April 21: Philippians 2:1-11
Key Verse: Philippians 2:7
rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Devotion:
How many of your friends are friends because they like or do the same things as you? How many of those people were almost guaranteed to be friends just because they had a similar background upbringing to you? You will probably be amazed at how many of your friends are friends because they have done things like you in the past. How many friends do you have who are totally different to you? How many friends do you have who do things totally differently to you? Not so many of them...
Unfortunately, we do tend to judge people because of their outward appearance and their backgrounds rather than who they are on the inside! This is a constant theme in the Bible as people tend to stick with like-minded people and even change their own ways so they can fit in better at times! Not what Christ did and not what He teaches!
Jesus was born from parents who started off not even being married when He was conceived. He was on the run from the authorities right from the beginning. He came to teach the teachers and lift up the poor and unknown – very different from the way the teachers at the time behaved!
God looks at people from a very different perspective than we do and that is why He knows us better than our friends and better than our enemies. He looks at us how we are now and how we choose to behave, not what we have done, where we have lived or who our parents were. Christ looks at us! If we can be more like Christ, we can get along much better with all people and hope to love them like Christ loves us – from the inside out!
Points to Ponder:
How do you meet friends?
Will you step out of your comfort zone to make a friend today?
April 20: Luke 15:28-32
Key Verse: Luke 15:31
“My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
Devotion:
How often do you think God is not looking out for you? How often do you think Christ has forgotten about you? If we are all honest, we do have feelings like this, but, like this parable, I want to remind you of how much God continues to watch over you and be with you every step of your life.
When things are going well and we are living a good life, we often forget God is with us. When we are having a rough time, we often think God has forgotten about us and has allowed horrible things to come close to us! This is quite normal and has been like this for us much of our lives. Don’t feel despondent and think God has forgotten about you!
God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to come to earth in human form and live amongst us to show us how much He knows us and how much He thinks of us. Many people who do not know Christ think Jesus was forgotten, forsaken and allowed to die because God was somehow not watching over Him. The truth is God was watching every step of the way and was crying just as much as Jesus and the disciples were. Let us rather ask why we had to put God through so much just because we had too much pride or greed to stop and listen!
God continues to be with us every step of the way, but we often lose sight of Him as we are far too busy with our lives and how much we think of ourselves! If we are too focused on ourselves and our own well-being, then we may not see how much God is trying to straighten things out for us. But the more we open our eyes to the truth, the more we see how much God continue to do for and with us every second of every day!
Points to Ponder:
How focused are you on your own life?
How focused are you on God?
April 19: John 21:1-6
Key Verse: John 21:5
He called out to them, ‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’ ‘No,’ they answered.
Devotion:
How many things have frustrated you during these pandemic times? How many things have you been stopped from doing or have not been able to succeed because of Covid-19? I know I have felt very frustrated by not being able to do things with the young people, not being able to meet up and just talk things through or to have fun... But there are always going to be times during our lives when the harvest seems to be non-existent!
Over the years I have seen the ebb and flow of youth work and even adult church work. I have seen the lean times and have experienced the abundant times. This is the way of the world – nothing is permanent, and nothing lasts forever. But we do have a Saviour who has promised us many good times and continues to look out for us all the time. Our issue seems to be listening when we need to listen!
One of the biggest parts of youth work is listening to the youth and finding out where they are both mentally and spiritually. Without that listening we do not have much hope of being able to reach them with the gospel. God wants us to listen to others all the time and to be willing to change what we are doing in order to gain the most from every situation.
In this story Jesus was waiting on the shore and shouting instructions to the disciples on the boat. They did not think it would be Jesus and so were not prepared... but something made them stop and listen. Because of that step, they found a whole different approach to their fishing – not just because it was the other side of the boat but because it was a haul which could have sunk their boat if they were not careful!
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to the world?
Do you listen to God?
April 18: Luke 24:44-49
Key Verse: Luke 24:45
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.
Devotion:
One of the great things about our bibles is how they span such a vast time range and allow us to come to terms with what has already happened and what Jesus did for us. They also have explanations by Jesus of what the Old Testament meant, expanded history of His own life and a whole lot of promises of things to come!
For us to be able to understand half of what is written down, we need a special person to give us the insight we need and comprehension which would otherwise be impossible! God allowed Jesus to come and show us many things, but it is not Jesus who gives us a full understanding of what has happened and what is still to come – it is the Holy Spirit who God promised would come to support us when Jesus went back to Heaven!
Far too often we ignore the words the Holy Spirit tries to give us because we don’t like to listen to anything we can’t see! Jesus had to plainly tell the disciples what was going t happen to prepare them, and us, for what was going to come. This has all been written down for us to study, but because we like to see things to believe them we struggle with our own understanding.
God saw this in us and has given us so much to lay the foundation for what is to happen, what is to come. It is words like these from Jesus which help us now to be prepared to listen to the unseen – to listen to the Holy Spirit. This is something the world will always struggle with because they do not yet know these simple words from Christ. It takes time and it takes faith.
Points to Ponder:
How much faith do you have in the bible?
Will you try to listen to the Holy Spirit more?