July 7: Matthew 6:1-4
Key Verse: Matthew 6:4
so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Devotion:
How many times have you done something just to be noticed by others? I know when I was growing up in junior school, I used to get up to all sorts of things just so I would be noticed! I did work out it was not getting me anywhere, but the temptation was always there to do something to be noticed. I like to think I am different nowadays, but I know if the temptation is too great, I may well give in!
But this is where God can help us in our lives. If we are willing to make Him a bigger part of our lives and do things to please Him instead of the world – we will get a lot more out of things and even find we have more strength to resist those temptations which come our way.
God wants us to stop trying to do things to help ourselves and to start doing things which are going to help others. This is what Jesus came to teach us face to face; how to be better people by loving others! The only reward we are going to get from doing things for ourselves is that – what we get out of doing things. But when we start doing things to please others, we not only get to please others and ourselves, but we are helping them and pleasing God too. For this, our reward will be in Heaven!
So let us stop trying to make things bigger than they are. Let us stop trying to make ourselves look better than we are. Let us stop making big of the small things in life. Let us, instead, make more of other people and show them God’s love through what we can do for them. Let us show others we are willing to be servants just like Jesus came to be a servant for us. Let us take the small things in life and share them with everyone!
Points to Ponder:
Do you build things up when you tell others about them?
Will you try telling God’s truth instead?
July 6: Ezekiel 2:3-8
Key Verse: Ezekiel 2:7
You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.
Devotion:
Do you like speaking to people who don’t bother to listen? I’m pretty sure we all can agree on thinking it is not worth speaking to people who are not going to listen! But notice what God is saying to Ezekiel here – and this goes for the rest of us too. God wants us to step forward and tell people about Him even though we know some people are not going to listen!
Why would God ask us to do something we think is going to be futile? He is telling us this because He promised us the whole world will be given the chance to listen to His Word and make up their own mind whether we believe in Him or not... But if we are not willing to tell other people, how will they get to hear about Him?
We are all part of God’s plan and we should be willing to step up and do our part for Him when He calls us. Sometimes that is going to see futile. Sometimes it is going to see like harder work than we can do... But He alone knows what is possible and what we are capable of – He alone knows what is best for us and the people around us.
God asked Ezekiel to step forward amongst a people who were actively rejecting God! He asked him to step into what could be described as a pit of scorpions! Now I am thankful He does not ask all of us to do this – otherwise many of us would never end up talking to anyone – especially to our friends and relative... amongst whom will be the hardest people to talk to because they think they know us better than God!
Points to Ponder:
Are you willing to listen to God?
Will you still listen if it sounds like hard work?
July 5: Mark 6:7-13
Key Verse: Mark 6:8
These were his instructions: ‘Take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.
Devotion:
When Jesus went out village to village, He did not just carry on doing the same things, teaching, healing, praying... He laid the ground for the disciples to go out and start to learn to do the same thing by themselves. Jesus knew He was not going to be around forever with the disciples, so He made sure they were prepared for the work which they had to carry on with.
He also knew they would face the same uphill tasks as He had to face whilst around their own friends and family – so they went to new places to meet new people and carry on God’s work there. This did not mean they went to the other side of the world to teach others, but they were not in their home towns.
Jesus taught them they would have to face new challenges because of this. They would have to seek out the people in the new communities who would accept them and give them space to do God’s work. It would not be very productive if they were to get opposition whatever they tried to do, so finding people who would support and encourage them would be a good starting point.
When we go forward to try and do what God wants us to do – we are going to have to find people in the communities who will support the work we know God is asking of us. It is not always going to be easy either – so Jesus was sending out the disciples with little else but what they had with them so they would have to depend on the support of the communities. Being in a vulnerable position is probably going to get you accepted quicker than I you went in with all guns blazing...
Points to Ponder:
Do you rush in and try take thing over normally?
Will you let God guide you and depend more in others?
July 4: Mark 6:1-6
Key Verse: Mark 6:4
Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honour except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.’
Devotion:
Jesus must have felt distraught with the lack of faith of the people He grew up with... On one hand you can relate to this – if you grew up with a person, would you believe them if they said they were the Son of God? But, equally, they should have recognised there was something very different between Jesus and the rest of them; not just because He could perform miracles...
When we chose to have Jesus in our lives, we should be choosing to make a very different place for Him to be with us than we had before in our lives. He wants us to see how vastly different it is to be with Him than to be with the world. God wants us to be separated from the world – not hiding away from it, but choosing to be different from it!
When Jesus was amongst the people He grew up with, they did nothing different from what they had always done – including being part of the world. They did not change their lives to be more like His; they did not change their lifestyles to be more in line with God’s ways... This meant they had prejudice against what Jesus could do – not that they wanted this prejudice, it was just natural for them!
When we are too stuck in the world and its ways, we take away from Christ because we are showing others we do not have faith in Him. This is not a blind faith, but one we have grown up with and one which we need to cultivate with Him by our sides.
Points to Ponder:
Do you walk you own way in life?
Will you invite Jesus to walk with you?