April 17: 2 Corinthians 1:1-2
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:
Devotion:
A very similar introduction to this letter as to the first letter to Corinth, but the writer now acknowledges himself as an apostle – I title I think he did not take lightly! What sort of recognition do you have as a Christian in your community? Do they have a good name for you, as opposed to any derogatory term! When people started calling me names because I was different, I started to realise just how much of an influence I had even without preaching to them!
When Jesus said we should go out into the world, I like to think of it as a ‘coming out’ rather than a ‘going out.’ From that moment onward we are a representative of Jesus Christ! We carry His name and His reputation with us. People are going to study us as Christians to see what we do… Does this make you kinda scared? Well, we don’t all live on the front line, so we don’t all get the exposure some Christian leaders do, but we still have a circle of people who look to us for clues as to how we should be living.
Paul had sent Timothy to the church at Corinth and through that he knew the people would be getting a good education and follow a good example. He chose Timothy because he knew he had a good reputation as a true follower of Christ. But it was not just a choice he made alone – God had chosen Timothy before Paul chose him. God is the one who makes the choices and it is us who should be following His instructions to make sure we live the life He wants us to!
Who knew there was so much we could get out of a single sentence! But there is more… God knew which people to choose to go and make a difference in the community there. He chose people who would work together and not fight each other for attention or notoriety! The last thing we should be doing is promoting ourselves! We need to simply continue promoting Christ and allow God to work out the rest. When we join in with the community and work as a team, God can do so much more!
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to do it all yourself?
Will you try to choose a team to work with you?
April 16: 1 Corinthians 1:1-3
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 1:2
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ - their Lord and ours:
Devotion:
In this, the first letter recorded to the church at Corinth, Paul is writing via the leader of the synagogue who had accepted the truth Jesus was the Messiah and our Saviour; presumably he lost his position as the chief ruler of the synagogue after being converted. Now, Sosthenes if heading up the Christian church in Corinth and addresses this letter to all people who believe in the Lord and those who pray to Christ. Does this mean there were still people who did not want to admit they were Christians just yet?
When I first accepted Christ into my life, I was willing to allow everyone to know I was a Christian, even to the extent of meeting for prayers together during our morning break period in school. There were some people who would ridicule us, but on the whole we were respected for what we were doing. What do you think people think of you and your position in the church today? Do people know you as a Christian? Do people know your life was changed by this Jesus character?
Paul knew the Christians would have a hard time – they were the ones who said they believed in a single God whereas the Greeks as a whole had many gods and prayed to a god who fitted into what they wanted. This is probably why he opens in extending prayer for grace and peace to all the people whom God had chosen to stand up for what they believed.
As Christians we need to stand up and allow people to be encouraged to stand up for themselves too. God has chosen us to be the bringers of the message to others. God has chosen us because He knows we are able to stand up and be counted – we may doubt that at times and we may doubt ourselves too, but God knows what we are made of and knows we are the ones to make a difference. Believe in Him and know He has made the right choice in choosing us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you have doubts you can do things for God?
Have you tried stepping forward and asking God for the strength?
April 15: Romans 1:1-6
Key Verse: Romans 1:2
the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures
Devotion:
So I decided it would be a good time to go through the beginnings of some of the letters to see what introductions we can gain from them. I say, gain from them, because we often think of spreading the gospel as going to each and every person or gathering and teaching others about what God has to say for and to us and what He has already done and said for us in the past. But this was not possible back then for Paul to do at the drop of a hat – just like it is not possible for us to do things at the drop of a hat any more!
They did not have a pandemic preventing them from leaving their homes, but the threat was almost as real. Many people were banned from teaching about Christ because the governors thought it would undermine society – not real society as we know it in the free world, but an oppressive society. It really does feel like that at times now, but we still have so much freedom in reality. The Internet has become our outsource and our library and our way of communicating!
Paul could not be all over the Mediterranean as he would have liked to have been – can you imagine the storm he would have made if he was given the freedom of flights all around the world and not just boat trips here and there! Paul was ready to go anywhere but was limited by what was available at the time. So he took to writing letters to the various churches. I’m pretty sure he would have written far more than the few letters we have left with us now, but none as significant as those which God made sure were kept safe for future generations.
This has all been promised to us through what the prophets had been telling us for so long before Christ came to visit us in person. This was already written down and shared amongst the people as significant truths they need to hear and know. That is why these letters by the apostles are so important to us as well – they tell us of the outcome of many of the saying of the prophets, outcomes which prove to us how God keeps His promises throughout time and the world!
Points to Ponder:
How do you keep in touch in isolation?
Are you keeping the gospel message going out?
April 14: Acts 1:1-5
Key Verse: Acts 1:3
After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
Devotion:
These first verses are quite important but are often overlooked as in many of the letters written by the Apostles. Why are they important? Because they give a consistent link between different letters written and gives us more of a chance at getting the timeline recognised and understood. The languages used have changed so much over the ages the original scripts have to be read by scholars who do understand the ancient ways of talking. Much like this generation looking at Shakespeare's writings – the words may be beautiful and full of meaning, but it takes study to get to the true meanings behind the words.
Luke was very well educated and I find his writings fascinating to read because they are so factual and matter of fact at times, unlike John’s writings which are so full of love, compassion and feelings. For Luke to write saying Jesus had given them many convincing proofs must mean they were very convincing even though we do not hear about all of them in our bibles. Sometimes we just have to take someone else’s words and believe them for what they are!
So many people try to argue about how Jesus was simply a prophet or a priest and yet the words written by the Apostles and corroborated by others prove otherwise; we have a Saviour in Jesus Christ who came down to earth to live amongst us as a human being so He could take on the punishment for the sins of the world once and for all – a fact which was not fully understood until after it had happened and after it was explained once again to the disciples.
God then sent the Holy Spirit to be amongst us and in us so we could further understand what He wants in our lives. The only thing is we have to listen! Something which does has proved to be a ‘difficult’ thing for humans to do – the past few weeks has shown us how many people think they know better and want to do things their own way instead of following what is right!
Points to Ponder:
Are you a good listener?
Do you obey what you hear?