January 18: Mark 2:23-28
Key Verse: Mark 2:24
The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?’
Devotion:
When I was a young lad all the shops would be closed on a Sunday and people would spend time with families and have time to themselves, and no it was not that long ago when things changed! But even back then there would be one or two shops which would open for a short while in case of emergencies. One of those shops was my Dad’s pharmacy which would open on a shred rota system for a couple of hours so people could get prescriptions done!
No matter how careful we plan things or how much we try to tell ourselves we will always take a day off every week, we do have to do things every day of the week. I’m not talking about cooking or other necessities because the more people get to want to do things over the weekend, the more some have to step forward and open the places where people want to go.
What Jesus was showing the Pharisees was that everyone had to keep on living – this would mean some people may have to do things on the Sabbath so the majority would not have to work. Things still need to get done. Electricity need to be generated. Food needs to be cooked. And so we continue. But Jesus was also saying we should not be the ones laying down the law just because it is the weekend. We should not exclude people from being able to do things just because it is that one day of the week!
God wants us to be observant and to make sure we put time aside to be with Him each day. He wants us to have a rest day at least once a week. He wants us to observe these things because we need them as human beings – not because it is written in law. We need to be sensible with our time and always include God in our lives. This is what He wants!
Points to Ponder:
How much do you work every week?
How much do you worship ever week?
January 17: Mark 2:18-22
Key Verse: Mark 2:19
Jesus answered, ‘How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them.
Devotion:
Do you feel guilty when another Christian does something extraordinary when you have just done what was expected? Maybe a friend went out of their way to feed a homeless person whilst you simply tosses a coin into their pot. Maybe your friends in church have organised a prayer session and you had to duck out because you had work to do...
There are going to be times in your life when you do feel like you have not done enough because others around you have done more; but God is calling each one of us to do our own things. If He wanted everyone to do the same thing, it would not be extraordinary any more – everyone would be doing it. We may have been created in His image, but each of us is a very special person with our own abilities and our own calling; we may find similar people in our lives, but still we are different.
There are going to be people who call out the rules in church and try to make sure we all follow them without question – saying God has directed us to do so. But there may well be times when God is calling you to do something different than following the rules; but be sure it is God calling you and what He is calling you to do concurs with His Word and His ways.
When God was calling Samuel, Samuel thought it was Eli calling because there were no other people with them. It was only when Eli told Samuel to answer to God he realised who was actually calling Him. We may not hear Gods calling at first because we are too distracted by the world or we cannot think outside the worldly ways. God calls us far a beyond what the world can do. Listen carefully.
Points to Ponder:
Do you think others hear God all the time?
Have you stopped to wait for God to call?
January 16: 1 Corinthians 12:1-6
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 12:4
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.
Devotion:
How many times have you been persuaded to do something which, when you look back on it, was a terrible idea! The more modern technology comes into our lives, the more we seem to give in to scams and to things which we find out, afterward, are just plain wrong! We somehow think, because it is technology, we should believe it and take it for granted it is correct. As a programmer, I can tell you the opposite!
When a programmer makes a stupid mistake in their code, it can be catastrophic for the system; all it takes is for a bad bit of code to completely ruin what seemed like a good idea at the time! When something goes wrong in the code, it can take a very long time to find the fault, but when it is found, you cannot un-see the fault because it now looks obviously wrong! The same goes for our spiritual lives – the more we get involved with something which is wrong, the more it goes wrong and the worse the situation becomes! It is only when you find out what has gone wrong you realise it was not right to start with… but it can take a fair while to spot where you go wrong.
This is why God has given us the bible – so we have a reference point we can compare things to so we can find out what is wrong. If we did not have this reference, we would continue to go down the wrong path and continue to mess up our lives and the lives of the people around us!
God has given each of us some spiritual gifts; whether it is to spot where things go wrong, to help others find their way, to comfort people in troubled times; whatever they are, God has given them to us. We need to compare the gift we think we have with what God describes for us in the bible. If it goes against the bible, it is likely not given to us from God! It may be very difficult to spot right from wrong because the bible does not explicitly describe each personal gift God gives us...
Points to Ponder:
Do you long to have your spiritual gifts on show?
Why not spend time with God asking Him for advice instead of making a big fuss?
January 15: Mark 2:13-17
Key Verse: Mark 2:15
While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
Devotion:
If you are like me and are always tempted to go against the rules and what other people think, then you will love this bit of text from the bible. Jesus saw a large crowd of people were following Him, but did not think twice about asking Levi, a tax collector, to follow Him and learn what God wanted him to hear!
It was little wonder when they went to Levi’s house, a whole bunch of tax collectors and sinner gathered. Levi was both tax collector and sinner and mixed with those types of people – so they came round to see what was going on! When the teachers of the law saw what was happening, they were horrified Jesus was mixing with the “wrong crowd!” But Jesus was doing exactly what God was asking Him to do – to give the sinners the same chance at coming to Him as any other person!
Jesus’ response was to remind them it was these very people who most needed to hear about God and most needed to repent and ask for forgiveness. I say that with tongue in cheek because we all are in the same boat. The wages of sin is death, no matter how big or little we think the sin is. So we all need Christ as much as each other!
You could look at this in two ways. You could say it would be easier for someone who only knows sin to be convicted of the wrong doing and accept Christ than for someone who follows all the rules but does not quite accept Christ as Lord. Or you could look at it in the opposite way as sinners being further from God, hence harder to reconcile. Stop judging!
Points to Ponder:
How much of a sinner do you think you are?
How much do you admit God knows of you?