August 19: Matthew 22:1-14
Key Verse: Matthew 22:12
He asked, “How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?” The man was speechless.
Devotion:
Have you ever tried to turn up to work in your pyjamas or to ball in shorts and t-shirt? I have not done either of those, but I can remember someone telling me I still had my slippers on when I had just started walking to school! If I had turned up for school in my slipper, I’m pretty sure I would have been told off and forced to go home and get my proper shoes on!
But, let's go back to the beginning of the parable where the king sent out invitations to some people for the wedding. These people all made excuses and would not turn up for the wedding. The king sent out more servants to invite more people who also made excuses and some even killed the servants who came to invite them! The king retaliated and burned the towns of those people.
When God sends out the invitation for us to go to Heaven, He does expect us to say yes and to come! If we make up an excuse and don’t turn up, we lose out! But if we start fighting or killing the messengers who are telling us about God’s invitation, then we are fighting directly with God! Then again, if we say yes to the invite but do nothing to change our lives or promote God in any way, we are like the person caught in the wrong clothes!
God may well be loving and merciful, but he is just and expects us to accept Him fully into our lives. If we say we will but do not accept Christ as our Saviour, then He will not be our Saviour and we will not get to be with Him in Heaven.
Points to Ponder:
Have you said yes to Christ being your Saviour?
Have you changed to show you have?
August 18: Matthew 20:1-16
Key Verse: Matthew 20:8
When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.”
Devotion:
This is one of those parables you think of as not being fair – just like the people involved in the story. The landowner hired some people at first light and they were to be paid a certain wage. He then hired some people at noon and even a few more when it came to evening time... His decision was to pay them all the same wage – not an hourly wage according to how long they had worked, but a flat fee because they turned up to do the work!
Can you imagine the dismay for the people who had already been working all day to find out the people who had just joined the workforce were being paid the same amount as them! But, the landowner is the one who can dictate how much people get paid and did so in this case.
Jesus was telling everyone this was what Heaven was going to be like... If someone accepted Christ as their Saviour just moments before their death, they would get the same position in Heaven as a person who had been a good Christian the whole of their lives! What an awesome gift!
What we have to do is to look at it from the “awesome gift” point of view. This is a ultimate gift God is giving us – to be with Him in Heaven after we die. It does not have requirements which have to be met regarding the length of service or the depth of service... it is just service! All we need to do is to say Yes to Christ and be willing to do what He asks, that is all!
Points to Ponder:
How long have you been a Christian?
Will you continue to encourage people right up until the end?
August 17: Judges 6:11-24
Key Verse: Judges 6:12
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.’
Devotion:
How many times have you thought differently about another person than your friends? When we meet other people, we don’t all get exactly the same impression because we change our opinions of others as we get to know them more. We don’t have the same insight God has!
When the angel of the Lord came to meet with Gideon, God had already told the angel what a great warrior this man was going to be. What other people thought of Gideon would probably have been very different if they saw him threshing wheat in a winepress trying to hide it from the Midianites! What Gideon thought of himself was probably not much different from what others would have thought – he knew he was hiding from the Midianites in the wine press!
But what God saw was a man who would be able to serve Him in an amazing manner because he would eventually be willing to listen to God. This is where we would fall down at first just like Gideon. We would not think we could do what God asks because we know ourselves as being the humans we are – with all our faults and shortcomings!
What God saw was what Gideon would be able to become, given the right time, encouragement and space. God is willing to supply our needs so we can serve Him to the best of our abilities... we just need to be willing to listen to God. Yes, it may take a few times of asking just like it did with Gideon, but God is persistent!
Points to Ponder:
What would you do if God called you?
Will you be willing to stop and listen to Him?
August 16: Judges 2:10-15
Key Verse: Judges 2:10
After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.
Devotion:
How many times have you watched someone fail to do a task because they refused to read the manual, or they refused to listen to someone who knew how to do the task? We have probably been there too at some stage; a time when we have failed because we refused to listen to someone else’s advice, or we threw the manual away before reading it!
Israel went through this a few times. Generation after generation tried to pass down the Good News, the scriptures and everything God had done for them... But when things went wrong and a generation was not effective at passing on the information, the people became restless and went after seeking their own desires instead of seeking God. When they did this, the stopped worshipping God and found themselves making up their own gods instead.
Each time God would get upset with them and send dire warnings about what would happen if they did not turn round. Each time they ignored the warnings they would have to face the consequences of their actions – which never went down well! You’d think they would have learned after messing things up the first time, but they did it time and time again... much like we do when we go off the rails!
God wants us to listen to His instruction so we can move forward in a positive and meaningful relationship with Him. Now is the time to stop and listen. Now is the time to follow God instead of inventing our own gods or following after other gods. We need the truth in our lives and we need God by our sides!
Points to Ponder:
How often have you left God behind?
Will you try to take God with you to the next generation?