key Verse: Mark 7 23
All these evil things come from within and defile a man.
Devotion:
Just when we are sitting back and thinking “pride cannot be that bad; I mean, it's not exactly affecting that many people,” we come across the words of Christ where He lists a whole string of evil; and guess what is in the middle of it! Pride!
Jesus had just explained to the disciples how nothing they would eat would defile their spiritual bodies – in other words it should not be counted against you to not eat food just because someone has made up a rule we should not eat a certain food type because it is against their religion. But equally, we should not blindly go ahead and do so in front of them knowing it will upset them. That is just being obnoxious! It is this type of thing which defiles us, not the physical eating of the food, but what we are doing against the spirit of the other person.
The list of things Jesus gives shows us just where He thinks pride belongs – slap bang in the middle of what we may think of as being really evil things. In other words, pride is something Christ takes very seriously because of the spiritual damage it can do. He is not so concerned about the physical damage we do to our bodies by eating something which makes us sick as the spiritual damage we can do to our bodies when we let ourselves get involved with the hidden dangers Christ sees.
We know that He looks at us from the inside. We know He looks to see what is on our hearts. We know He is a discerner of spirits. So why can't we see why He looks so seriously upon pride? Because of the blinkers we put on when we take up pride in our lives. We block out everything we don't want to see just so we can focus on our pride. We ignore the feelings of others. We even put them down. We break them spiritually. We affect their very beings by what we do. That is why God wants us to put pride behind us and focus on Him instead.
Points to Ponder:
Do you really think you can get away with it?
We are all God's children – behave like we are!
April 14: Zechariah 7 8-14
Key Verse: Zechariah 7 11
But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear.
Devotion:
One of the things which is most often ignored in life is true judgement. Yes, we do see many people round the world being punished for what they are doing wrong, but how many of those cases involve true judgement? We like to think we live in a world where we do judge the wicked in such a way so they should not err again, but when it comes down to it we see the same people doing the same things wrong over and over again... And it does not stop at the thieves or muggers, but goes right through society – even in our churches!
Whilst it is a deterrent to many people to see the punishment which will be handed out if they do something wrong, the unseen punishment is no deterrent to so many. We cannot see what is going to happen to us when we die. We are given direction, descriptions and warnings through God's Word, but that just does not seem to be the same as actually seeing the punishment or the effects of it.
It is only when you get to know God in a close personal relationship that you will get to see the benefits which we have from a relationship with Him. It is then we are encouraged and see what is happening in our lives. It is then we begin to see what we are doing wrong and try to set things right. Waiting until we have to be punished for what we are doing wrong is certainly not the right way of doing things! Why wait until it is too late?
If, when we walk closely with God, we would want others to see His awesome power and grace, we need to show others His true judgement and compassion. We can do this by showing God’s judgement and compassion to others in our lives. By allowing people to know when things are going wrong before it is too late will allow them to avoid the trap they are about to fall into. God wants each of us to see the light before we fall into the darkness, not to have to look up at the light knowing we can no longer reach it...
Points to Ponder:
Are you a rebel?
Are you listening to God?