Edevotional

Devotions

Loving Your Enemies (Matthew 5)

Father and Son Love your enemies

Matthew 5:44-45 says:

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven…

Loving your enemies is one of those Christian sayings we have heard countless times, we assuredly agree with it as the Word of God and yet most of us probably don’t give it the attention it deserves in our lives.

How do we reconcile these words of Jesus with our lives?

Love my enemies? Really Jesus??

Jesus tells us enemies are real, they are a fact of life, not every one is going to be your friend. This is not some unrealistic, far off, off with the fairies Jesus. This Jesus, God in the flesh of a man, who understands life. I love that!

You’re going to have enemies. How you deal with them is the issue. And how you deal with your enemies is how you’re going to show the world you belong to me.

Jesus says “love your enemies … so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven”

It is when we love our enemies we show we are sons of God.

Everyone has enemies in this world. But not everyone is a son of our Father God, who calls us to a different way of life.

Sons are meant to imitate and carry the attributes of their Father. How does our Father treat us in our failings? Sons of God don’t get what they deserve. Sons of God have access to forgiveness and Grace. Sons of God are pardoned because of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is saying, when you deserved the full wrath of God, I showed you love. Now go and do the same to the people who deserve the same in your life.

Love your enemies, Son.

The Inclination of our Heart (Genesis 6)

Noah's Ark Inclination of the Heart

The story of Noah and the ark is well known. It was a human tragedy of horrendous and unimaginable proportions. But it was actually an act of supreme love and redemption.

Why did God wipe out the vast majority of His creation? Because as we are told in Genesis 6:5 says:

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

Genesis 8:21 tells us the Lord said:

“Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

In other words, the flood did not fix the inclination of man’s heart. But even so God‘s promise was that He would not ever again destroy all living things, in spite of that inclination towards evil.

The world is no different today because people’s hearts are no different today. Left to our own devices our heart’s incline towards evil. Like a shopping trolley with a busted wheel, we have a bias away from the straight line of God’s ways and towards sin.

The ark is a picture of the covenant that God extends to humankind through Jesus Christ. If you are in the ark, you are safe. If you are in Jesus, he lifts us up out of the final judgment humanity will face when we stand before His great white throne (Rev:20:11).

But the greatest promise we have from this great act of Divine love from God, is that His love can and does change us. When we live life in view of the mercy and love of God, it is possible that the inclination of our hearts are turned away from evil and to the Lord.

PRAYER: Lord, thank you for your great love for me that I see in Jesus. Lord I ask you to change the inclination of my heart from my ways to your ways, from sin to righteousness, from folly to wisdom, from self to You and Your kingdom. Lord I need you and love you, Amen.

Repentance = Change = Growth

repentance change growth

Matthew 3:8 says:

Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance

John the Baptist said this and he also said “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (verse 2).

The word repentance in the Greek is one I love – “metanoia”. It literally means a change of thinking or change of heart.

There are whole industries in the world today dedicated to change. Making improvements, turning businesses around. Talk-show hosts who offer remedies to change are watched by multiple millions each day. Consultants and coaches consult and coach all manner of people as to how they can change their lives.

Why is change so desired and so important? Because people know if you want things to be different to how they are there is a need for things to change. If we keep doing things the same, we will get the same results.

But if we make changes in our life, positive changes, then the result is growth.

John the Baptiser pointed to this when he spoke of the “fruits of repentance“. The fruits of repentance are realised when the tree of your life is growing through the changes you and the Grace of God make.

Why is this such a big deal? Because the kingdom of God is near and coming nearer and God wants a changed you to be a part of it!

PRAYER: Lord, here I am today. I confess I need you and want you. Change me as you ordain. Amen

God’s Love Covers Us (Genesis 3)

Garden of Eden

Genesis 3:21 says:

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

Adam and eve have fallen. They have sinned and fallen into temptation and now were facing the consequences of this, which were great indeed. The cost of this sin was a curse upon them and all that followed them, and so because of this their relationship with God was to never be the same again.

Yet, at this moment in the narrative we are told something astonishing.

He covered them.

This points us to a truth about the relationship God offers us today through Jesus Christ.

When we are tempted and fall into sin, when we feel the sharp pain of the curse, God still extends a way for us to be covered. Instead of shame, He covers us with His love and forgiveness. He doesn’t leave you hanging, left to work it out on your own. No! He provides a way that in your sin you can yet be covered. Wow!

God in the garden covered Adam and Eve with garments made from animal skins. In other words, something had to die for Adam and Eve to be covered.

So too, in Jesus there had be a death in order for us to be covered. Even though God extends His offer of grace, forgiveness and mercy in light of our fallenness and sinfulness, He also reveals to us that there is a price to pay for it.

In the case of Adam and Eve, it was the death of the animals. In the case of you and me, it is the death of Jesus. Justice is served, our sin and shame is covered and taken away, and our relationship with the Father is restored.

PRAYER: Lord, I thank you for your covering over me. I thank you that instead of my death that my sin deserved, you gave your Son to pay that price in my place. Father God, I thank you. I want to express my gratitude to you. I ask for your forgiveness. I receive your love for me. I cast off condemnation and commit to following you today. Amen.

Are we there yet? (Ephesians 4)

“Are we there yet?”

I can remember as a child travelling away with my family on holidays. Being young and eager to get out at our destination to play, I can remember being exasperated at how long it seemed to take for us to “get there”.

Whilst as adults we seem to become more patient as we grow, there remains a part of us that is anxious to know if “we’ve arrived” in life.

In terms of our Christian walk, this side of eternity, we are continually on a road to maturity as we grow up into the fullness of Christ. This is the calling of the church according to Ephesians 4, to build up the body of Christ

“until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (verse 13)

The word “mature” (Greek: Teleios) literally means “perfection” or “to be complete”. Now, if we are on this journey through life with God the answer to our question “have we arrived yet?” is NO! But we are on the road towards it.

If ever you are wondering “what on earth God is doing with your life?”, you can be assured of the answer.

He is maturing you! He is completing you. He is perfecting you. He is working in and through you to bring you to a place where you grow up to “mature manhood” in the “fullness of Christ”.

This is the road to maturity that all of us are on. Recognising this can be exceptionally liberating.

No longer are we shadow boxing or sulking in offence towards God because of what we’re going through. Instead, we are able to discern how God is at work in our lives, how He is using those circumstances we are facing, how He is using it to refine us and, ultimately, what sort of response He is looking for us to give.

It might be to repent.
It might be to “be still” and trust Him.
It might be to pray and contend.
It might be to prophesy His truth.

It could well be all these things and more. But it starts with recognising that God is at work.

When we recognise God’s purpose is to bring us to a place of greater maturity, we’re able to come into agreement with God concerning it.  Whenever we surrender our agendas and submit to His, we allow Him to forge in us more of the likeness of Jesus Christ.

And that’s maturity.

Photo by Hector Perez from Pexels