Week 42 Devotions

October 15 - - Even though biological children have different parents from their adopted brothers and sisters, most adoptive parents view all their children; biological or adopted, in the same way. They live under the same roof, eat of the same food, and are subjected to the same set of rules. In fact, if parents have anything to leave as an inheritance, all their children are entitled to mom and dad’s estate, regardless of whether they were biological or adopted children. What is true physically is also true, spiritually. When we become “children of God through (our) faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26), we become heirs of all God’s promises made to our spiritual ancestors, including our spiritual father, Abraham (3:29). Because of Jesus Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin, “but God’s own child. And since you are His child, everything He has belongs to you” (4:7). And what all does God have? Everything. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1; I Corinthians 10:26; Ps.50:10&11; Haggai 2:8). God doesn’t need anything from us because everything belongs to Him (Acts 17:24-26; I Cor.4:7). But, as God’s children, we have access to all of His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19). If, we as earthly parents will take care of our physical children, how much more does God know how to take care of His spiritual children (Luke 11:11-13; Matthew 7:9-11)? We have a choice whether to be the spiritual children of Satan or the spiritual children of God, the Father. “Anyone whose Father is God listens gladly to the words of God. Since you don’t,” Jesus told one of his audiences, “it proves you aren’t God’s children” (John 8:47). The fact is, Jesus wasn’t even accepted among many of those who shared the same physical ancestry, the Jews (John 1:11). “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan - - this rebirth comes from God” (John 1:12&13). And Jesus assured us over and over, “anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!” (John 8:51; 5:24; 11:25&26). We all have a choice. We can listen to the words of Jesus Christ, obey those words, be adopted as one of God’s children, and gain access to His glorious riches both in this life and in the life to come, OR, we can do nothing and we will be the children of the Devil. He is a “liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). He does not care for us, but actually hates us. So, choose carefully. A lot is riding on whether you make the proper choice. October 18 - - There is something within all of us that likes to root for the underdog. We all love a good story where the poor climb out of their poverty, the oppressed discover their liberty, and those used to losing taste victory. Maybe, that inner desire comes from our heavenly Father. Scripture spends a lot of time honoring the character trait of humility (Numbers 12:3; Proverbs 3:34; Ephesians 4:2), while condemning the character trait of pride (Isaiah 13:11; James 4:6). Because a proud person thinks of himself better than others, he will expect to sit in the place of honor when he attends to a banquet. In a proud person’s mind, anything less would be demeaning and disrespectful to him/her. On the other hand, Jesus said that a humble person is one who sits at the foot of the table. The host of any party has the prerogative of moving people from one position at the table to another. Jesus says that most of us would prefer being moved to a better place at the table than we would the embarrassment of being moved to a less prominent place at the table. A humble person is one who immediately sits at the foot of the table. If they remain at that place, they are okay with it. If they are moved to a more prominent place at the table, they are okay with that, as well. “The proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored” (Luke 14:11). He also said that at the judgment, some “who are despised now will be greatly honored then; and some who are greatly honored now will be despised then” (Luke 13:30). The world uses a different standard for measuring worth and success than God does. The world looks at the outward signs of success; awards won, degrees achieved, salary earned, possessions owned, etc. On the other hand, God looks at the state of a person’s heart (I Samuel 16:7). In fact, God wants to bless those whose heart is fully sold out to Him (II Chronicles 16:9). All too often, we care more about how the things we do will benefit ourselves in the long run or how what we do appears to the rest of the world. Jesus encourages us to do things the rest of the world would not honor us for, but God would (Luke 14:12-14). It is interesting that even though Jesus was the Son of God, rarely did he draw attention to himself. Jesus did not go around patting himself on the back. Jesus was humble in heart (Matthew 11:28-30; Philippians 2:3-11) and expected us to be the same. Are we?