Devotional Guide
For the week of December 11, 2005
THE LIGHT HAS COME
About rewards
To Read: Proverbs 4-6
To Know:
³And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather
fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.² (Matt.10: 28)
Miss Pepe was my first grade teacher. To motivate our best work she rewarded
our success by marking our papers with animal stamps. We worked hard to
insure that our labors would win a picture stamped in the corner of the
paper. Her stamp of approval on what we had done spurred us on to do our
best. Rewards are a powerful motive in all of us. God made us in order to
reward us.
Even more motivating than receiving a reward is the threat of loss. Our
youngest son would receive a $5,000 bonus toward his first year of college
by delivering the newspaper for a stated time. Despite the fact that his
paper route was small the newspaper company promised that if he delivered
his papers uninterrupted for three years the $5,000 would be his. Three
years is an eternity to a twelve year old. When he began to falter, the
money was important enough for me to keep him on his route.
Jesus warns that we can lose our souls. The thought that we might forfeit
our very selves is terrifying to contemplate. According to Jesus Christ,
there is a form of destruction that can destroy us body and soul. If the
danger of losing $5,000 for college is an incentive to deliver newspapers,
how much more ought the threat of losing oneıs self be a motive to obey
Christ?
Wickedness resides in human nature, but there is good news. We can be born
again. The new nature is Godıs nature. This hope is the only hope. We who
believe in Jesus Christ must not keep this great good news a secret. Let us
labor to persuade those who will otherwise perish to place their faith in
Jesus Christ.
12135$-12135
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