Reading your Bible for Today June 1

June 1: Matthew 22:15-22

KJV Key Verse: Matthew 22:21
21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. 

Devotion:
No matter where we go in life, we are always going to face people who will try to trip us up over our beliefs. We may firmly believe in what we do, but when people start to bring into question beliefs which are close to us, they may well force us to start thinking about those things and confuse us with what they are saying. Satan will continue to do this and to use others to do this as much as possible to us. The object lesson here for us is to learn how Jesus dealt with this type of person and opposition.

The first thing which Christ did was to make them aware of the situation they were in. They were unbelievers and they were trying to trip up Christ. We may get mugged for saying something so blatant nowadays due to the politically correct movement but when people do try to trip us up we should be letting them know where we stand and where they stand and allowing them to see the large gap in between. That simple fact will get them to see they are the ones who are isolated rather than us.

The next thing Christ did was to take something from their world and expose it for what it was. We may not be able to get by without money nowadays but just because the money we use has various dignitaries' pictures on it, it does not mean we have to worship those people. They are but mortals the same as we are. God is the one who looks at the inner person and not the outer person and hence does not separate king from peasant other than by what they believe in. God still wants us to continue to pay our taxes and expenses because that is all within the law of the land which we must respect. But, what He does not want us to do is to lift up those laws higher than His laws. We need to remember that God's Laws are paramount and others need to see us upholding them above everything. How else will others believe that God is real if we are going to promote other things ahead of our God?

Points to Ponder:
Do you crave for more money?

Do you crave for a closer life with God?