Dont let a form become the norm - Daily Devotional April 20th, 2010

Bible Reading - Leviticus 24, Psalm 31, Ecclesiastes 7, 2 Timothy 3

Don't let a form become the norm

Have you every seen a name brand of something you really wanted whether it be cloths, an appliance or even a toy. Then when you go to take a closer look at it you see how much it costs and decide to get the knock off version only to have it not last as long or not work as well? I know I have and I always look back and wish I would have spent a little more to get something that would last much longer or work much better. I have learned that when I settle for the form of something I always regret it latter.

Romans 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect". There are so many people in the world that are settling for a form of something, but when we settle for the form of something it will never have the substance of the true. The writer of Romans warns people to not be conformed or pushed into the same mold as everyone else but to be transformed so that you can have the real and true substance rather than a form. When we settle for a form of something it may look good on the outside but the end results are never good.

This principle is seen the greatest in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 as it talks about godliness, "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people". Here we see what is going to happen in the last days (and is happening now) and it is because people simply have a form of godliness but lack the substance of true godliness. This is a great warning coming from Paul to Timothy a pastor to one of the churches in Ephesus. This warning is not addressed to pre-saved people but rather to Christ followers. We need to take head of this warning today and never let a form become the norm in our lives. We need to make sure that we always have a true love for God and not for pleasures as it says here.

When we settle for the form it may look alot like the real but look at what it says in verse 5. It says that we may have the appearance of godliness but we are denying the power that comes with true godliness. All of this is because we have fallen in love with the the wrong thing or person. True lovers of God have character which in turn produces the power of God in our lives. When we settle for the cheap knock off of godliness it will not work as well and it will not last very long at all.

I think that most of us as Christ followers always want to be lovers of God rather than of pleasures but yet if we do not heed the warnings here it can happen to us in the most subtle of ways. As a pastor I think one of the greatest statements ever made to me was this, "always love people and use things, never love things and use people". This principle is true for all of us although it may play out a little differently. Maybe for you it is simply, love people not just the ministry to people or love people not just the outreach ministry to people or love people not just leading people. These statements are so true because if we are really truly lovers of God than we truly love people and not just our status in ministering to them. When we allow the form to become the norm we may end up loving something (pleasures) rather that God and His people.

Lets all take a moment and look at our lives today and make sure that we are truly loving God and not things, let's make sure that a form never becomes the norm.

Tomorrows Bible Reading - Leviticus 25, Psalm 32, Ecclesiastes 8, 2 Timothy 4

Dream Big
Ben