October 26: Romans 6:19-23

Key Verse: Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Devotion:
One of the things you never get to see when you are encamped in sin is how destructive your life and behaviour is to your soul. The more you get involved with the sin the more you lose sight on the righteousness in life and the more you are convinced you have to do certain things to survive. You lose sight of real life and you become a slave to sin.

What Jesus came to teach people was we can, with His help, turn our lives around so we no longer feel entrapped by the sinful life we used to live. He wants us to be free from the sin and all the traps of the sinful life because they lead to nothing but destruction, both to yourself and to the people around you.

The more we turn our backs on sin and focus on righteousness the more we are able to show ourselves and others there is a better way of living; one which not only invites righteousness, but one which involves Christ in every step of life. When we grow closer to Christ in our lives we do see the shortcomings of this world and the sin which traps people from all walks in life.

With Christ’s help we can walk away from those traps rather than giving in and falling into the pit of despair which sin digs for us. It is not ourselves who cause the sin but the evil one making the temptation of false promises look real; then we fall into his trap and cannot find a way out.

Points to Ponder:
How much of your life is Christ invited into?

Will you make Him an honoured guest?

October 25: Roman 6:12-14

Key Verse: Romans 6:14
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Devotion:
One of our biggest downfalls is we think we are greater than sin or that we can overcome it by ourselves. Once we allow sin into our lives the battle to turn away from sin becomes greater and greater until we have no hope of being able to stop by ourselves. The only way is to allow someone else to help us. I say allow because there is a difference between being forced to stop sin and allowing someone to help you stop it.

When we are forced to stop sin we don’t really understand the power of sin because someone else has taken it away for us. But if we are part of the stopping of the sin, then we understand how destructive it can be and are less likely to allow it back into our lives. Now there are sins which you can get help with from friends or other people, but to make sure we turn our backs on it we need extra help.

A friend can only help you to manage it, but God can help you to turn your back on it all together. The sin can be identified by the law, be it the law of the land or Gods law. To understand sin and the affect it has on our lives we need Gods insight. The law of the land will allow you to see the sin and understand it is wrong, but Gods insight will allow you to see a whole lot more.

Because Jesus gave His life to cover our sin debt we owe, we no longer have to live under just the law and we no longer have to fight sin alone. Christ came to take the burden sin gives us and allow us to move forward with Him in our lives.

Points to Ponder:
Do you struggle with sin?

Will you allow Christ to help you?

October 24: Luke 12:35-38

Key Verse: Luke 12:37
It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will make them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.

Devotion:
You could take this passage in almost any part of life and apply it, but here we should be thinking of the readiness of every Christian when our Lord does return. You may have noticed the harder you work, the more likely your employer is going to give you rewards… so do we apply this in our Christian lives?

A fair amount of Christians do subscribe to that philosophy and indeed our Bibles do tell us of greater rewards for some, but it is not for works. There are some who make a living out of doing work for the church even though they do not have faith in Christ. There are some who give their lives to serving Christ and expect nothing in return. Where do you stand? Maybe somewhere between the two?

Do our Christian lives need to be a balance between working for a living and serving Christ? I used to try to make sure I made enough money to be able to pay into church funds and help support the church. I never seemed to be able to do that as well as I wanted to because there was always something lacking. So I started trying to listen to God and find out what it was He wanted me to do…

When we do listen to direction from God, He will make sure we are in the right place at the right time to do the greatest for the kingdom of God. When we begin to rely on Him we find earthly things fall into place and we have our needs met one way or another. Just be ready to serve God when He calls!

Points to Ponder:
Do you serve God at all?

Are you ready to say yes when He calls?