September 9: Colossians 1:21-23

Key Verse: Colossians 1:21
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour.

Devotion:
As a non-believer, one of the hardest things to get your head round is the forgiveness of Christ, but when you get to know Christ your whole world changes! When you are faced with rules which you do not want to agree with, the temptation to break those rules is ever present and something we often give in to. But what happens when those rules do not agree with simple human survival?

God has watched mankind over the years and knows when we are going to give in and break the laws. It is not that He just accepts you break the rules and sin now and again, but He does know us and knows our limits. We are just human beings whether we are Christians or not and we will give in to temptations from time to time. When we do, we should be brave enough to admit them to God and ask for forgiveness and not try sweep them under the rug!

It is because of what Jesus did for us by giving His own life as the perfect sacrifice we needed, we are able to commune with God. It is knowing of our failings and bringing them to Jesus we are able to gain absolute forgiveness. We cannot put anything behind us or hide anything from God because He sees all; but we are able to give them to Christ to have them covered by His sacrifice.

But to do any of this we need faith in believing what Jesus has done and trust Him to deliver us blameless before God!

Points to Ponder:
Do you admit your faults to Christ?

Will you trust in what He has done for you?

September 8: Colossians 1:15-20

Key Verse: Colossians 1:17
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Devotion:
By reading through each of the letters the apostle wrote to the various churches we can find very different communities which needed different approaches to the same gospel. I would say from the words written to the church in Colossae, they were quite well versed in their philosophy and all things Phrygian. They seemed to take society strictly and the apostle had to reach them at their own level.

Each of our communities and the churches within them are different. We have quite different views on things and how they should be done in the village where I live. We can all agree on the fact Jesus Christ came in human form to offer salvation to everyone through shedding His blood on the cross. But, even in our church we have people who think differently to others.

I come from an engineering and scientific background so I try to make things well defined and work with the parameters offered. This does not always agree with others who would rather live life on the edge. But we are all under the same God and under the same offer of salvation from Christ!

Jesus was an is there from the beginning and will be, always. Our lives may come and go, governments and royalty change over time, but our God remains constant and always ready to listen and guide each one of us in our different ways we live. We don’t all have to be the same, just accept the one true God – simple!

Points to Ponder:
Who is your “boss”?

Do you always try to listen to God?

September 7: Luke 5:4-7

Key Verse: Luke 5:5
Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’

Devotion:
What would it take for you to decide a life with Christ is all you need? Simon and his crew had just come in from fishing unsuccessfully all night. I think it is bad enough when I can’t catch a fish with a rod, so being a commercial fisherman and not catching anything must have been a blow! After sitting and listening to Jesus teaching the crowd his outlook changed a bit.

When Jesus told them to go back out into deeper water and try again, their first thought must have been the time was not right because they always fished at a certain time. Now they are being told to go out and fish after they have failed already. But something convinced Simon and they went out again only to catch the largest haul of fish they could imagine!

God know the right time and place for everything in our lives and if we are willing to listen and obey we will see how good our lives can be. This is not to say Christ will give you all the riches you have ever dreamed of, but He will guide you towards a more fulfilling life if you are willing.

I am a computer geek and I constantly try new things with computers; indeed my house has many computers and electronics. But the things which please me the most are the things I can do for God. Listening to God and obeying makes my life much fuller than it can ever be with the latest and greatest computer components!

Points to Ponder:
Do you try to listen to God?

Will you simply try to obey?