October 22: Matthew 22:15-22
Key Verse: Matthew 22:15
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.
Devotion:
If you think you are the only one who has to face people asking you awkward question to get you to say something wrong, think again. This has been a tactic used by people virtually since the beginning of humanity. Here the Pharisees were trying to get Jesus to say something wrong so they could discredit Him and continue ruling the people as they wanted to.
Jesus saw right through them and turned the tables on them very quickly. This is not always obvious to us when we are faced with others asking us difficult questions. We do not have the foresight to see when people mean what they ask or if they are just trying to get you to say something wrong.
Jesus always relied on the Holy Spirit to guide Him and to allow Him to see who meant what they said. We can do the same because we do have full access to the Holy Spirit – we just don’t tend to think of that when we get flustered. We give in to emptions and we blurt out words we don’t mean or which can be heard to go against what we mean.
We live in a world which is governed by people and rules set by people. Legally and socially we should follow the rules to live a life which should not upset others; but sometimes people have already made up their minds to work against the truth and then we definitely need guidance from the Holy Spirit to get us through those times.
Points to Ponder:
Do you go with the flow and follow people?
Will you try to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow God?