Reading your Bible for today January 31

January 31: 2 Corinthians 11:1-4

KJV Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 11:3
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Devotion:
How much do you care about the people close to you? Do you go out of your way to help them when they need it, or maybe you like giving them gifts, or just like being with them so you can talk... All of those feelings are to do with the here and now – how we live now, how we act, how we think we love. But what about their souls. When we think of love, we limit our thinking to this life where we have a physical presence which we can relate to – but never forget that our souls are going to live on forever. Where our souls live on is going to depend on what we accept as the truth while we are here in our physical bodies, whilst we have a finite lifespan.

Imagine how horrible it would be to spend much of your life with a person, only to see them die unexpectedly. Depending on how close they were to you, it may well tear your life apart. What could be worse is knowing your partner would not be spending eternity in heaven because they never got to hear about the One True God from you. We need to tell others we are Christians and that we do have a wonderful God who looks after us. Let them see how happy and content we are with our lives so they will want to find out more about Christ.

If they have been introduced to a false god or a false prophet, then challenging their views with God's Word will eventually allow them to see there is only One True God and they need to get to know Him before it is too late. Loving someone means you should care for them. If you want them to be happy in their lives too, then they need to be able to find the truth about God as well. They need to know and feel what you do. It will not be easy, but love will certainly help you to help them.

Points to Ponder:
Do you like caring for others?

How long do you think Christ has cared for us all?