Category: Devotions

Inconsistency
James 3
We can be the loudest and most demonstrative worshippers in church. We may be so athletic we can do the Cartwheel of the Spirit and the Pentecostal Pogo but on the way to the service if we are chewing up a another person then we are nothing but inconsistent to the Church and to God. What comes out of our mouth reveals the heart.

We may kick up a fuss if we hear Jesus blasphemed or if we see Christianity perverted on TV. But if we slander the family of God who bear the image of Jesus Christ, then we are inconsistent.

We bring up our children to be honest.
“You must always tell the truth Johnny”
“Yes mum”
“Always tell the truth. Now be a good boy, sister Smith is coming round for tea.”
Tea time.
Johnny sits there.
“Mum, is this the lady you said has big ears and a big mouth?”
Sister smith leaves.
“Don’t you ever say that to her again?”
“But Mum, you said it!”
“Doesn’t matter what I said.”
“But you told me to tell the truth.”
“I did. But not when she comes.”

Children don’t know hypocrisy. They think that everything that comes out of an adults mouth is repeatable.

Inconsistency.
Let’s not be part of it.

Two men come to Church for the first time.
The first man is wealthy, arrived in a big flash car, his hair is styled, he’s wearing an expensive suit. He says to the usher, “Bless you my brother, what a lovely Godly place you have here.” The Pastor spots him and from within there is a burst of joy as he runs up the aisle to greet the brother and as he does he thanks God “for the great asset he will be for the church, does he know the blessing of tithing?” The rich brother is taken to a padded chair at the front by the usher, “Please sit here, the treasurer usually sits here, but he can find another place.” Thoughts are ringing around the congregation. Everyone has a calling from God to befriend the man and to make it easy for him to fit into the Church.
Then in comes the second man. There are sighs all around. This man has walked to Church without a Bible. He’s wearing big, dirty walking boots, shorts, a t-shirt that says ‘Heineken reaches parts of your body that a cup of tea doesn’t’. He has a Kiss Me Quick Hat on, obviously ready for the welcome time, he empties his pipe outside and sticks it into his pocket. He raises his hand and shouts to the usher, “Give me Five” and the usher goes looking for five hymn books. “Where shall I sit?”
“Sit on the back row” came a voice from somewhere. The Pastor spots him and realises that he will be a member of high maintenance if he stays.
The church are wondering if the pastor will change his sermon under the inspiration of the spirit to:
10 theological reasons why we never wear Kiss Me Quick Hats in Church.
At the welcome time, the people of the back row who never usually move a muscle all walk to the front to greet the first man and remain sitting with him, leaving the back row visitor alone.

James 2

Practice discernment
Get rid of prejudice.

The name of Jesus appears twice and James never speaks of the cross, the resurrection or the Holy Spirit. This letter was written to those who had an established faith.
James 1
Dr. Victor Frankl, a psychiatrist speaking from his experience as a prisoner in a nazi concentration camp said:
Everything can be taken from a man except one thing: the last of the human freedoms – this is to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Your attitude will determine your action, your outlook will determine the outcome. Though suffering may be intense it cannot take away your freedom to choose an attitude.
v4 …. not lacking anything
v5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God …
What should we be praying for when we go through difficulties?
Strength? For it to leave us? Deliverance? James says ‘ask God for wisdom’. Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. Why? Wisdom helps us understand the circumstances and how to use them for our good and God’s glory.

What are you asking for today?

Jesus Christ can do for you what He did for them.
Hebrews 13:7-8
Remember the leaders that have played a part in your life?
Think of them now.
They encouraged you.
Believed in you.
Listened to you and loved you.
They taught you God’s Word.
The writer says, Jesus Christ is the same …
What He has done for the leaders in your past He can do for you now.
How He used them He can use you now.
How He led them to new heights He can do that for you now.

Be careful what gets attached to your life.
It may appear great at first, but it can be a weight that will drastically slow you down in your Christian race. Hebrews 12:1 “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.”
Jesus had to throw down the weight of the cross in order to reach his destiny of being nailed to it. Simon carried his cross.
There are weights on our lives that need to be thrown down in order for us to become all that we can become. You may be carrying a dream and the weight of it is hindering your progress. You need to lay it down, you need to detach the attachment and by doing so you may well be then free and energised to fulfil that dream.

The purpose of our lives is to please God
Hebrews 11
v6 and so with faith we know we please Him.
We can please Him.
This is not a goal, not an achievement. It is possible for us all now.
How?
By faith. What kind of faith? Big faith?
No. Just faith that He exists even when it looks like He doesn’t.
In this chapter we have great stories in faith for Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses parting the Red Sea, the Jericho walls falling down AND v33, v34 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.

This is great faith. A faith that makes the present different.
BUT
v35-39!
It’s the same faith.
Some would escape and some would be enabled, like the 21 Egyptian Christians beheaded yesterday in Libya. So often we pursue a faith to change the present circumstances of our life.
Great faith is the faith that endures.
To please God we need to believe He exists even when it looks like He doesn’t. To believe He isn’t a million miles away even when it fells like He is. To believe He is with you even when there is little to show for it.
The pressures of your life can be the evidence of God’s work in your life.
The presence of God is more important than the answers of God.

Sometimes we just have to hold on!
Hebrews 10
The writer is writing to people going through persecution, pressure, trauma.
What does he say?
He doesn’t give sympathy, He says …
Let us not give up … v25
Do not throw away … v35
You need to persevere … v36
We do not shrink back … v39

It’s not sympathy we need at times, not even a listening ear … We need someone to say don’t give up!
What are you facing?
Hold on!

Be careful what you enter
Hebrews 9
Christ did not enter:
v11 … A man-made tabernacle but a perfect one.
He avoided the politics of religion and small-minded kingdom mentality.

v12 … Through the way where others bear the sacrifice.
He avoided that which cost Him nothing less than His all.

v24 … a copy of the real Heavenly Place but He entered heaven itself.
He avoided replicas of the real thing.

v25 … Into repeated actions but a once and for all thinking.
He avoided repetition duties but based on a duty of religion.

What are you avoiding today?

Stick to the point
Hebrews 8
I love how the writer says “Now the main point of what we are trying to say is this …”v1.
I am running the risk of someone accusing me of talking about the subject of ‘sticking to the main point’ from a chapter when this is not the main point! However …
We hear a lot of flannel and sugar coating today!
Flannel – what someone does to avoid the main point
Sugar Coating – what someone does to make the bad sound not so bad.
Have you ever sat and listened to someone talk for what seems a decade and you find yourself wondering what are they trying to say?
Some people have this experience every week and they sit in rows to do so.
What is the main point? Stick to it.
When communicating the gospel.
When planning your next move.
When counselling another.
When in a disagreement.

Recently I was met at a church by a man who informed me his job was to time the speaker. The longest was 58 minutes he said with raised eyebrows and the shortest was 4 minutes, he seemed happier about the latter. He said he would time me and I would go into the log book at the end. I won’t say how long I was but it was in between those times!
Some are too afraid to say what they need to say.
Some like the sound of their own voice too much.
Some are confused about what they want to say.
Some are not interested in the truth as much as the plaudits.
Some are focused on damage limitation at all costs.
We need people to stay on track. To stick to the main point.
SO WHAT?! This needs to be ever before us as we open our mouths.
Listen more, think more, say less, be precise.
Elaborate by invitation.

The tenth
All over the world the tenth is abused.
Hebrews 7
The tenth doesn’t amount to a tenth.
The tenth is accepted as Old Testament practice only, usually by those who give less than a tenth.
The tenth is withheld along with the other nine-tenths.
The tenth is taken by Pastors but not given by them.
The tenth is given to the penny, no rounding up, wouldn’t want to give too much.
The tenth is preached with emotional stories and exceptional promises, if you do this, you get this.
I see all of this.
I believe in giving more than the tenth.
I believe in giving the tenth.
I won’t say Jesus wants us to do it. That could inflame some tenthless givers.
I will say Melchizedek wants us to do it and he seems a nice guy.

“In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living”, v8.
Well Melchizedek collected the tithe from Abraham, v1-2, and he died.
But who is the other who collected the tithe and is declared to be living?
Who could that possibly be?!
And anyway, who actually was Melchizedek? … v2-3.