September 12: Colossians 2:6-10

Key Verse: Colossians 2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

Devotion:
Once you make the choice to believe in Christ the first few days/weeks can go either way… you may love the new found happiness and peace you have and thrive in it, or you may find it hard going because of your old life calling you back. Then, after a while, maybe even years, you get people around you trying to encourage you back into your old ways just because they don’t believe.

Life as a Christians is not going to be plain sailing. The evil one is going to plan all manner of things which will trip you up and he will encourage others to distract you from your faith in Christ. He will bring people into your life who will have arguments which sound like they could have ground; but they will be against God’s Word.

That is the one thing we have in our lives by which we can identify whether someone else is for or against God – whether what they do and say agree with God’s Word or not. We have so many traditions and habits in our lives which can go against God simply by looking at them another way and the evil one will use little things like that to try and dissuade your from following Christ.

The best way forward is to have Christ as the centre of your life because it is not us who have true power and authority over everything, but God through the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Points to Ponder:
Do you struggle with your Christians life at times?

Have you tried depending on Him more during those times?

September 11: Luke 6:6-11

Key Verse: Luke 6:11
But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Devotion:
This sort of thing makes me mad even when I read about it so many years after it happened; but still, this seems to happen in our modern churches around the world nowadays. Sadly some church leaders will do whatever they can to uphold the letter of the law about what their ‘church’ stands for instead of following the love of Christ as He asked us to.

Yes I deliberately put ‘church’ in quotes because we have to ask ourselves the question – are we the church of Christ if we are more concerned about the local rules and regulations than we are about following what our Church Leader has asked of us? Because this is what I see happening in this recount from Luke.

We may not think we are to blame because we are doing whatever we have done for many years now and nobody has complained (much) so why should we change? Jesus Christ does not change, but He certainly used very different ways to reach all the different people He reached with the gospel. If we are not willing to accommodate the different people in our community then we are not really part of the community!

We have to trust God He will continue to guide us in appropriate ways to reach out to the people He has put in our lives. He has used a vast variety of people to reach an even wider variety of people. He has not asked us to become introverts who only do the things we are comfortable with doing. He is asking us to be disciples who go out and make disciples...

Points to Ponder:
Do you stick to tried ans tested ways of being church?

Are you willing to try something different to encourage someone new in?

September 10: Romans 13:8-10

Key Verse: Romans 13:10
Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.

Devotion:
One of the biggest sources of all arguments is debt whether is it a monetary debt or a promise not kept; debt brings on arguments or hopelessness. We all should know the basic rules of life like not getting involved with adultery, murder, stealing and even coveting, but one things we do often overlook is sharing love where it is due.

Jesus reminded us love is the pivotal thing around which all other rules of life should revolve. If we are not keeping love fresh and in the middle of our lives, then we are falling short in our debt to the people around us. One of the things we need to accept and cherish is love, the love for our own selves and the love for the people around us.

I know in our modern world we find all manner of excuses not to do things: blaming stuff like the internet, electricity, work and so many more things; but most of those really do come down to not exercising the love Christ has given us for others. God made us to be able to love one another, but because of all these distractions in life we make excuses not to fulfil that love – because it just doesn't fit with our life-style!

One thing I have learn about being a Christian is we have to make sure we take this God-given love and share it with the people around us. When we do that we are encouraging others to do the same. When we all start moving toward that goal, we can see the benefits of this love in our lives.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you show your love to your partner?

How often do you share God’s love with others?