Devotions January 3, 2010

Proverbs 3:9-10 says, 'Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.' This past year, I have been thinking a lot about the future. I'm at the point where I want to stop being a care free kid, and start live life as an adult. To do that, I feel that I need a home, and a means to take care of a family. Unfortunately, I tend to get too wrapped up in trying to figure out how to make money, and a lot of it, so I can build a house, and support my future family. In these two verses, God makes it pretty simple. If we honor him with what he has given us, then he will bless us with more than we need. I need to remember that everything I have comes from and belongs to God.

Two Rivers' devotion comes from Hebrews 12:5-11. It is reminding us that God loves us, and because he loves us, he will chasten us. When God chastens us, the first thing that we think is 'why me? I don't deserve this.' We start throwing a pitty party for ourselves right away, and start wondering why a loving God would make us suffer. Verse 11 does a pretty good job of explaining it, 'Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.' No, chastening is never fun, but God does so we will grow in righteousness, and closer to him.

Ohana's devotion came from Luke 17:1-6. In verses 1-4, Jesus is telling his disciples to be ready and will to forgive. Verse 4 tells us how often to forgive, 'and if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying I repent; thou shalt forgive him.' Turns out that the disciples were human just like the rest of us, and had trouble forgiving people. In verse 5 they said to Jesus, 'Increase our faith.' Once again Jesus had to give them the 'If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed' speech. We learned yesterday that faith is not only believing and trusting in God but simply trusting God (thanks Cody)! If we believe and trust God, and follow him, forgiving others will be second nature for us!