Reading your Bible for today June 11

June 11: Proverbs 23:4-5 

KJV Key Verse: Proverbs 23:4
4 Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

Devotion:
There are reasons for doing work, but there are also the wrong reasons for doing work. We are so easily persuaded to get caught up in doing things for the wrong reason – like personal financial gain when it excludes God from your life. Whilst you may turn round and say you will never work on Sundays because you give that day to The Lord, what about the rest of the time when you get busy with so many other things? We do get carried away with things in our life for personal gain – it does not have to be a full-time job that is doing this but something as simple as a computer game that takes up more time than it should... Whilst you are busy with your work or pastime, you find that time seems to go by faster than it should – because you are getting carried away with it.

Even if you are switching off from whatever you do on Sundays, you are still excluding so much from your life on all of the other days. You may think it is OK to 'go for it' for a few days or weeks or even months in order to get the most done, but during that time you may not just be ignoring God directly, you may well be ignoring others around you. When you are doing that, you are ignoring another one of God's children. Pretty much the same as ignoring God... It's not just the direct effects on God but on everyone around you that you have to think about!

And for what gain? You will find you gain either a whole lot of fun (at the expense of others), or a whole lot of money (again at the expense of others). And to what goal? You have had your fun or now have your money, but as soon as you have spent it... it's gone. To what effect? Well, short term only... Nothing we create or make up here is going to come with us to heaven. How do you know what others are going to do with all your estate when you die? Would you rather not make sure the right thing is done now rather than waiting until it is too late? Think about the story of the prodigal son and how he had so much and lost it all.

Points to Ponder:
So you think you know it all now?

Do you think God has not seen it before – even after reading about it in The Bible?