March 9: Luke 18:9-14

Key Verse: Luke 18:14
‘I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’

Devotion:
I cannot imagine what it would be like to be aware of what people were thinking or feeling all the time! I know we see films made about people who can sense other things or read people’s minds, but they are all science fiction and fantasy for us and for our entertainment. None of us have been given the gifts Jesus had during His life on earth!

I wonder how many times Jesus would stop and tell people a parable and the people around would get more confused instead of hearing the parable as a warning to themselves and their ways! Here Jesus is trying to get the people around Him to be humble before God instead of being overly righteous in their acting – and I say acting because we do that!

Jesus wants us to be honest and humble before Him. He does not want us to be the best and the brightest because He knows we are all broken and in need of a Saviour. He wants us to acknowledge those facts and still come to Him for love and guidance.

The tax collector in His parable here was standing at the back trying not to be noticed as he repented of his ways before God. Why should we shout out about how good or bad we are? We should be loving and supporting one another so we can feel confident in coming before Him with open and repentant hearts.

Points to Ponder:
How good do you think you are?

Will you put that aside and be honest with God?

March 8: Psalm 81:6-10

Key Verse: Psalm 81:8
Hear me, my people, and I will warn you – if you would only listen to me, Israel!

Devotion:
Have you ever tried to sit down and count how many times God warned the people of Israel about only following Him, only worshipping Him and listening to Him? Time and time again God had to warn the people of Israel through prophets, kings and priests. They would listen for a while and then get side-tracked and go off and do strange things!

Nothing much has changed for us nowadays either. We promise to follow God, to listen to Him and to obey Him, then we get side-tracked by the world and by other people. We begin to do things according to what people say instead of listening to God and His instructions. We run off and do things we know in our hearts we should not be doing, just because we think it will be OK this time.

God does not change and His instructions will not change over time. If we cannot follow them in the beginning then we will find it difficult to follow Him at all. If we do follow Him and then go off and do other things, we are making a choice to do that. We are choosing to run off in the other direction which is what God has warned us time and time again about!

I can almost imagine God pulling His hair out and pleading “why will you not listen!” God is the one who has done so much for us from the beginning. He is the one who continues to do things for us, even when we turn our backs on Him at times. He does this because of this great love He has for us. If we can see that we should respect Him and show Him love in return!

Points to Ponder:
Did you follow God at one point?

Will you still follow Him?

March 7: Jeremiah 7:21-26

Key Verse: Jeremiah 7:25
From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets.

Devotion:
How many times do you think God has tried to get through to you? It’s not something many of us will think about because we don’t want to feel guilty for not hearing God! We are living in a world where we have many distractions, temptations and noises drowning out what we should be doing for God!

We can look back at what God went through with the people of Israel and we see the same familiar pattern – mankind not listening to God, God trying harder and harder until mankind falls into their own traps or circumstances built up with nothing more than ignorance by us!

We tend to listen to whatever noise is the loudest and we give in to things which sound more interesting or will pay us more in the end. Yes we are driven by material things and the world is full of material things – so we give in to many earthly items and ways… Not what God is trying to get through to us with :(

God will continue to knock at the door to see if we are going to be willing to open the door. He does not give up on that knocking until the end. At the end it is too late! We have to respond to that knocking too. We cannot leave the knocking and expect God to walk into our lives uninvited: we must invite Him in and open the door to allow Him in!

Points to Ponder:
Are you ignoring the knocking?

Or are you just not opening the door?