July 12: Matthew 10:16-23
Key Verse: Matthew 10:22
You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Devotion:
One of the hard things to accept of being a Christian is how people will reject you just because you are a Christian. Some people feel threatened by the fact you are a Christian whilst others reject you because they want to believe they are better than you! Either way, there will be people working against you just because you dare to say you love Jesus Christ!
Some of those people will plot against you thinking that you are working against them. They will think this because they live in a world where corruption and lies is an every day thing, whereas we are walking away from that (or at least we should be trying to walk away from it!) Some will look at you and think you are weak because you need Christ in your life whereas they think they can survive anything without Christ.
We have a great comfort in knowing Christ has promised us something they will never see and something which we can look forward to. They see a black hole or emptiness at the end whereas we can see light and eternity. Governments and leaders may work against you because you dare to point out their rules are broken!
We need to try to include everyone in our discipleship and reach out to everyone who is willing to listen. For those who work against us and refuse to listen, Jesus told the disciple they should walk away from them after giving them every chance to turn their lives around; they have made a choice to live without Christ and we must allow them that choice in the end.
Points to Ponder:
Do you look forward to your life with Christ?
Do you try to include others in your life with Christ?