September 23: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 3:1
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
Devotion:
Life continues on, the earth continues revolving around the sun and the moon around the earth. Mankind sends up satellites and they continue buzzing around the earth or staying stationary in a place above the earth – seemingly forever. Whilst the earth may well continue on for longer than we can imagine, things like life, be it plant life or animal life, has an acceptable span after which things change!
We build buildings which we say will last forever, but they too have life-spans after which they crumble or collapse. Our happiness lasts for as long as we can make it. When we say we will continue doing something for as long as it will take, we only think of it as within our lifespan, and even then we eventually give up if we think it is not working out. We say promises which we promise forever, but they only last as long as we can keep them.
When we fall in love with another person we say it will never end – but we may well find ourselves in a tight spot after a few years and want to go back on what we said. We can only last as long as the life-span God has given us! We can only keep going within that life-span. We can try as best we can to fulfil our promises, but they too will come to pass at some stage because we will.
God has created everything around us for our enjoyment and our use; it is limited within our life-spans and sometimes a lot shorter – but God gave us control over them and wants us to do our best to make sure we do as much as we can. God knows we will fall short of our promises but He also knows we can give ourselves fully to what we set our minds to. This is what He expects of our love for Him, to give as much as we can for as long as we can!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get upset when you cannot do something for always?
Will you try to do your best for God?
September 22: Ecclesiastes 1:2-11
Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 1:4
Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains for ever.
Devotion:
Even though I have watched all the news about Queen Elizabeth passing, been through the mourning process and watched the funeral, there is still a part of me which cannot believe she is gone – that part which has known her as queen for all of my life. I guess we will all get used to the idea of having a King after a short while but until then we just keep getting on with life.
None of us is destined to live forever on earth and we are reminded of this fact in many parts of the scriptures. Back in these days hundreds of years before Christ came to live amongst us, God was using prophets and kings to make sure people knew about the scriptures and knew what to expect from Him.
These verses remind us of the futility of amassing earthly riches because we cannot take any earthly riches with us when we die too! Generation after generation will pass on, but the earth will remain. We may pollute the world, kill off many species of animal and do all manner of damage, but the earth remains – even though it may be broken! We will continue to move around the sun and the moon to move around the earth. The earth will continue to have weather patterns which man will try to predict. They may change drastically because of how mankind has broken many things, but they will continue.
We continue to discover ‘new’ things but in reality they have been there for a long time already, we just haven’t seen them! The same can be said about our actions and the ways we live and the ways we sin. God has seen it all before in many forms. We don’t remember all the things the people did thousands of years ago, but God does. We don’t remember all the people who lived a few hundred years ago, never mind thousands – but God does. Which lifespan are you aiming for?
Points to Ponder:
Do you know God knows the exact date and time everything will happen?
Will you entrust more of your life to Him?
September 21: Proverbs 3:13-18
Key Verse: Proverbs 3:16
Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honour.
Devotion:
One of the things my parents taught me as a youngster was to seek wisdom in all of it’s ways, and wisdom comes in many parts and only one of those parts is knowledge! Knowledge was one of the hardest parts for me to gain because it involved reading and I was pretty dire at reading – I still am!
The more we are willing to learn about the world around us, the more we are able to achieve many things outside of our normal scope of life. I loved learning about things which I had a deep interest in, one of those things being aeroplanes. As a youngster I loved building model planes and always strived to build things out of the ordinary. I wanted to expand my horizons beyond what others took as acceptable because that would allow me to find new things and new ways of doing those things.
When God asks us to go out into the world and spread the gospel, He is not asking us to walk out on the streets and shout out the word of God – though many do have success in doing that. He wants us to think outside the box and reach out to people in new ways. At our local church we have expanded our outreach by introducing messy church and cafe church, two different ways in which we can worship God through doing things differently.
I have learned we all have different ways by which we can worship God – each of us is made differently and as such we have vastly different skills and abilities. Using some of those skills and abilities to reach out to others will allow you to show them God is in every walk of life and not just church buildings on Sundays! If you have any skills, how about using what you can do to reach out to others; just by being together we can show others our Christians ways and allow them to gain wisdom in different ways so they too can be blessed!
Points to Ponder:
Do you have an odd skill?
Have you ever thought about seeing if others are interested in your skill set?
September 20: Proverbs 21:2-4
Key Verse: Proverbs 21:3
To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Devotion:
One of the biggest problems we face in our lives is not being able to listen to God! When we start off doing something which seems right in our own eyes, we continue getting deeper and deeper into the ways we think are right. Eventually we stop listening to others who are trying to tell us we are doing something wrong and we build up our own ways and methods before all else. This is the trap we fall into and how we leave God out of our decisions – just because we thought it was right to start off with!
We can also get carried away with doing things because we know we will pay our dues by sacrificing something in the long run. We leave behind all that is righteous and we follow our own desires and ways instead. This is when we lose sight of what is right and cover it up with excuses by sacrificing something and saying that it will be ok because of the sacrifice.
God sees right through us when we start to think like this and sees how our hearts become corrupted by our desires, wants and pride. The more we allow pride into our ways the more we are likely to fall flat on our faces when time comes to see what is righteous and not. God sees into our hearts and tries to guide us away from the trappings of pride. God tries to lead us away from the wicked who continue to lead us into our prideful ways instead.
God knows sin comes from our ways because we cannot let go of our old ways at times. We need to stop and listen to God, listen to all Christ has tried to teach us and above all, allow the Holy Spirit to guide us instead of following our sinful ways and hoping sacrifices will cover the sins!
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to cover up sin with sacrifices?
Will you turn to following God’s ways before it’s too late?