Reading your Bible for Today July 13

July 13: 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

KJV Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 9:19
19 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.

Devotion:
Have you ever compared your life with someone else's life? Have you ever tried to live like someone else just to see what it was like? I'm not talking about trying out the life of a person who chooses to live on the streets, or a king or queen – but someone who you would think is 'just like you' but for the fact they are a Buddhist or they practice some other religion.

Again we need to define a very fine line here which we should not be crossing. God has dictated we should not follow other gods or idols and that is exactly what we must not do. But if you put yourself in the shoes of others, you would be more likely to find out what makes them 'tick' – why they do the things they do. If we want to be able to show them Christ, then we have to be able to know where they are and why they do what they do.

It's no good going headlong into an argument without knowing the other side of the argument. Doing that would be asking to be buried alive by your opponent. Likewise, we should not be trying to argue the point of Christianity without knowing what we are up against. This does not preclude us from showing people the Gospel; for if we are willing to show people the truth, the Holy Spirit is able to convince people of the truth. But how are you going to show them the truth in a nice way without blundering in?

If you were quite content in your diet and someone came along and started saying how you are eating all the wrong stuff, you would probably not be too pleased. But if that same person came along and looked at your food and then started to show you what was wrong with each part, you may well be more willing to listen. We as Christians need to make friends with people before we go about bashing them around the head with the truth otherwise we may well upset more people than we can help. What we need to be careful of is that we don't let our God down by letting our friends change our lives so we are not living for Christ!

Points to Ponder:
When you make new friends, do you reject your existing friends?

Do you reject God in the things you do with friends?