Saturday 6 Feb 2021

February 6: Ephesians 4:17-19
 
Key Verse: Ephesians 4:18
They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
 
Devotion:
How many times have you been told to change the way you are? Maybe you were told at school you would never amount to anything unless you changed your ways... Maybe your parents told you things would get bad unless you changed your ways... What have you done about it? What is it going to take for you to change your ways?
 
None of us like to be told we have to change our ways because we feel safe with things we know. We want to continue to feel safe, so we stick with what we do know and not the unknown. But when someone else tells us something different is what is required, we get scared and back away from them...
 
Jesus wants us to pick up His ways so we have a better chance at living the life God wants us to live. This is going to mean turning away from our old ways and embracing new ways which can be scary and we tend to back away from that. But when God tries to encourage us to change to His ways, He is doing so to make our lives better – not to try and make us scared!
 
God knows what is best for each one of us and allowed Jesus to come to earth and share those ways directly with us. Jesus in turn shared those ways with the disciples and encouraged them to pass them on to all of us, Jews and Gentiles alike. The warning was most stark for the Gentiles because they had entrenched themselves in a way of living which was far from what God wanted. The Jews were a bit closer, but they still had a lot to learn too. Let us embrace what God is sharing with us!
 
Points to Ponder:
Do you get scared of change?
 
Will you have a look at God’s ways through Jesus?