August 3: Matthew 15:1-2
Key Verse: Matthew 15:2
‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!’
Devotion:
How many things do you do in your life just because your friends do them or your parents did them or because so many other people do them? We all do like to follow what other people do, whether it is so we fit in with the crowd, or so we can have things in common with others – but how many things do we do because we want to do them or even better still, how many things do we do because God has asked us to?
There are things we do just because we have been taught that way. I can remember growing up in school and doing things just because we were taught to – not by our teachers, but by friends at school or by parents of friends. Then there were the history lessons which we were taught which turned out to be far from the truth; just because the government wanted us to think a certain way. This is probably why I have a very low opinion of governments!
I am thankful to people like one of my uncles who stood up against the government and told the truth. People like that who have opened up my eyes in the past. I now try to have an objective view on what others say and do – which means I tend to spot when people are not telling me the truth. I wonder what it was like for Jesus who knew when people were going to lie to Him, deceive Him or even try to entrap Him.
Jesus wants us to listen out for the truth and follow that truth. He came and told us the truth all the time. He uncovered many lies and dishonest people during His ministry – not to show them up, but to try and get them to think about how much damage they were doing by not telling the truth...
Points to Ponder:
Do you just do what others do?
Will you stand up and listen to God’s truth?
August 2: Ephesians 4:7-16
Key Verse: Ephesians 4:16
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Devotion:
Have you ever wondered why Jesus chose the disciples which he chose? Why were they not all the same? Why were they not all priests or priests in learning? Why were they the local lads? Christ chooses a wide range of people to do the things they do. He chooses people to be the apostle, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, but He also chooses the work people who do the physical jobs...
We need a wide range of people to work together to form a community. We don’t need a police force who will tell us ever step we need to make. We don’t need an army to bully us into doing things. We don’t need rich people to pay for everything... We need a wide range of different people all with very different skills to come together and work as one body!
Jesus chose the disciples based on what he knew they would become and what they could do – even though they did not know it yet! Jesus continues to choose people to work for and with Him. Some of those people will raise your eyebrows and some may even make you run in the opposite direction... But when you get to see what they can do for God, then you will see why God chose them!
I am say I have met a whole range of people who do some serious work for God. They take the name of Jesus with them in ways you would not think possible. They reach out to the people who make you run the other way. They know they are not good enough, but they know that with Christ they can do remarkable things.
Points to Ponder:
Who is the most surprising Christians you have met?
Will you stand firm in God’s teaching and step forward to help today?
August 1: John 6:25-29
Key Verse: John 6:27
Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.’
Devotion:
Have you met someone who was truly different from anybody else? I’m not talking about in physical appearance, but the way they behave and the way they are. I’m talking about meeting someone who you thought was so different from everybody else they made a big impression on you. Jesus was that type of person, someone who made a very big impression on everyone He met because He was so different to everybody else.
We could start with the way He was willing to meet with anyone and everyone, or we could start with the way He wanted people to be well and so healed them... Or we could look back at all the things He did differently and wonder why He was the way He was...
Jesus was this way because He knew God personally – That's difficult for us to understand because we know Him as being God. Jesus was so very different because He wanted people to see there was a very different way of living, one which did not have to revolve around the ways of this world, but to revolve around what God wants in our lives.
Jesus wants us to see the difference between living in this world and living with God. If we are content with the ways of the world we will get no further than the ways of this world. But if we strive to find out the ways of God, then we will grow up to see God’s ways which will give us something very different to aim for. Jesus was trying to tell the people they should act on what they believe, and hopefully that would be believing in God and following His ways!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think your life revolves around God or the world?
Would you ever be content with anything less than God’s ways after knowing Him?
July 31: Luke 9:51-56
Key Verse: Luke 9:54
When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?’
Devotion:
When the time was right, Jesus set out to return to Jerusalem – the place where people wanted to kill Him! Jesus knew what was going to happen but He also knew this was the only way He could save us from our sinful lives. When they stopped along the way, they sent messengers ahead who would do the booking so to speak. They did not have phones or anything like that, so if they wanted to stay with anyone they would still have to call ahead, but manually!
When the messengers got to the Samaritan village, the people there did not want to welcome Jesus and the disciples. They may have heard in the past about the king wanting to kill Jesus and even though they would have heard the king was dead, they would not know if Jesus was still on the most wanted list. They would be the ones who would get into trouble for harbouring Jesus and His followers if this was so.
James and John took offence and wanted God to rain down fire and brimstone of the village because they had refused (unknowingly) the Son of God. Jesus rebuked them for thinking this way and that is what I would like to focus on today. When we find or hear of people who do something against God, we get cross with them and we often wish bad things on them...
Jesus is not like that. He was trying to teach the disciples how to love everyone – yesterday we touched on that a bit. Jesus wanted them to remember His commandment to love their neighbours. As they went into the village, these people would be their neighbours. We may find it hard to love anyone in these circumstances, but Jesus did not and does not.
Points to Ponder:
Do you wish bad things on people who work against you?
Would you consider loving them instead?