August 4: Matthew 13:54-58
Key Verse: Matthew 13:57
And they took offence at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honour except in his own town and in his own home.’
Devotion:
One of the things about going away to learn something and returning home is the people you know before you went away expect you to come back being the same as when you left! They know you have gone away to learn things, but they expect you to still be the same – that’s just the way we are. As they get used to you with your new-found knowledge, they will change their views of you. But if you come back a very changed person and have greater knowledge or wisdom than they do, they may take offence!
When Jesus returned to His home town, He faced a lot of people who expected Him to be “the carpenter’s son” still and did not expect a level of wisdom and knowledge which would outshine their own. When Jesus stood u and started teaching the people in the synagogue, they were probably a bit upset someone could come in an have such wisdom when the people who had gone through much learning and studying were the ones they expected to have the wisdom.
So we have two sets of people being upset with Jesus. The teachers who had spent their lives studying so they could teach; they being the ones who got upset because this “uneducated” person came in with so much wisdom. The other set being the people who had known the family as carpenters and expected them just to be carpenters and nothing more.
Each of us will face someone in our lives who expects us to be the underdog and will get upset with us when we prove them wrong. Because we are brought up in societies where we are encouraged to be the best, being anything else hurts our pride. If we are not willing to put aside our pride and accept others can be better than us, we will always struggle in life. Christ reminded us we are all different and we will all excel in different ways!
Points to Ponder:
Do you always measure yourself against others?
Will you accept God made you unique?
August 3: Psalm 84:5
Key Verse: Psalm 84:5
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
Devotion:
Depending on which interpretation of the bible you read, you may get very different ideas from this psalm, so I have purposely just taken a single verse. Why? In the hopes you will choose to read through the full psalm in your own time.
I think this psalm was written by someone who was content to meditate in the house of the Lord, watching what was happening and thinking about what God could have been thinking. That to me is a place we should all try to put ourselves in each day – spending time taking our minds out of the busy world and allowing it to commune with God in a special place.
We have looked at relationships in the past and surmised they need to be worked on by both parties where we work toward consolidating and building up the relationship together. When we think about our relationship with God it is different to our earthly relationships because we are always looking forward to the time when we can finally be with God. Everything we do before then is done in preparation for that time; a time when we will enjoy eternity with Him.
This means we need to focus on what is ahead and not just the quickest way of getting there. When we focus on what we think God wants of us, we will probably change our earthly lives to look after His people and live as a disciple reaching out to make more disciples. We think we cannot do anything like that in the beginning but as soon as we accept Christ into our lives we are bringing in a new strength to live a different life for Him. A life which will look forward to the journey with Him for eternity!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you stop and commune with God?
Can you take a few minutes today to stop your busy life and just think?
August 2: Matthew 13:44-46
Key Verse: Matthew 13:44
‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
Devotion:
Who doesn’t want more of a good thing when they get introduced to it! We only have to look at our modern world to see how things like this can go terribly wrong when the human perception of a ‘good thing’ is taken into account. Too many things in life are touted as being good when they work against everything we need in life. One of the biggest things I always look back on is the wide spread introduction of smoking as being in some way good!
We can look throughout history and see many things like this where we jumped on board some new thing or habit only to find out years down the line it was doing us more harm than anything. This can be seen as a weakness in life or it can be viewed as something which binds us humans together. Some will use this to scam others whilst others will band together as make it something to bind us together.
Whatever way we look at it, the truth always makes it to the surface after time passes. Those things we find out are bad get recognised as such and laws come in to protect others from them. Those things which prove to be good stay and gain recognition. Then there are the early adopters who risk everything to choose whether it will be good or bad and have to live with their choices.
The truth about God and His love for us has stood the test of time and continues to prove it is good and righteous; though many still doubt it because they may have been burned by bad choices in the past. But once you recognise everything which is good about God, you don’t want to let it go; instead, making choices to make Him a bigger part of your life!
Points to Ponder:
How important is God in your life?
Are you choosing earthly things over God?
August 1: Exodus 34:5-9
Key Verse: Exodus 34:7
maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.
Devotion:
I have been asked a few times about these words with people being worried about what their children get up to or what their parents had done in the past with the main complaint being ‘how do I control what my children/parents do/did?’ The short answer is you can’t! The long answer is actually quite simple as well… Each one of us is personally accountable for the actions we take; the most important action being us choosing to believe in God!
We cannot and should not try to say what Christ did on the cross falls short for paying for the debt we owe due to our sins. When Christ said He will forgive all who come to Him it was a promise, not a suggestion. If we impose a restriction on how much He can and does forgive, we are imposing earthly limits of our Heavenly Almighty God!
So the phrase I like to use is ‘the buck stops here!’ When we believe and trust in Christ to forgive us of our sins, we are forgiven in totality, which means nothing anyone else has done wrong is going to affect our level of forgiveness from Christ. The provisor being ‘what are we going to do about the great commission?’
Christ will forgive us. The buck stops there. What we then do as a new disciple of Christ will affect how our grandchildren, children or parents live their lives. If we are not willing to show them there is hope for a total forgiveness, then we are falling short of the mark in our relationship with Christ. A big part of living with Christ is taking on the task of spreading the gospel through the way we live.
Points to Ponder:
Do you believe God’s love is all encompassing?
How does your love stack up?