Feb 23: Matthew 5:17-20

Key Verse: Matthew 5:20
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Devotion:
When Jesus was amongst His disciples and the people He would make sure they knew He had not come to overturn everything the prophets had brought to the people; in other words He had not come to overturn the word of God but to support it and fulfil it!

Sometimes it is difficult to spot a fraudster from a crowd because the fraudsters try to blend in and work quietly from the inside. This is what we are up against as Christians, we are up against an adversary who will go out of his way to try and trip us up by offering us more than we have.

Jesus went through this when He was facing temptations from the devil but He was able to rely on God and not be tempted even though He was promised all manner of things. When we look back on instances where we have faced fraudulent people we can wonder why we did not spot them to start with – but that is why they do this, because they can hide the truth until it is too late!

Jesus also warned the people they would have to be better behaved than all of the rules from the past before they could come close to joining God in Heaven: something we will find impossible to do because we are tempted by things all the time. Jesus was stepping forward here to make a new way open to us because He knew we would not be able to avoid temptation all of our lives!

Points to Ponder:
Would you avoid a tempting dinner if offered it?

Do you know the evil one will tempt you with your inner desires?

Feb 22: Isaiah 55:6-9

Key Verse: Isaiah 55:6
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

Devotion:
One of the things I got to learn from an American Pastor friend of mine was we should be seeking the Lord at all times; not because He told us to or that we will get punished for not doing so, but because we only have a short time to do so! We have a finite life span and during that life we have to make a choice as to whether we follow Christ or follow mankind… and by not making a choice we have already made the choice!

The more we try to follow the world and its ways the more we will lose track of what we should be doing. The world changes its mind all the time. People change their minds all the time. God is the same today as He ever was and will always be the same!

God has warned people from the beginning of time how we will make bad choices and choose temptation instead of righteousness. He knows this because He knows what we are like. If we choose to seek Him we will be aiming at a better way of life and are more likely to get there than if we follow the ever changing will of people!

God allowed Jesus to come to us to show us the way we can live our lives with Him. He has given us the best choice to make – but we do have to make the choice. Choose to follow Christ!

Points to Ponder:
Do you actively seek Christ in your life?

Have you noticed He is actively seeking you?

Feb 21: Luke 11:29-32

Key Verse: Luke 11:30
For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.

Devotion:
How many times have you been asked “why doesn't God look after Christians” or something similar to that? When I am asked this I try to find out where the person asking is coming from or why they don’t think God is looking after people – the answer is normally in the way the person asks the question!

When Jesus was talking to this crowd of people He knew the intentions o the people around Him; He knew some were seeking questions like this and His answer was probably directed to those people. God knows there are many people who have ulterior motives in life and who are not seeking the things they say they are!

We should never forget God sees right through us and knows what we are aiming for. Yesterday we talked about being honest and open with God – this is why! We can never hope to hide anything from God and being honest and open means we are honest and open with ourselves as well.  The longer we try to hide things from God, the longer we will be faced with harsh judgements!

God is holy. God is righteous. This means God does what is right! If we do wrong we should expect to live with the consequences of our actions. God has every right to judge people and if we are harbouring people in our lives who are dishonest or evil, we should expect the consequences to affect our lives as well!

Points to Ponder:
Do you try to live righteously?

Do you admit your faults to God?