May 7

“…then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:4

There is more to the Christian’s life, than what transpires while we are here on earth. There is a great and powerful spiritual dimension, yet this remains unknown or largely forgotten and disregarded. The Apostle reminds here believers that our main interest and focus in life should not be on material, temporal things. Our ‘affections’, that is our love for, what attracts us and what makes us contented, should be found in Jesus. He is our life and the flow in which we move, plan and live our lives. We are also reminded that soon Jesus will return, He will ‘appear’, that is He will manifest Himself and He will judge the world. In that day nothing of the material, temporal realm will matter at all. Only what we have built by way of a spiritual life, a relationship with Him will be significant. We are encouraged by this exhortation to take note and stock of our lives. Where do our main interests lay? What do we spend our time with? Where are our energies mostly invested? We are to be people whose desire for this world is disabled, and whose lives are a living sacrifice to the Lord! This is the condition and the necessity if we are to appear with Jesus, that is, be at His side, the winning side, the side of right, power and glory at His coming! Nothing and no-one in this world is an adequate trade-off for the eternal life and the position we can fill at the Lord’s side. Let us carefully weight out and carry the responsibility of our Christian calling, for it is a high and glorious call from the Holy God!

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

Apr 30

“…Hast thou considered my servant Job…a perfect and an upright man...” Job 2:3

Twice, God held up as a shining example of righteousness and godly perfection, the very man that Satan had determined to make his conquest and trophy. The Lord knows the heart of a man and He recognises and upholds the integrity found within us, as a result of being in close relationship with Him. Like the false comforters of his day, Job still finds many critics today, who would malign him, his motives, his speeches, and his responses to the difficulties he faced. It is from God Himself that we can safely take our position on the kind of man Job was. God calls Him a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and avoided sin and evil! He is given a good character reference by the Lord, and we find him being praised and rewarded as a faithful servant of God, at the end of his ordeal. We understand that this does not make Job a perfect man in the absolute sense, but like many of the men who faithfully obeyed and stood for God, he did so with the kind of perfect heart and righteous spirit, that God honours. How desirable that we also should live the kind of life of which God can be proud enough, to present it as exemplary! Jesus instructed that the quality of our service to the Lord should be such that men who see how we conduct ourselves, might be brought to give God praise! Clearly we have a high calling to live up to, and should walk worthy of our vocation. God wants us to bring forth a witness which glorifies Him. We are His people, His children and He has invested in us His Spirit, His righteousness and His holiness. When we walk faithfully and obediently with the Lord, the world gets a taste of godliness and a glimpse of God through us! We must remember however that when do not walk right with God, we still give forth a ‘witness’. In this case a poor and damaging testimony. This could contribute to the destruction of someone’s chances to believe and accept Christ as their Saviour! This is a daunting thought and it should motivate us to make certain that we align with Job in the quality of our service and faithfulness to God, by being people who walk uprightly, and in purity of mind and heart before the Lord!  

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion