Psalm 34:22 The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
How real is your relationship with Christ? How honest are you? How important are you?
When we come to Christ humbly and honestly, He builds a good relationship with us.
Then when we need Him, He knows us and will help us!
Feb 19: Matthew 25:41-46
Key Verse: Matthew 25:43
I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was ill and in prison and you did not look after me.
Devotion:
We often try to put the blame for things going wrong on other people or on world leaders; often the truth about those situations runs much deeper than simply blaming others! When Jesus was teaching people about righteousness, he often took real world examples and turned them on their heads. In this case He takes the real-world example of the poor and needy people in this world and talks as if they are directly linked to Him.
They are! Jesus cares deeply for all people in this world and sees the poor and needy as people who need help. He then looks at us in our semi-privileged positions and sees us as people who have the ability to use what we have to lessen the plight of the poor and needy. This is not Christ saying we need to give up all of our earthly belongings and give them to the poor; well, He is but not in the earthly way we think of it!
Christ’s ways are very different to our ways. When He sees we have plenty He sees the potential we have to share our plenty with the poor and needy. He may simply want us to set an example and show others we have a duty of care to all of His children – because we are all His children. We should be willing to make sure none of God’s children are in need… which can be a very difficult task for us especially when we are being prevented from helping others by people who work against us and against God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you help any charities?
How do you help others in your local church?
Leviticus 19:2 Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
Why do you behave the way you behave in this world? Do you mimic other people?
God does not want us to try and be like other people…
He wants us to be more Christ-like. This means being more righteous because He is righteous!
Mark 1:14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.
One of the things we see in life is: life continues even when bad things happen!
We do get upset when bad things happen and we allow those bad things to cloud our view of life.
If we can look to God in everything instead of focusing on the evil, we will see a whole new way of life in Christ!