Max Lucado Daily: The Bridge of Frienship
The Bridge of Frienship
Posted: 15 Jul 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Unfriendly people are selfish.” Proverbs 18:1
We’re in a fast-moving, fast-paced society. We need to build bridges between our hearts and those of people who need a friend—and allow Jesus to cross that bridge of friendship and walk into their lives . . .
Whether or not you are friendly could determine whether or not someone hears about Jesus.
Ephesians 4
To Be Mature
1-3In light of all this, here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
4-6You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.
7-13But that doesn't mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. The text for this is,
He climbed the high mountain,
He captured the enemy and seized the booty,
He handed it all out in gifts to the people.
Is it not true that the One who climbed up also climbed down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ's followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.
14-16No prolonged infancies among us, please. We'll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
The Old Way Has to Go
17-19And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They've refused for so long to deal with God that they've lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can't think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.
20-24But that's no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.
25What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ's body we're all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.
26-27Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.
28Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can't work.
29Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.
30Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted.
31-32Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.
2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.
4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
Judge Not!
July 16, 2010 — by David H. Roper
Judge not, that you be not judged. —Matthew 7:1
When Jesus commanded, “Judge not,” He was not implying that we should be naïve or imprudent. Of course we need to think critically and analytically in this world where we are often confronted with error and wrongdoing. Instead, He meant that we should not be condemning or accusing, a point Paul made eloquently: “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts” (1 Cor. 4:5).
Poet Robert Burns made a similar point, writing of those whose actions are in doubt: “One point must still be greatly dark—the [motive]. Why they do it.” No one knows another’s motives. God alone can bring to light what is hidden in darkness; He alone can expose the intentions of the heart.
Jesus knows the latent forces that motivate others: the cruel beginnings, the fear, the disappointment, the broken heart, the sin that is resisted. Moreover, He is working in every submissive heart to bring it to maturity. Thus in the end—quite often contrary to our expectations—He will bring praise to those He has brought to completion.
The Lord alone can try the heart. Until He returns, let’s ask Him to help us examine our own.
“Condemn not, judge not”—not to man
Is given his brother’s faults to scan;
One task is yours, and one alone—
To search out and subdue your own. —Elliott
Be slow to judge others, but quick to judge yourself.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 16th , 2010
The Concept of Divine Control
. . . how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! —Matthew 7:11
Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct in this passage for those people who have His Spirit. He urges us to keep our minds filled with the concept of God’s control over everything, which means that a disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.
Fill your mind with the thought that God is there. And once your mind is truly filled with that thought, when you experience difficulties it will be as easy as breathing for you to remember, “My heavenly Father knows all about this!” This will be no effort at all, but will be a natural thing for you when difficulties and uncertainties arise. Before you formed this concept of divine control so powerfully in your mind, you used to go from person to person seeking help, but now you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those people who have His Spirit, and it works on the following principle: God is my Father, He loves me, and I will never think of anything that He will forget, so why should I worry?
Jesus said there are times when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but you should trust Him. At times God will appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the thought that the mind of God is behind all things strong and growing. Not even the smallest detail of life happens unless God’s will is behind it. Therefore, you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but is an attitude of the mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. “Ask, and it will be given to you . . .” (Matthew 7:7 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
What You Can't See Really Can Hurt You - #6135
Friday, July 16, 2010
Busy highway - heavy traffic - including those crazies who suddenly cross three lanes at once. You need your wits about you at all times. You need to be looking at what's going on all around you, you're looking ahead, you're looking out the rear window, you're checking your mirror on the left and the right, trying to locate all the cars around you and even anticipate what some of them may do next. But even with all that, you're not seeing everything. Because there's one spot you can't see out the front window, the rear window, or the mirrors. It's that dangerous spot somewhere on the back right side of your car. They call it your blind spot. And seeing what's there could be the difference between getting home safely and not getting home at all!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What You Can't See Really Can Hurt You."
That's just not true about driving down the highway. It's true about your entire journey on this planet! There's something that a lot of folks can't see - that someone is actually trying to keep them from seeing - that can keep them from ever getting home to the God who made them, to the purpose He made them for, to the heaven that they hope to go to when they die.
In 2 Corinthians 4:4 , our word for today from the Word of God, He lets us look into the spiritual blind spot that can cost us so much. Referring to Satan, God says, "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." There are some very wonderful, very bright people who have been blinded to the greatest need in their life; their need for Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross for them.
The light we're blinded to is the "gospel of the glory of Christ" it says. The Bible actually defines what this Gospel - this Good News - is: "By this Gospel you are saved...Christ died for our sins...was buried...and was raised on the third day" (1 Corinthians 15:2 , 4). The reason for the horrific death of God's Son on a Roman cross was that He was dying to pay for your sins and mine so we would never have to, because no one else could have or even claimed to give His life to pay for your sins. He's your only hope of having your sins erased from God's records; He's your only hope of getting into God's heaven. Because Jesus didn't stay dead, and He blew the doors off His grave on Easter morning! Only He can give you eternal life.
But the devil doesn't want you to see that. He wants you in hell with him forever. So he's blinded you. He blinds us with pride. We're too proud to admit we need a Savior instead of making it on our own. Satan blinds us with religion, so we think that a religion about Jesus will get us to heaven. It won't - it can't. Sometimes the devil blinds us with other Christians who have represented Jesus poorly. But Jesus is the issue, not Christians. Satan is saying, "Anything but Jesus. Focus on anything you want except Jesus." His goal: Keep you blinded to Jesus until the day you die, and then his mission is accomplished - forever.
But today, the Holy Spirit of God is working in your heart to show you what Satan has tried to keep you from. The tug you feel in your heart? That's the pull of God. He's drawing you to His Son. Forget all the other stuff - religions, rituals, Christians, theories, earth-stuff - and just walk up to that cross and say, "Jesus, I'm not blind anymore. I see it now. I see You now. You died here for me, and I'm coming home to You right now. I'm Yours from this moment on." He promised that at that moment He would forgive every wrong thing you have ever done, and He would write your name in His book of life; your guarantee that you're going to heaven someday.
I've tried my best to simply explain this awesome Good News about Jesus at our website. I want to invite you to check it out and either listen to or read a brief explanation there of how to get started with Jesus. The web address is YoursForLife.net. Or, if you'd like to get Yours For Life in print, just call us at 877-741-1200.
I don't know if you'll be this close to Him ever again; if you'll be able to see Him like this again. As the Bible says, "Call upon Him while He is near" (Isaiah 55:7 ). You've got so much to gain with Jesus. You've got so much to lose without Him.
