Monday 18 Jul 2022

July 18: Matthew 12:38-42

Key Verse: Matthew 12:41
The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.

Devotion:
Sometimes when I read verses like these, I wonder whether the Pharisees and Teachers of the law realised the gravity of what was being said directly to them, or whether they just dismissed it all because it did not agree with what they wanted to hear! I also wonder what they thought after Jesus died, was buried and raised again as He had told them or whether they dismissed it all again because it still did not agree with what they wanted to hear!

We can look back and think how silly they were for not accepting Jesus as their Messiah; we can ask questions about why this and why that – but we were not there at the time and we were not under their rule as were the Israelites at the time!

The more we study what happened, the more we can piece things together and realise what went wrong and when – but if we are going to be honest we will also see how we have strayed away from Jesus’ teaching just because we got carried away with something worldly ourselves!

Jesus wants us to remember the things of old, study the scriptures He has given us and apply them into our lives. It is no use looking back and blaming others or judging other if we are not going to turn away from similar things in our lives. We still do have the people who try to turn us away from Christ just because it does not agree with what they say. We still have the doubters who turn us away because they can convince us of their stories more than we listen to Christ’s teachings...

Points to Ponder:
Are you quick to judge others where they go wrong?

What do you do about things you do wrong?