Category: Devotion of the Day

GOD’S COMPENSATIONS

The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.
II Chronicles 25:9

Amaziah had hired an army of Israel to fight Edom, when he should have relied upon God. When a prophet advised against it Amaziah was concerned about the money he had paid out for such assistance. The prophet answered with our text. In other words, God is able to make up any loss we sustain when we give up anything for Him.

We are prone to seek help from the world when confronted with a crisis. To give it up leaves us with a helpless feeling. What about the sacrifices we make and the money we lose? But we only give up trash for treasures and rags for riches. God can and will abundantly compensate us for any loss we sustain. After all, we never lose anything by utter reliance on God. We but get rid of hindrances. It is never a losing proposition to trust God. When to us to live is Christ, then to die is gain, and even death pays dividends.

The Lord is able to give us much more than we lose when we part with all else to trust Him.

MAJORING ON THE MINOR

These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Matthew 23:23

Jesus was not preaching mainly on tithing here. Some have emphasized the negative side of this admonition until it has been overlooked that our Lord is pleading for “the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.”

When Christians “major on the major,” put first things first, and give proper attention to their faith in and fellowship with Christ, they will not leave lesser things undone. We are in peril of getting people to join church, tithe, and observe certain religious duties which, indeed, ought not to be left undone, but still omitting the supreme things which they should do first. Such procedure only confirms them in their self-righteousness and makes them doubly hard to reach with spiritual “first things.” Don’t forget that the Pharisees read the Scriptures, went to church, prayed, gave a tenth- and went to hell. Our righteousness must exceed theirs.

Let us “major on the major” and “minor on the minor.”