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March 25: Hebrews 10:4-10
Key Verse: Hebrews 10:9
Then he said, ‘Here I am, I have come to do your will.’ He sets aside the first to establish the second.
Devotion:
I think this is one of the more poignant places in the bible which talks about the end of animal sacrifices in the face of Jesus sacrificing His own life for us. When the people of Israel were taken out of Egypt to follow God’s direction, they had many laws and rules put in place to guide them and to focus their hearts and minds. Is it right God should have set such hard laws, laws which could not possibly be met by mankind?
I put it to you we would never have been convinced if our ancestors would have had an easy life after being in captivity for such a long time. I put it to you God knew what we needed to refocus our minds and hearts. I certainly was not alive in the days when the people of Israel faced such hardships in the desert, so I cannot hope to understand their plight. But what I do understand is having strict rules to follow…
In boarding school we were always told how harsh our lives were by our peers who were not boarding; they could not understand how we put up with the rules and regulations we lived within. What I have learned from those days is that we were much more disciplined and could achieve more without having to be told what to do all the time.
God opened the gates by allowing Jesus to come and lay His life down for us. I fear many people have taken this too lightly and do not have a proper grasp on the seriousness of what Jesus went through. I cannot compare my boarding school life to what Jesus faced, but I can understand the difference between living a life within very strict rules to living a life of freedom and plenty.
Points to Ponder:
Do you have a blessed life?
Will you give some proper thought to what Jesus went through?
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March 24: Jeremiah 7:21-26
Key Verse: Jeremiah 7:23
but I gave them this command: obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.
Devotion:
God spoke very specific words to Jeremiah so he would tell the people the truth about what they were are were not doing in their lives. The people were still in disarray after they left Egypt and their rulers; even though Moses had given them so much direction and confirmation about how God loved them, they still chose to not believe and to not obey. Why? Because they were not facing so much hardship in their lives!
When we face hardships it makes us think about what we are doing and what is happening around us. We tend to see a whole lot clearer; but there are also times when we get lost in our thoughts, in our sorrow and in the feeling we carry around because of this. Jeremiah had the task of opening up the hearts and minds of the people by telling them what God was trying to get through to them.
How frustrating it must be for God when He faces a people who will not listen and will not obey. A people who don’t trust what God is telling them, a people who question everything because they cannot get their hearts and minds around what is happening! God does not necessarily want us to understand everything, but He does want us to listen to Him and obey Him!
God has this plan for each of us and unless we are willing to go along with the plan, we will be fighting against what it is He has planned for us. Sound so simple doesn’t it – but for us it is hard to let go of the worldly things which surround us and to place our full hope and trust in God! This is the task Jeremiah had in front of him – to try and persuade the people what they had been doing wrong and to turn away from their own imaginings and trust God.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you ignore good advice?
Will you try to listen carefully to God’s advice?
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March 23: Matthew 5:17-19
Key Verse: Matthew 5:19
Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practises and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Devotion:
How do you feel about the Old and New Testaments? Do you regard them as opposites, different eras, ancient and new, the old laws and the new laws… Jesus reminds us here He did not come to replace the law, redo the laws, change the laws or anything else as drastic as that! He came to fulfil the scriptures. God gave the scriptures to the prophets and kings during those years so they would pass on those laws to each generation.
Jesus came to finish the scriptures – to make them come to life! He did not come to upturn the laws or to show them to be too old or ancient. He came to show us they are real and they need to be remembered and continue to be passed down from generation to generation. Even though we live in a modern world nowadays, does not mean any of the scriptures have run their course or have come to the end of their life!
Jesus came to show He was the fulfilment of the scriptures. He came to bring them to life by showing people He lived by them and He upheld them. He continues here in these verses to remind us we need to carry on upholding the scriptures. They don’t tell us of an age which should be forgotten, but an age where mankind tried his best to fulfil them, only to find out we can not do that by ourselves. We do need Jesus as the fulfilment of the laws so we can move forward instead of being caught up in laws we cannot hope to keep!
We are sinners and we need someone or something to be the sacrifice for our sins. God started telling us He did not want to continue having to accept innocent animals as the sacrifice because Jesus would be the perfect and permanent sacrifice for all of us. This is why we need to continue on and tell people about this good news. We need to try our best to keep and commandments and not just to try and remember them! This is what God wants!
Points to Ponder:
Do you break the rules now and again?
Do you accept Christ as the sacrifice for your sins?
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March 22: Matthew 18:21-22
Key Verse: Matthew 18:21
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’
Devotion:
Do you take what your friends tell you as the absolute truth and do exactly what they say you should be doing? No, I don’t think any of us do; but that does not mean we don’t trust our friends or we don’t obey them… When Jesus was talking to Peter, He made a point of telling Peter to forgive many more times than he expected from Him. If Peter had taken that literally, he would have gone around telling people about this new measurement of mercy.
If Peter had done that he would be teaching others mercy can be measured and everyone would have been sidetracked into doing things in earthly ways instead of showing true mercy and forgiveness! Jesus does not want us to keep a measure of how many times we are willing to forgive. He does not want us to measure it at all because that would not be showing people love!
Jesus’ instruction was to show Peter there should not be a measure to love by; love should be a commitment to live with and forgive. The love I am talking about here is not the love two people have for each other in a relationship, but the love Jesus wants us to show everyone. If we try to measure the love, we are not focusing on the love but the measure of what we are calling love.
I do find it hard to stop showing people love nowadays because I experienced a whole new level of love when I was in hospital: the love the doctors and nurses had for me in trying to get me better. Yes it was their job to care for me, but in doing so they often went further than the requirements to try and give me hope and something to aim for in the future. This is the love we should be sharing with each other!
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to compare your love with others?
Will you break down the barriers and love without measure?
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March 21: Psalm 42:1-3
Key Verse: Psalm 42:3
My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’
Devotion:
Maybe you know the words of the first verse as a worship song from the late 80’s or early 90’s. I can recall worship leaders in the late 90’s singing these words and even singing it in youth clubs a few decades ago – but the words in the rest of this Psalm are just as important when we start to look at what they mean.
Whilst these words may make you think of beautiful scenes of deer drinking from the waters edge, I come from a country where the buck would have to walk a long way to reach water at a watering hole because the rivers were not much good or too far away. The animals would walk for miles to get to the water and then have to be on a constant look-out for the predators which would be waiting for them to come there!
In our lives we may well see the watering hole as being a church or other group where we can gather – what we don’t think about is the evil one who is lurking close by to try and trap us before we get the water we need. No matter how much safety we see and how much goodness and righteousness we see, there will always be evil lurking in the wings.
We need to constantly look to God for our protection so we will not be ambushed by the evil one as we try to draw close to God. It is no coincidence the evil one will be lurking just when you think you may be getting close to safety. But, God is always willing and able to protect us when we ask Him to stay close to us. When we are willing to draw close to God and stick with Him, He is able to protect us and to guide us so we don’t get ambushed! Don’t be discouraged by someone lurking in the shadows and trying to tell you God cannot protect you – they don’t know God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen too much to the worldly chatter?
Will you listen closer to God and obey His guidance?
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March 20: Luke 13:1-9
Key Verse: Luke 13:4
Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?
Devotion:
When we see something bad happening to bad people, we probably think “they had it coming!” But, when we see bad things happening to good people we tend to think “how could something bad happen to them!” We allow our judgment of the people around us influence what we think should or should not happen to them. The truth is we all have a chance at bad things happening to us no matter where we are in life.
But when we stay close to God, we have a good chance of goods things happening… if we are willing to stop and listen to God. It does not matter what we have in our pasts, we all will end up in the same physical position to the people around us; how we view the circumstances will make us think about things in a different light than the person standing next to us!
When we don’t listen to God and go about things in our own selfish ways, we can expect the same things to happen to us as with people who don’t listen to their leaders. God allowed His Son to come and give us a way of having our sins forgiven once and for all; but if we are not willing to believe this or to accept it, then we should not expect our sins to be forgiven even if we are hanging out with Christians and going to church!
Jesus made sure the people knew how just God is; no matter how much we go to church, sacrifice for ourselves, do good things or any other acts, if we do not believe Jesus came to pay for our sin debt on the cross, then we should not expect anything more than the non-believers and sinners around us! And, just because things don’t go right the first time round, does not mean we should give up and do earthly things instead. God may be waiting for us to be patient and show our belief...
Points to Ponder:
Do you judge others by what they do?
Will you allow God to guide you in your choices?
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March 19: Matthew 3:13-17
Key Verse: Matthew 3:17
And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’
Devotion:
What do you do when God asks you to do something? How do you know God is asking you to do something? To many, these seem like hypothetical questions because they don’t see how an unseen God can ask anything of us when we are surrounded by the noise of this world!
John was doing what God had asked of him; going to the river and teaching people about repentance and baptism. He continued to do so whatever he faced. He knew Jesus would come and baptise people in the Holy Spirit instead of just water like he was, but he knew this is what God was asking him. John was willing to stop and listen for God. He did not rush into everything and do what the world shouted most for; he took time out and listened to hear what God was asking.
When Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John, He was doing so because this was what was required. John heard what Jesus said and listened to Him. John knew this was a symbolic baptism because Jesus was the Son of God. John knew there was nothing he could do on earth which would make Jesus any better; but he still listened and obeyed!
This is what God requires of us, to stop listening to the world around us and to focus on what He is saying. This may take time because we are so distracted by the world, but God is trying to get through to us all the time. When John was obedient, he, and all the people there, were rewarded by hearing God declare Jesus to be His own Son and they saw the Spirit of God come down and rest on Jesus like a dove landing on Him. Listen and watch for the rewards.
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to God?
Will you stop listening to the world and focus on God to hear Him clearly?
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March 18: Matthew 21:33-39
Key Verse: Matthew 21:38
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.”
Devotion:
Have you ever thought about what you are doing with everything God is giving you? This may sound like a bit of a mute question if you are thinking God is not giving you anything… so let’s consider if you are being given anything by God!
When we look at our lives, we view them through the eyes of a human from earth – because we are human and we live on earth! But to God it is very different because He is viewing everything as one picture and not taking each physical object and analysing it in relation to what other people have or are taking. Our view is limited to what we can see, hear, taste, feel or experience in some manner.
If we take a step back and consider all the things we have in our lives, we can then try to figure out where they have come from, who has allowed them to be there and why do we have what we have when others may be missing out, or why do we miss out when others have so much! God chose for us to be here at this time and He supplied a whole world around us – what we have chosen to do has affected us and what we have ended up with. Some of those choices may have been taken by others around us and we had no control on them, but others we have actively chosen.
Now consider God knows everything and has tried to put us in the right place at the right time to gain what He wants us to have – our choices may have prevented that from happening, or have allowed us to have some very special things and people in our lives. What are you doing with the world around you which is affecting what God can give you?
Points to Ponder:
Do you actively work for things?
Have you made sure God was in the choices you made?
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March 17: Matthew 20:20-28
Key Verse: Matthew 20:26
Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant
Devotion:
Have you been in a place of work or an organisation where the people who knew the right people seemed to get the better positions or jobs to do? I am sad to admit I have been in far too many jobs where this still goes on, but when you find a job where they truly look at the work you do and not who your parents were or what sort of car you drive, then you will be a whole lot happier to work for them!
When the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus to try and get her sons in positions of authority or social standing, Jesus was quite straight with her – it is God’s choice where they should be and not anything to do with the physical world or friends of friends etc. Jesus wants each person to get the respect they deserve and not what they can pay for!
Although the young men had been brought up to think they could be righteous people, Jesus warned them they would have to be willing to give just as He gave, to live as He lived and to be humble in doing any of it! Their mother, on the other hand, wanted a favour for her sons rather than them earning their positions in life. Whilst we cannot blame the mother for wanting the best for her sons, they were learning Jesus is Just and does not give in to social standings.
If we want to have any position in our churches, we should be willing to work from the bottom and not to jump in at the top just because we went to university or because our parents had positions in church. Each of us should be willing to serve the community and the church people before we can expect anything from them. Jesus came to serve His Father by being willing to serve mankind in any way possible.
Points to Ponder:
Do you expect rewards in life?
Are you willing to give rewards first?
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March 16: Matthew 20:17-19
Key Verse: Matthew 20:18
We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death
Devotion:
Have you ever faced a certain end? I’m not talking about facing a certain death, but any outcome which was certain to happen… We tend to over-react when things are not going well and many of us will only see the negative outcome ahead; if you are of a more optimistic outlook, then you may see the hope you have in a positive outcome and aim for that goal instead of the horrors which can await you.
Sometimes we are faced with very difficult decisions to make because we are facing outcomes which are bad on all fronts. But, ever the optimist, I will always try to see the way forward which gives me the most hope; and, yes, I know that can be annoying to others people who don’t get to see the hope I see in most things, but there is always hope.
Jesus outlined the terrible things He was going to have to face. He knew this was all going to happen in Jerusalem, yet He still wanted to go there – knowing this was the way forward which would bring the hope we need in our lives. He knew of the terrible things he would have to face, but he also knew of the terrible things which we faced if He did not step forward! That is the love He has for us – He stepped forward knowing what He was facing!
He knew He would be raised from the terrible death He was facing. He knew this was the way He could be our perfect sacrifice so we would not have to carry on making sacrifices for ever sin we committed. But, in order for Him to be our perfect and final sacrifice, we do have to step forward with humble and contrite hearts, admitting to the sins we have done and asking Christ to be our Saviour to cover those sins with His blood.
Points to Ponder:
Do you face any horrible things in your life at the moment?
Will you admit them to Christ and ask Him to intervene on your behalf?