August 30: Proverbs 25:6-8
Key Verse: Proverbs 25:6
Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among his great men;
Devotion:
I love reading the proverbs, not as an end-to-end book, but one or two snippets and then thinking about what I have read. Some proverbs you read a single verse and think about it, others you read in tandem with other verses to think about the meaning. I have chosen these verses because they have meaning to me, a way of living I learned from my birth mother, and one I continue to see in my new mother.
Humbleness and humility are things we should learn at a very young age and take with us for the rest of our lives. When we turn our backs on those ways, we turn our backs on everything God tries to teach us. Jesus humbled Himself when He came to live amongst us. He took off the mantle of King of Kings and came to us as a servant for us all. It is not our calling to promote ourselves to be by God's side, but our calling to wait and see if God calls us to be by His side. All we need do is to present ourselves to be ready for Him to call.
We can read through our bibles and see words such as 'children of God' and promote ourselves to positions we are not yet worthy of. Yes, Christ died for us all so we can be called children of God, but if we adopt ourselves instead of God adopting us, we fool nobody but ourselves!
We need to depend more on how others see us and not how we promote ourselves. I despair when I see politicians running for office, telling all manner of stories to try and gain votes. If they would stop trying to impress us with words and start to do things to show us their intentions, we could elect the right leaders instead of electing false prophets. Trust your God and wait patiently for Him to call you out.
Points to Ponder:
Do you have an opinion of yourself?
Will you listen to what opinion God has of you instead of making your own story?
August 29: Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Key Verse: Song of Solomon 2:11
See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.
Devotion:
This is one of those romantic and beautiful books in the bible, one which uses some very poetic language to describe the love between two people. When we fall in love, everything changes and we start to see life and most things around us in a very different light; like someone switched on the mood lights instead of the sunshine!
What struck me about these verses is this different way of seeing things around you – much the same as the different way I started to see the world when I got to know Christ. No longer do you look for all the bad things, all the pain and strife; instead you look for the good things and what pleases you. We have a different outlook on life – a positive spin on things. If you think you are in love and you don't get to see the world in a different light, then question whether it is simply infatuation!
The natural world around us can be very daunting but also very beautiful. We can look for all the traps or we can marvel at the amazing things God has done. Just the same, we can look for all the good things in the people around us, or we can focus on the bad and shifty things; our outlook will be tainted by the way we start looking at things... Much like only reading bad reviews of a book before you read it – your outlook will be tainted.
So when you look at the people around you today, consider all the good things as well as the bad things. When we have a real view of the world around us we will be able to move forward with much more confidence than before. If we only focus on the bad we will hide from many aspects of life. If we only focus on the good we will be horrified when we find out the truth. God wants us to go through our lives knowing the truth – which included the fantastic promised He has made to us!
Points to Ponder:
What outlook do you have for today?
Will you try to find 5 good things and 5 bad things to weight things up today?
August 28: 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 4:10
And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,
Devotion:
I think the most important thing Jesus tried to instil on everyone He met was to love one another. He did this through His actions and through His words; everything He did promoted the love He had for others. The disciples continued to reflect on this as they went about their mission of reaching out to the rest of Israel and Paul did this with his helpers by reaching out to everyone around the Mediterranean Sea!
Paul's letters to the people in Thessalonica were as much an encouragement as they were teachings and warnings. He changed his own life and went out to demonstrate the love Christ had for him toward others. He took each area as different people – we are not all the same and we live differently from others. But this does not mean we should leave behind the love for each other – this must be the central thing which binds us all together, just as it binds us to God through Christ.
Jesus taught the people to be diligent in all they did, to be honest and to uphold these things in the face of all things which happened around them. God wants us to live by these same rules, not just the Ten Commandments, but every word which He taught us, every word which is written down for us in our bibles!
The root message was always to love God first and foremost, then to love each other as much as God loves us. The more we get to learn about how much God has done, is doing and has promised to do for us, the more we should realise these are the same values we need to hold dear to our hearts. Allow people to see you are different, not because you are some sort of weirdo, but because you know God on a very personal level.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you think about God's rules?
Will you try to allow others to see you are different, in a good way?
August 27: Psalm 139:7-12
Key Verse: Psalm 139:8
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
Devotion:
One of the things many of us forget about, or just don't think enough about, is how God is always near to us in the form of the Holy Spirit. The psalmist here describes how God is in Heaven away from all sin, but also in the deepest depth we sink to in our lives where people embrace sin. It does not mean He supports our sin, far from it! But it does mean God knows exactly what we are going through.
If we feel like we have sunk to the deepest depth, all we need do is to ask Him for guidance and help. He is waiting patiently for that call and has been for all of our lives. He continues to wait for every one of us even though He knows some of us are not going to come back to Him...
What love that is! He reaches out to us every day with a helping hand and guiding words. If we choose to ignore the hand He reaches out to us with – then we don't receive the help. If we don't follow His guiding words, then we don't receive the help. If we don't ask for the help, how can we expect Him to give us the help!
No matter how dark we think it is, God is the light and will fill our lives with His light if we were to ask. He continues to wait so He can fill our lives with His light – just as He promised us in the beginning. No darkness is too dark when you switch a light on... so why not make that light the light of Jesus in your life!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get down when the lights fade?
What are you waiting for – turn on your Christ light!