January 26: Mark 4:13-20
Key Verse: Mark 4:19
but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Devotion:
I do like the fact Jesus had to carefully explain the parable of the sower to the disciples; I do find God’s Word hard to understand sometimes! The more we get to know our bibles by reading them and meditating on what we read, the more understanding grows in us. We may be totally confused the first time we read or hear it because it does not agree with what we learn from the world.
I can remember learning one version of history in my first year of high school, and then, two years later, I was told a different version because someone had uncovered the real truth and it had to be told. We may not like what we read in the bible sometimes, because we have learned something different in our lives. We may disagree with it at first, but because it is the truth, we need to stop and hear it!
Each of us are going to face the same truth in different ways. Some of us will turn away from that truth immediately because we think we know the real truth from what we have learned in our past. Some of us hear the truth and agree with it, but are persuaded very quickly to go back on what we said or heard. Others will hear it but the people around us will persuade us to follow what they say instead.
If we are the lucky few, we will hear the truth and we will believe it and keep that truth in our hearts. We will then be able to depend on that truth in the future and even tell the truth to others – the truth will grow.
We do need to listen out for the truth and we need to stop and understand when we hear the truth, take it in and keep it in our hearts and minds.
Points to Ponder:
Do you struggle with hearing the truth?
Will you allow Christ to give you an insight into His Truth?
January 25: Matthew 19:27-30
Key Verse: Matthew 19:30
But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
Devotion:
Christ may ask us to go further than we have imagined, but He does not do it without knowing He can reward us when the time comes. This is not to say we need to know the rewards before we step forward and do something for God – that is simply us working for rewards, the same as any earthly job or position.
God separates our work from the world because He does not want us to work for rewards; it is a fine between what we do for God’s rewards and what we do because we love God – at least that is how we see things because we live in this world where we have to work for a living. God does not want us to do the work because we will get rewards at some stage. He wants us to do the work because we love Him. He is rewarding us because He loves us!
Jesus was giving the disciples some reassurance they were not going to have everything taken away from them; they had left everything of their world behind. It wasn’t the best of worlds they left behind, but it was a world they had lived in all their lives. To give that up and follow a human who was claiming to be the Messiah was a pretty bold step for them. Jesus was giving them the reassurance they needed to continue stepping out in faith.
If we are willing to take the first step out in faith, Christ is willing to give us the reassurance we need to continue stepping forward in faith. It may not be obvious, like the disciples new life did not have an obvious goal, but Christ will give us what we need to keep on moving forward with Him in faith. He does not expect us to “walk off a cliff” and expect to live. He will show us how we can live before we step off the cliff.
Points to Ponder:
Do you find it hard to uphold your faith in Christ?
Will you listen to Him to find out what he has for you?
January 24: Psalm 89:19-27
Key Verse: Psalm 89:21
My hand will sustain him; surely my arm will strengthen him.
Devotion:
These words at the beginning of this section of scripture may make you ask questions when you read it at first: David is described as being mighty when when he was chosen from the sons of Jesse. But we also read about him being the ruddy one who was looking after the sheep and not one who had gone to serve king Saul in the army!
Depending on which translation you read, different words are used to try and translate these words into our modern English; but all of them refer to David as being mighty or strong at the time. What God was referring to may not have been the present day when David was anointed, but what God would make of him during his time as leader of Israel. It goes on to say this was pointing to the future as David would grow into his position, how he would lead and how he would overcome so many obstacles too.
God is not limited by time or any other worldly limitation we care to impose on Him; no matter how impossible we may think the situation is, nothing is impossible for God! He is not limited to time like we are and certainly does not have to limit His words or thoughts to the timespans we think of when we talk about things.
When God asks something of you, don’t think about the obstacles or the lack of time, rather think about the possibilities which are opened up when God is in control! We really do need to submit to Him in everything – something I have learned the hard way over the years I have spent serving Him, some of which were spent in a pretty rough state in hospital. Ask Him to open you eyes and your heart to the things which are possible, and probably not probable!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you doubt because of lack of time or money?
Will you allow God to open up the improbable possibilities in your life?
January 23: 1 Corinthians 12:12-20
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 12:15
Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.
Devotion:
This section of scripture goes down as far as verse 31, but I think you get the picture after the first few verses… We are all very different. It is not just our finger-prints or our DNA which makes us stand apart from anyone else; God created us to be different in so many ways. The people of Israel had a very different picture to how we look at people nowadays, they were taught they were selected by God to be separate from others.
The more time went on, the more they separated themselves from others; each time they mixed with other people, things started to go wrong… not because they were mixing with others per say, but because they started to live like the other people instead of continuing to live as God wanted them to live. We face this all the time in our modern world, but the more we get involved with the Internet and world-wide travel, the more we realise we are all the same underneath.
But still we are different. God wants us to live differently from the world. He wants us to live with Him at the centre of our lives and not the riches of the world being what keeps us going! Just because we are different from someone else who goes to church, does not mean we will not fit in at that church or with other Christians!
Just because we like to read a different translation of the bible does not set us apart from God any better or worse than other translations. As long as we seek the truth which is God given, we will continue to live for Him and give Him the glory. This is all He asks of us. We are all people in God’s church. One church with Christ at the centre.
Points to Ponder:
Do you see yourself as different from the next church down the road?
Will you turn and give God the glory just like the heavens do?