The Power to Love, by Max Lucado
Monday, September 01, 2008
“This is what God commands:…that we love each other.”
I John 3:23
Does bumping into certain people leave you brittle, breakable, and fruitless? Do you easily fall apart? If so, your love may be grounded in the wrong soil. It may be rooted in their love (which is fickle) or in your resolve to love (which is frail). John urges us to “rely on the love God has for us” (I John 4:16 NIV, emphasis mine). He alone is the power source.
Many people tell us to love. Only God gives us the power to do so.
We know what God wants us to do. “This is what God commands:…that we love each other” (I John 3:23). But how can we? How can we be kind to the vow breakers? To those who are unkind to us? How can we be patient with people who have the warmth of a vulture and the tenderness of a porcupine? How can we forgive the moneygrubbers and backstabbers we meet, love, and marry? How can we love as God loves? We want to. We long to. But how can we?
By living loved.
Hebrews 1
The Son Superior to Angels
1In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
5For to which of the angels did God ever say,
"You are my Son;
today I have become your Father[a]"[b]? Or again,
"I will be his Father,
and he will be my Son"[c]? 6And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
"Let all God's angels worship him."[d] 7In speaking of the angels he says,
"He makes his angels winds,
his servants flames of fire."[e] 8But about the Son he says,
"Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever,
and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.
9You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy."[f] 10He also says,
"In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
11They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
12You will roll them up like a robe;
like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
and your years will never end."[g] 13To which of the angels did God ever say,
"Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet"[h]? 14Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
John 13:3-16
3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
7Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
8"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."
9"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"
10Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." 11For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
12When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
September 1, 2008
Titles And Responsibilities
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READ: John 13:3-16
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. —John 13:14
Research conducted by a leading compensation technology firm found that among employees planning to leave their companies, a majority felt they were underpaid. Fewer than 20 percent of them, however, were receiving less than the industry standard for their duties.
Bill Coleman, of Salary.com, believes that many unhappy workers are overtitled rather than underpaid. Some companies give employees lofty titles even though their job responsibilities have not increased. In time, employees feel they deserve more money than their actual duties merit. “When it comes to salary,” Coleman says, “it’s what you do, not what you’re called, that counts.”
It’s interesting how Jesus dealt with the issue of titles and responsibilities. During the Last Supper, He performed the task of a lowly servant by washing His disciples’ feet, setting the stage for His astonishing statement about humility: “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:13-14).
Christ the Lord set the example for all who would follow Him, confirming that it’s not what we’re called, but what we do that counts. — David C. McCasland
When Jesus took a servant’s towel—
His honor set aside—
He humbly showed us how to serve,
And how to conquer pride. —Sper
The more we serve Christ, the less we will serve self.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 1, 2008
Destined To Be Holy
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READ:
. . it is written, ’Be holy, for I am holy’ —1 Peter 1:16
We must continually remind ourselves of the purpose of life. We are not destined to happiness, nor to health, but to holiness. Today we have far too many desires and interests, and our lives are being consumed and wasted by them. Many of them may be right, noble, and good, and may later be fulfilled, but in the meantime God must cause their importance to us to decrease. The only thing that truly matters is whether a person will accept the God who will make him holy. At all costs, a person must have the right relationship with God.
Do I believe I need to be holy? Do I believe that God can come into me and make me holy? If through your preaching you convince me that I am unholy, I then resent your preaching. The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it is designed to reveal my unholiness, but it also awakens an intense yearning and desire within me. God has only one intended destiny for mankind— holiness. His only goal is to produce saints. God is not some eternal blessing-machine for people to use, and He did not come to save us out of pity— He came to save us because He created us to be holy. Atonement through the Cross of Christ means that God can put me back into perfect oneness with Himself through the death of Jesus Christ, without a trace of anything coming between us any longer.
Never tolerate, because of sympathy for yourself or for others, any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means absolute purity of your walk before God, the words coming from your mouth, and every thought in your mind— placing every detail of your life under the scrutiny of God Himself. Holiness is not simply what God gives me, but what God has given me that is being exhibited in my life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Too Busy to Notice - #5646 - September 1, 2008
Category: Your Hard Times
Monday, September 1, 2008
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One of the highlights of my life was the opportunity to visit Israel. I tacked it on to a return trip from South Africa. I hired a private guide, and I went by myself to some sites where I could, well like an old song says, "walk where Jesus walked." Now, I have to tell you, no site meant more to me than the place where many believe Jesus was crucified - "Skull Hill" it's called in the Bible. This particular hill lives up to the name with rock formations on the side of it that look very much like the features of a human skull. As I stood atop that hill, imagining the awful scene that first Good Friday, I was distracted by the noise below me at the foot of the hill. It turns out that the municipal bus depot is down there. And there, in the shadow of this holy ground, are these plumes of bus exhaust, the chaos of passengers hurrying to make their connections, and the total busyness of a city coming and going. It's like people are totally oblivious to what Jesus did for them on Skull Hill.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Too Busy to Notice."
Actually, it was like that when Jesus died on that cross. Skull Hill was on a road that was busy back then, and people probably passed by oblivious to the fact that the only Son of God has was pouring out His life so they wouldn't have to die for their sins. But, then, nothing has really changed.
Our word for today from the Word of God is in Lamentations 1:12 and it asks a haunting question, "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?" I was walking by a church on North LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago and I suddenly noticed a sculpture just above my head; it portrayed Jesus hanging on the cross. And as I watched the cars zooming by and the pedestrians hurrying past, I was moved by the inscription above Jesus' head, "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?"
The truth is that many of us are moving at such a fast pace that we become oblivious to what the Son of God did for us on the cross. Even those of us who at one time came to that cross with all our sin and all our guilt to make Christ our personal Savior from all of that junk. Someone listening today has become too preoccupied to tell about what Jesus did when He died for us. Your life has become so taken over with the daily demands of your family, your work, and your church responsibilities, that telling people that Jesus died for them has been crowded right out of your life. You've forgotten the cross and the life-or-death urgency of telling the people around you about it.
Or maybe you've become too preoccupied with your rat race to live in light of Jesus' cross. 1 Peter 2:24 says, "(Christ) bore our sins in His own body on the tree, so that we might die to sins." But you're living as if you've forgotten that. You are tolerating some of the very sins your Savior died to remove. It's time for you to remember His cross and why He died for you.
And most dangerous of all, you may have been so preoccupied that you have never responded to what Jesus did on the cross for you. The Bible asks, "How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" (Hebrews 2:3). You could miss heaven, not because you rejected Jesus, but just because you neglected Jesus. You just never got around to making your spiritual trip to Skull Hill to have the sins of a lifetime finally forgiven by the Man who died for them - sins erased once and for all. Sins that will keep you out of heaven unless they're forgiven by the only One who can.
If you've never actually begun your personal relationship with Jesus, and if you want that to change today, would you tell Him that right now? And I'd invite you to come to our website. It's called YoursForLife.net. I think you'll find there a very simple, non-religious explanation of how to begin your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Or you could just call toll free actually, for my little booklet called Yours For Life. The number is 877-741-1200. It's easy to run right past Jesus and right past His sacrifice for you, but it can cost you everything.