September 7: Leviticus 3:1-5
Key Verse: Leviticus 3:1
If your offering is a fellowship offering, and you offer an animal from the herd, whether male or female, you are to present before the Lord an animal without defect.
Devotion:
How can this apply to us nowadays when we are all starting to concentrate on animal welfare and other things like climate change? Valid question... But is your question holding you back from offering true worship to God? We tend to get hung up on all sorts of things now with all the latest fads and trends we see in our modern societies.
Let us turn back the clock a bit to the time when this was commanded by the Lord. Raising animals would have been these people's lives – they did not have to worry about whether their car would make it through another road test or whether their shed would stand up to the next big storm... these are modern problems and not something they would have thought of.
Instead they would focus on what matters to them at that time: their herds, their crops and their lives. This is why the focus was on animal sacrifices then. What would be the modern equivalent now? Would it be your bank account, your possessions, your vast wardrobe, your amazing shoe collection, or your bank of computers doing bitcoin mining?
God is calling us out, not to give up on the things we have built up, but to be willing to give up the best one if we are called to do so. I love building up PCs and giving them away to people who need them. I love doing the work I do for reduced rates because I know it is helping those who need to be helped. I love doing sound at church because I know it helps the hard of hearing to join in the service.
Points to Ponder:
What do you love doing?
Are you willing to do it within your church?
September 6: Luke 6:12-16
Key Verse: Luke 6:16
Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Devotion:
One thing we can be sure of about God is He will choose the right people for the right job at the right time. We may not agree with the decision God has made. But then again we don't know the big picture. We are limited to what we can see and hear and we don't quite get things we cannot yet see or hear yet... It does not mean those things are not there and are not real – it's just we have not yet understood how they can be true!
God chose these twelve disciples to be apostles – He even chose Judas! But why did He choose Judas if He knew he would betray Him in the end? Jesus knew this is what the Father wanted – not what He wanted as a human, but what the Father wanted. God knows what is best all the time!
Just because we don't get it does not mean it is not right. Just because we don't want something, does not mean we should not accept what is actually right for us at the right time! Sometimes it is hard to accept the things we don't understand, especially when all we see is hurt and pain... God sees the result, the long term result, the result which counts in the end.
When God calls you out to stop doing something, or He calls you to come forward to do something – accept it and move forward with Him because He is calling out the right play at the right time. We don't have to understand everything. We don't have to like everything all the time. But what we should be doing is accepting what God calls out and obeying Him in our lives.
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to God?
Will you finally accept what he is calling you out to do?
September 5: Mark 9:30-32
Key Verse: Mark 9:32
But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
Devotion:
Has this sort of thing ever happened to you? A friend says something which has happened or is about to happen and you just don't want to believe it can be true! I know this has happened a few times to me – something I don't wish on anyone. How you handle the situation and what you do can shape your life...
If we try to put this thing out of our minds and move on without it affecting us, we may well have to continue dealing with this for a long time to come. We go back to this time in our lives and we think about how we could have handled it differently – how we could have done things better. If we are not careful we allow those thoughts to affect our lives – sometimes for the worse.
God wants us to live our lives. Sometimes that is going to be by accepting the things we cannot change and sometimes it is going to be by changing the things we do not like. Whichever way, we should be doing this with God and listening to Him for our daily guidance; this way we can at least know we are being pushed in the best direction and not into a trap which will stick with us forever.
Sometimes when we don't understand something, or we don't want to accept something, the best way forward is going to be to talk about it with someone else – someone whom we trust. If you have a friend who fits that bill, then go to them and start talking. If you don't think much of the people around us, then go to God and start talking... and listening... He will guide you towards the right person at the right time.
Points to Ponder:
Who do you go to when things go wrong?
Will you trust Christ a bit more today?
September 4: Luke 6:1-5
Key Verse: Luke 6:3
Jesus answered them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
Devotion:
Have you ever read passages like this in the bible and wondered why Jesus was not doing what the Old Testament law said? Why was He doing something which teachers of the law would question? It's not a case of reading between the lines and saying we can break certain laws nowadays because Jesus showed us we can, or trying to re-structure the law to fit in with what Jesus did instead of what the Old Testament scriptures said...
The answer is far simpler than this. Jesus showed compassion over and above what people would recognise. The Pharisees and other teachers of the law were teaching how people should always follow the law no matter how hard it was to do so. This would often mean people were being let down, rejected, refused and even punished because they had followed the law.
Jesus was teaching the disciples about love and mercy, two things which must be taken into account always. How else can we expect to love our neighbour if we are not going to follow the line of compassion? Jesus wanted the disciples to learn this so they would teach it to others as well.
David had shown compassion to his companions when they had nothing to eat, save what had already been offered as a sacrifice. He knew God would not refuse his companions a bite to eat even though the law deemed it not right to do so. This is the love he had learned from God and was trying to show his people – unfortunately he did not always get it right. And nor will we always get things right...
Points to Ponder:
Do you always follow the rules no matter what?
Are you willing to show love and mercy above and beyond?