April 3: Proverbs 20 30
Key Verse: Proverbs 20 30
Blows that hurt cleanse away evil, As do stripes the inner depths of the heart.
Devotion:
There is a lot to be said for good old fashioned punishment at schools, but because of the way man has corrupted that form of punishment and sunk deeper into sin we no longer find it socially acceptable. When I did something very wrong at school, I was punished quite severely to try and ensure I would not do the same thing again. It was up to the master to judge fairly whether I was likely to do it again after he punished me and to serve up a punishment which would deter me. It works!
What would we be like if Christ were to turn around and serve out the punishment for our sins. It's not going to be a case of getting a cane across the hands, or on our behinds. It's not going to be a case of us getting our hands chopped off if we steal something; as is the case in some other societies. Romans 6 23 reminds us that the payment for our sins is death! If Christ turned round and said we were going to have to pay in full right now, we would all fall down dead! Fortunately for us we have a Master who knows that He does not have to go all the way in order to persuade us not to go and do some sins again. But He may have to allow us to be caught out by our own stupidity in order for us to realise where we have sinned against Him.
He has given us the rule book in full, our bibles. He has given us the rule book in pocket version, the ten commandments. He has even given it to us in a two-rule version; Luke 10 27 says “And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” Yet we are the ones who take those steps out of line, we are the ones who go up in the face of punishment just to see if we can get away with it. We are the ones who ignore the rules. We are the sinners.
God is faithful and just. He will have to carry out our sentence when we finally face Him. If we have not asked Him to forgive us by then, we are not going to have a case against our sins. We will have to face our punishment once and for all!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you get into trouble?
Are you thinking about what your punishment could be?
April 2: Psalms 37 21-27
Key Verse: Psalms 37 24
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.
Devotion:
The Lord has given us the commandments and Law so we will be able to do justly, and that we will be able to follow His will as best we can. But due to our sin nature, we will always be falling off the ladder and having to climb back on again. Just how often we do will depend on how we work with God in our lives. If we are going to make Him central to our lives, then we stand a better chance at actually being able to follow His will more often than not!
But when the time comes for us to trip up and slip back into our earthly ways, we are still going to have to pay the price for what we do... God is not going to spare us from having to pay our earthly debts, He is not going to spare us from having to do our work... We have an earthly commitment which we have to live up to. We are the ones who have messed things up. But He is the one who will give us the grace to accept what we have done, the wisdom to try and straighten things out quickly and the blessings to be able to cope with things as well. But we have got to make sure we focus on Him and not ourselves!
When king David wrote this Psalm, he was no longer a young man, but still his outlook was that of a faithful servant. He had seen many things happen in his life and each of those around him who had trusted Christ were better off than those who had not. Maybe not materially, but certainly spiritually. We, each of us, are blessed every day with the wonderful things in earth around us. The sooner we see just how much God is giving us each and every day, the quicker we will realise that we do not have to seek after earthly treasures because He is already giving us the treasures we need! We need not look to our bank accounts to see how we are blessed, but simply to look out the window and see the exquisite world He has created for us to live within!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you look at as being the luckiest person you know?
Have you tried to count the blessings God has given you today?
April 1: Matthew 12 34-35
Key Verse: Matthew 12 35
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
Devotion:
Just as we are able to have a pretty good guess at where a person is from by the language or dialect that they speak, we are able to have a pretty good guess at where a person is spiritually when they open up their mouths too. The heart is the spring from where each of us brings up the words we speak; if we are going to draw from a spring which has bad water, then what comes out of our mouths is probably going to be bad. We may be able to disguise it a bit, but it will still be noticeably tainted...
Nothing short of a fully-fledged water purifying plant will be able to clean bad water, unless we place our faith and trust in the salt that God's grace will supply for us to throw into the water. We may not always expect what God gives us as being the right stuff, but He is the one who has the foreknowledge of what we need to straighten ourselves out and He will supply the perfect grace which will allow us to make our bad hearts clean.
When we try to build up our own purifying centre, we have to remember that we have built it within a bad environment and we will at some stage or another let something slip. The only way we can be sure of supplying anything clean from ourselves is to make sure we base ourselves on something clean to start with. Our lives are filled with the evil which we have picked up along life's journey; the sins, the lusts, the desires, all manner of corruption we have tried to make good from.
In order to show others we do live with the grace of God, we have to make sure we do listen to God in the beginning and that we do His will so He can guide us for others to see Him through us and not to have to put up with our own sinful hearts...
Points to Ponder:
Who in your group of friends do you think is trying hard to sort themselves out?
Have you invited them to church?
March 31: Matthew 13 44-52
Key Verse: Matthew 13 49
So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just,
Devotion:
How long has it been since you heard about an ancient treasure of some kind being found in a seemingly unimportant place? It was not too long ago someone found a stash of Roman coins in a ploughed field here in England. How many people went past that field each day and took no notice? How many people probably scoffed at the man who was walking up and down the field with his metal detector? How many people changed their mind after they heard the great news – after it was too late?
How many times have you been deceived by something that looked good and seemed a good price, but when you got it home you realised it was not quite as good as it looked in the sale? How many are willing to give up everything they have to buy the perfect pearl knowing it is priceless on the market?
There is coming a time when like the third parable here, the net will be cast out to catch the final catch. When that happens, only the worthy who are caught will be kept with so many being cast away; but when that happens here on earth they are not going to be left to get back to their lives peaceably on earth but will face tribulations and then face the damnation of hell.
Jesus tried to explain the implications to those who were listening in simple terms. He tried to show people the consequences of not believing in terms they may understand. Yet we do each choose our own destiny by what we believe. We can either continue to believe in ourselves and face being cast away, or believe in Christ and know that we are going to a better place, a perfect place for all eternity.
Each day we read from the gospel we read about things from the past, both new and old testament, things that are good and wholesome, things which God wants us to know because He wants us to know the truth and share it with others; just as a householder will take things which are fresh and others to make wonderful meals for visitors...
Points to Ponder:
Have you always been able to choose the right things?
With all the truth before you, will you choose the right things?
March 30: 2 Timothy 3 16-17
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 3 16
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
Devotion:
The more you read the bible, the more you find out. I continue to have new things revealed to me each time I read my bibles – most of the time is spent with my bible on the computer where I can cross-reference things with the click of a mouse. We need to make sure that our bibles do not sit around gathering dust or being placed in a drawer and forgotten. The prophets and apostles did not write everything down just so we could forget about it! They diligently had scribes write down each thing which was revealed to them so others may be able to learn. Little did they know that their words would be read and spoken by people thousands of years later and even spoken by computers!
No matter what situation you find yourself in, there will be words of comfort, guidance, rebuke, encouragement and more in God's Word. He intended for us to be able to call upon His Word at any time so that we may find our answers. If we find it hard to follow at first then we should ask Him to help explain it to us – before long we too will be finding more information through His Word.
To those who do not know Christ, I am sure it must seem a daunting task to be able to read the bible. I know I did find it hard to figure out what it was saying until someone took the time to explain things to me (not for the first time!). It was only then that I was able to understand more of it. I know in my teenage years and as a young adult I was too lazy and did not read it regularly. Not surprisingly I did lose track of things and had a hard time following Gods will in my life. But reading His Word has helped me to concentrate on what is important in my life... God!
If we want to be sure of being able to walk a closer life with Christ, then we have to get down and do a bit of learning so we can find out where we should be walking!
Points to Ponder:
What was the last scripture that you read by choice?
How much does God do for you in your life... by choice?