Daily devotion – Nothing has changed!
Ecc 1:9 History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.
Times have changed we are constantly be told. The Church and what it stands for needs to adapt and move with the times we are told. We need new methods, new programs, culture has changed, we live under new circumstances….
But what are the facts? God has not changed and neither has man! Yes we may wear different clothes, we have modern equipment that at the swipe of a finger or a touch of some keys provides access to knowledge and news almost immediately.
But man as man has not changed at all, and man’s needs are exactly and precisely what they have always been. There is nothing new in this condition of ours – sin is still the problem!
We have the same problems in marriages, in parenting, as those who have gone before us and man is still using the same broken thinking to rectify them in their lives as has been happening since creation. We work to fix it ourselves without listening or obeying how God commands us to.
God is not sitting in Heaven overawed by the ‘modern world’, nor is He musing over trying to come up with ‘new way’s to help us in our personal problems.
No, He sent Jesus Christ into the world to be our Saviour and Lord.
People have by their own selfish rebellion made their lives confused, complex, erratic by much of their own doing. Living is quite simple – Jesus made this very point when a woman called Martha was upset with her sister Mary for not helping her when Jesus came to their house for a meal.
Luk 10:41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.
Luk 10:42 “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
You and I are still the problem and Jesus is still the solution. Mary had removed all the clutter and wasteful mess from her life and now had simplified the way she lived completely – she was always at the feet of Jesus. That does not mean she just sat around and did nothing else. No, but she stopped being unwise and became wise in the priorities in her life and then acted accordingly.
As you read this you may well be in a storm, a trial, or your confused, or busy ‘fixing’ things your way in your life, but nothing is working. We bring so much of our own afflictions upon ourselves. The life of a believer is to be one lived in submission unto God, a life filled with God’s grace and peace firmly embedded in everyday or our lives. Is that the case with you now? Or are you in a spin?
There are too many ‘anxious’ Christians and this need not be!
Phl 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
Phl 4:7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
If you are looking to live your life according to the philosophies and ways of the world and your own thinking – you will not see your problems or your situations resolved!
But if you bring yourself firstly before God and repent before Him for ignoring Him, and doing things in your own strength, and then lay your problems out before Him to resolve – He will bring His power and grace to enable you to overcome your problems and not be overcome by your problems.
Nothings changed – God has not and man has not.
But God can change us!
2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Learn from Mary today and know that God is here to bring joy and peace into your life and walk with you through the daily trials you face. Don’t ignore Him or His Word.