June 25: Luke 3:10-14
 
Key Verse: Luke 3:14
Then some soldiers asked him, ‘And what should we do?’ He replied, ‘Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely – be content with your pay.’
 
Devotion:
When Jesus started teaching the people about how to live as Christians, He upset quite a few people because He was adamant about how we should be living. When the people heard His instructions about how they should behave when dealing with possessions, the rich people were put off because they did not want to lose money, and some of the poorer people were put off because they did not want to have to rely on others.
 
But when it came down to sharing what we have with others – many people did not know how to handle that! It was well known in their society tax collectors would take more than people owed and skim some of the money off for themselves. We think of things like this nowadays and call it a service charge – but it amounts to much the same thing! The same went for the soldiers who would ‘uphold’ the law for anyone who was willing to pay them extra!
 
God wants us to be honest about our lives and honest about our dealings with others. If we are honest then we must look to be happy with what we have and not desire more than we have contracted for. If we have agreed a certain salary, then we should not expect more just because we could get more if we did something else... This idea tends to break down society because some people want more than others and they end up getting more than others because of how they behave.
 
The less strife we have between us and our neighbours, the less we will have to strive to get over and above what we have – in others words, the less we will want and the more satisfied we will be with what we have already. God wants us to aim for the best – but not to be greedy about getting it!
 
Points to Ponder:
Do you think your business life is honest?
 
Will you try to work to what you have agreed rather than what you think you want?