26 September: Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:8
Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 11:9
Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the inclination of your heart and the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgement.
Devotion:
What do we, as Christians, mean when we say that God wants us to enjoy ourselves? Do we mean we can go out and do anything just because we are Christians, or does it mean we live a very limited life where we are not allowed to sin or do anything wrong?
Well, it is somewhere in between all of that. God certainly does want us to enjoy ourselves, but he has warned us through what has happened to believers in the past. He wants us to be sensible and to continually show others we are not of this world but we belong to God.
This does mean we should be showing people through our actions that we follow God's commandments by loving one another in a way which reflects the love of Christ for us.
When we do go off the rails, like every human being does, we also have to live up to the consequences of our actions. But when we do things against God, we should expect him to react a bit more than he would for any other person!
Points to ponder:
Do you make sure you live like Jesus is walking with you?
What would you do differently if he was walking with you?