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Scripture Reading:
Romans 4:4-5 (The Message – MSG)
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4 If you’re a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don’t call your wages a gift.
5 But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.
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Thought for the day:
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In previous devotions, I think I’ve mentioned people who believe they are owed everything in life. There are many young people who know nothing about what it means to earn a living. There was a time where youngsters would inherit significant sums of money from their parents and therefore didn’t need to work. As the debt burden grows, this looks to be a thing of the past and that most people will have to work harder and for longer periods of their lives due to the postponement of state retirement age. In the media at the moment, there is a lot of talk about ‘a snowflake generation’. This refers to young people who are too emotionally vulnerable to cope with views that challenge their own. They take offence with incredible ease and don’t seem to have the mental resilience required when faced with any opposition to their own protected position. They insist that we treat them with ‘kid gloves’ and say and do nothing that would in any way damage their psychological fragility.
This kind of thinking and behaviour poses an incredible challenge for those of us who believe in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Our verses today are all about behaviour that deserves something in return. When I was younger, I remember hearing the phrase ‘Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about’. Any bad behaviour was likely to be punished and, in all honesty, I deserved it! These days, discipline and corrective action can’t even be discussed yet alone practiced.
The Message gives a lovely version of these verses and make them very easy to understand. If you do a good job, then you deserve your pay! However, the preaching of Jesus often gave a paradoxical lesson: If you want to be great, you have to be the least. If you want to be rich, you have to be poor. God says that if we want to be righteous, we can’t earn it, we can’t do anything to deserve it, we simply trust in Him. He gives it to us for nothing!
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Prayer and Application:
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It is so difficult for people to accept such a simple message. Take a few moments to pray for anyone you know who is struggling in this way.
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