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January 24: Psalm 40:6-10
Key Verse: Psalm 40:6
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire – but my ears you have opened; – burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.
Devotion:
These are the words the disciple spoke of when he was writing to the Hebrew people about what Jesus had said. This was a reminder they had had the truth written down for all these years – the truth given to them by God through the prophets. Yet we choose to ignore words like these when it does not seem to fit in our current situations...
God has given us His word and made sure these words were written down, we saved, were foretold and retold to try and bring it home they are the truth. Yet mankind continues to choose his own words and his own interpretations of the words he reads. God wants us to know the truth and to believe the truth as He has given it to us. I’m not going to get into an argument about which version of the bible is more accurate or which one we should us because mankind is still studying God’s Word!
Until mankind believes the words and writes them down as law, we are all still going to argue about what is right and wrong. It is a choice we have to make and one which will change our lives when we make the choice. Once you make the choice you will strive to learn more and understand more in whatever language or style or writing you choose to do so – you should try to find the truth plain and simple.
God does not want us to get hung up in arguing with each other because that has all been done and mankind argued so much they made up their own rules about what people should do for God. This is one of the reasons why Jesus came – to get rid of all the rules mankind has created and to try and go back to the simple truth from God!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you think about what you read in the bible?
Are you willing to allow God to explain it to you?
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January 23: Hebrews 9:24-28
Key Verse: Hebrews 9:28
so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Devotion:
When I look back at the history of Israel in the Old Testament I wonder how people could make sacrifices like they did and think that was normal in any way; yet that is what life was like back then. As history goes by societies change and people make new rule and laws to live by. The more mankind lives on, the more we should be making life better for all – at least that should be our collective goal.
Unfortunately life does not always go that simply because we have bad things in our history. A couple of the things which continue to be in the news are racism and sexism; both of which segregate people from others based on their physical differences. This is not how God wants us to live. He wants us to love our neighbours and that means living together in harmony and not fighting each other.
What these verses boil down to are the things which separate us from God, our sins. God cannot abide sin and so we cannot take it with us when we want to be with Him. He wants us to leave it behind and to come before Him and people who have not sinned. This makes our lives a bit difficult because we have so much sin behind us.
So, God gave us a way we can come to Him as if we have never sinned before. The only way was for someone who has not sinned to take out place when it comes to receiving the punishment. Jesus willingly stepped forward to be in our place because He loves us so much. He does not have to do this over and over again for each person or for each of the things we do wrong, He did it once and for all as a perfect way of cancelling all of our sins.
Points to Ponder:
Do you carry the burden of sin around with you?
Will you ask Jesus to take your sin debt away?
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January 22: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 1:12
What I mean is this: one of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.’
Devotion:
How do you define your position in church? Which church do you go to? Who do you most relate to in church? How did you get to know Christ? Are you baptised, christened, confirmed, saved, and any other terms you may describe yourself by...
Modern Christians seem to try and defined themselves by some of the things listed above by saying the belong to a particular church or religion. We like to say we go to a church which is popular, big or exciting in some way… but how many of us will simply say we have a relationship with Christ and not care about any of the other details. I know I have been entrapped in some of those arguments before and even had arguments with family members about what made me different…
God does not want us to be separated by definitions which do not include Him in the middle. He does not want us to be separated from the rest of the church body just because we relate to a particular religion as defined by the populace at large! God wants us to be close to Christ and that is all. Why should we allow the world to dictate our relationship with Him when the world at large doesn’t want to know Him to begin with!
Arguments can be said about christening, baptising, confirmation and other religious rights both for and against – but I think it should be something between the person who is going through the right and Christ Himself. If someone wants to be able to demonstrate their love for Christ by doing something about it, then they should be able to do so. If someone wants a quite and personal relationship with Christ and nothing more, then let them do it… Don’t be defined by the world; allow Christ to define who you are!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you follow?
Not on social media… who do you follow with your heart and soul?
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January 21: Mark 3:20-21
Key Verse: Mark 3:20
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.
Devotion:
How far do you go to allow people to commune with God? How far are you willing to change so that the people around you can be closer to God?
When we go through the New Testament, especially the Gospels, we find a whole new way of allowing people to meet with God. Jesus allowed people to get closer to God even when the authorities would frown at what He was doing. The teachers of the law would get very upset with Him because He was allowing some very strange people to get close to God; they, on the other hand, ran a very closed society in which they did not want anyone who did not fit in their description to get close to God! How are we supposed to get people to know God unless we open our doors to them!
In this passage, the crowd was essentially trapping them in the house they entered. They could not get out and did not even have enough room to have a meal. I don’t like crowds at the best of time nowadays – I didn’t mind them in my university days, but not now. I prefer to have some room to do my own thing… but in doing that I will inadvertently exclude some people from getting to know God, so I have to continually think about what I am doing…
The more we act like a disciple, the more we are going to face the wrath of the world! There are people out there who will be upset because we dare to tell them God exists. There are people out there who will be upset because we dare to invite sinners into our lives. We will not be able to please man and God at the same time – so stick with trying to please God and allow Him to work things out for you in other ways!
Points to Ponder:
Do you aim to please others?
Do you aim to please God?
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January 20: Mark 3:13-19
Key Verse: Mark 3:19
and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Devotion:
What sprung to mind when I thought about these words was the picking of teams when I was a youngster in junior school. I was never one of the first ones to be picked for some games because I was certainly not good with some sports or games! So being picked as one of the “best of the worst” came as normal sometimes. We could look at this point in our bibles and wonder if Jesus ended up picking the “best of the worst” but this was not the case.
God had already made up His mind about who should be picked and who was going to betray Jesus in the end. This all needed to happen according to God’s plan in order for His love to be shown to us all; and that included picking someone who was going to betray His only Son!
When God asks us to do something for Him, it may not always sound like the best plan in our minds or even a good plan at all, but we should be willing to listen and obey at all times. I know I have answered His call on some occasions when I was quite sure I would not be able to handle the situation or whether it was a good idea at all – but when we look back on all the things which happened at that time and see why He asked us to do things, we will always be able to see the good which came out of it in the end.
God knows what is best for us all and He alone has to make the difficult decisions to pick the best team to do the job. This may not seem like the best team from our point of view and it may not seem like it is right sometimes, but we must listen carefully to God and obey Him when He asks!
Points to Ponder:
Do you find it difficult to obey God?
Have you tried simply listening to Him?
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January 19: Hebrews 7:23-28
Key Verse: Hebrews 7:27
Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
Devotion:
Jesus was known by many names; some being our shepherd, our king, and her, our high priest. Each of these titles is an earthly title given to try and add more to what Jesus was to all of His people. We see Him as our shepherd because He looks after us like a shepherd looks after the sheep. We see Him as our King because He holds the highest position in our lives. And here we see Him as our high priest because He is the one who make sure God is going to forgive us of our sins!
Now normal high priests would have to offer sacrifices for people’s sins and also offer sacrifices for their own sins – they were not blameless and could not ask for forgiveness of our sins until they had squared their own sin debt first! Jesus, on the other hand, did not have to offer sacrifices for His own sins because He did not sin! So why did Jesus offer the sacrifice of His own life?
This is the most important step we need to remember and the step which sets Him apart from all other high priests in our history. Jesus did not sin, therefore He was perfect. He was the ultimate lamb without a blemish! So offering His own self for our sins was the ultimate sacrifice to offer. That is how much God thinks of us!
Each high priest throughout history has had sins which they have had to ask God’s forgiveness for before seeking forgiveness for our sins. Each high priest has had issues in their own lives. Now, whilst they had done everything God asked of them to gain forgiveness, Jesus did not have to offer anything for His own sins – He simply offered everything for our sins instead!
Points to Ponder:
What would you give to gain forgiveness from others?
Have you thanked Christ for what He did for you?
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January 18: Mark 3:1-6
Key Verse: Mark 3:3
Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, ‘Stand up in front of everyone.’
Devotion:
Have you ever had to give a lecture or some other talk to a group of people? During my years at high school we started to have to learn how to get up in front of others a give an address of some sort with confidence; it’s a hard thing to do when you are looking in the face of a whole crowd of people, be it peers or strangers… The same was done in university where each of us had to stand up and talk for several minutes about a technical subject...
Talking to others about work or design of various kinds did not seem to phase me, but when, much later as an adult I had to stand up in front of a small group of teenagers and talk about Christ… well, that was nerve-wracking! But if we want to be a witness for Christ then we do have to stand up in front of others and be that witness. That may be a nightmare scenario for many of us, however being a witness does not have to be standing up in front of others and talking about things… Sometimes God just wants us to stand there so others can see what He is doing in our lives!
During this account Jesus was almost on trial by the temple elders. They had it in their minds they had to stop this person from saying they were the Messiah and to prove that they would try to trap Jesus into doing “work” on the Sabbath. What they defined as work and what God thinks work is are two very different things. Jesus wanted to share His love and mercy even on the Sabbath!
We could argue all sorts of things which should or should not be done on the Sabbath, or we can share in God’s love no matter what day or time it is. Jesus did not work according to the clock or the calendar, Jesus worked all the time as a witness of the truth; He wants us to be willing to do the same, to be His witnesses at all times!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get scared about doing something?
Will you try to simply show the truth?
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January 17: Hebrews 6:10-15
Key Verse: Hebrews 6:12
We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Devotion:
I wonder how many times you have done work without getting payment for it? A lot of the time we do work with and form friends and family without asking or expecting payment, but we do get ‘paid’ through other means than monetary gain – maybe they cook us a meal or just enjoy time together.
We should have the same attitude with God; we should not expect to get paid for the work we do with and for God because we should be doing it for the love He has already shared with us. Even so, when we do things for God they do not go unnoticed by Him. He will return the favour by doing something for us, probably in the most unexpected ways!
We should not grow weary because we have not been paid for God’s work; Jesus was the example by which we should try to live. He went out to do God’s work and did not expect to be paid for it. Instead He went out knowing God would love Him and allow Him to continue doing the work through other means. Jesus accepted meals and support from those people around Him, many of which were not Christians as we know them, but simply people seeking the truth.
If we are able to be effective disciples for Christ, He will make sure we can continue to be those disciples through supporting us in love and other ways. When God told Abraham he would be the father of a great nation, it was not and empty promise but one which He kept in unexpected ways. Abraham and Sarah expected to have many children of themselves, but God’s promise came through the generations of people which followed from Abraham and Sarah.
Points to Ponder:
Do you expect God to give you things?
Have you tried just doing the work and not expecting anything in return yet?
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January 16: Hebrews 5:5-6
Key Verse: Hebrews 5:5
In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’
Devotion:
Have you ever wondered who chooses priests or church leaders? I put it to you that if they have been chosen by man, then that is all they are, people chosen by man; but if they have been chosen by God to serve, then God will give them everything they need to fulfil that role He has chosen them for!
Jesus was chosen by God, not because He needed to be chosen by God but because people needed to be told the truth so they would believe. Jesus knew everything from the beginning and knew what had to be done. His human side would probably get in the way all the time but He chose to listen to God and obey Him at ever opportunity, that is why He was so effective at everything He did – because God was leading Him every step of the way.
This was chosen long before Jesus came to be with us. It is recorded in the Psalms of David, another man who willingly listened to God and obeyed Him. The difference between Jesus and David was David did not always listen because he chose to do things his own way at times instead of listening to God. We have the same issues in our lives where we think we know better and we go off to do our own thing instead of listening to God.
If we choose to listen to God properly, He will be able to guide us properly and we will be able to do more for Him. It is a choice we have to make for ourselves but one which has implications far greater than what we think!
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to God?
Do you obey God?
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January 15: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 1:7
Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
Devotion:
How often do you take on board good instructions and follow them to the end? How often do you succeed only because you have followed the instructions faithfully? Why should this be any different from following the instructions God has given us to make the most of our lives and those around us!
Paul was an incredible witness for God; not only was he changed in a very big way, but he continued to spread the gospel far and wide telling as many people about Christ as he could. He did not start off like that because he was one of the people who would go around working against God and working for what they thought was the church back then.
We have to be very wary of who we work for too. It should not be the organisation we call a religion or other corporate bodies; we should be working as Christ directs us and continuing to uphold the gospel truth in whatever we do. This is what made Paul such a success – we willingly set aside things to step up and listen to God’s instructions and to obey them no matter what would happen.
The amount of people he was able to reach during his life is quite staggering, but the amount of people he continues to reach because of the words written down by him is even more impressive. God wants us to be able to spread the gospel in new ways. There is something to be said about social media and the likes because it reaches new people in ways not done before – but we have to be wary we do not fall into the trappings of the world instead of spreading the gospel truth!
Points to Ponder:
How do you like to tell people about God?
Do you know God chose you?