Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 24
The Gift of Grace
Those who find me find life, and the LORD will be pleased with them.
Proverbs 8:35 (NCV)
Grace is created by God and given to man.... On the basis of this point alone, Christianity, is set apart from any other religion in the world.... Every other approach to God is a bartering system; if I do this, God will do that. I'm either saved by works (what I do), emotions (what I experience), or knowledge (what I know).
By contrast, Christianity has no whiff of negotiation at all. Man is not the negotiator; indeed, man has no grounds from which to negotiate.
Revelation 21
The New Jerusalem
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
5He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
9One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." 10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia[a]in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits[b] thick,[c] by man's measurement, which the angel was using. 18The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.[d] 21The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
22I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 John 2:12-17
12I write to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
13I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
14I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
Do Not Love the World
15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
October 24, 2008
Satisfaction
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READ: 1 John 2:12-17
The world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. —1 John 2:17
Pornography, once a secretive backdoor industry, is now out in the open. The easy access and anonymity of the Internet have turned it into a multibillion-dollar-a-year “business.” But it leaves a trail of broken families, ineffective Christian leaders, and men who have lost the respect of their loved ones.
The apostle John was known for his great love for Christ and His church. In 1 John 2:12-17, he warned fathers and young men against these three lusts:
The lust of the flesh—the insatiable appetite to indulge in pleasures that inflame the flesh but never satisfy.
The lust of the eyes—wandering eyes that continually want more riches and possessions but always remain covetous.
The pride of life—the vain mind that thirsts for man’s applause. But the glory evaporates quickly.
Pornography damages users and victims alike. It feeds lustful desires in ways that can never satisfy. True satisfaction is found only when we give our affections to eternal things—to a right relationship with our heavenly Father and with those He has created in His image.
“The world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (v.17). — Albert Lee
Many Christian men struggle with the temptations of pornography. Find help by reading When A Man’s Eye Wanders
Inner peace springs out of inner purity.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 24, 2008
The Proper Perspective
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Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ . . . —2 Corinthians 2:14
The proper perspective of a servant of God must not simply be as near to the highest as he can get, but it must be the highest. Be careful that you vigorously maintain God’s perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little. Don’t think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper perspective.
The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching in the procession of Christ’s triumphs. We are not on display in God’s showcase— we are here to exhibit only one thing— the "captivity [of our lives] to the obedience of Christ" ( 2 Corinthians 10:5 ). How small all the other perspectives are! For example, the ones that say, "I am standing all alone, battling for Jesus," or, "I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold down this fort for Him." But Paul said, in essence, "I am in the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are, for I am always led in triumph." Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul’s secret joy was that God took him as a blatant rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive— and that became his purpose. It was Paul’s joy to be a captive of the Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and "we are more than conquerors through Him . . ." ( Romans 8:37 ).
"We are to God the fragrance of Christ . . ." ( 2 Corinthians 2:15 ). We are encompassed with the sweet aroma of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
A Word With You
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The Highest Wall in the World - #5685 - October 24, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Friday, October 24, 2008
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There's something you may not realize about my past. I spent some time in Alcatraz - about a half a day, to be exact. By the time I got inside that infamous prison in San Francisco Bay, there was nobody home. It was a museum! And it's a fascinating place to tour. I took a group of teenagers to Alcatraz one day to tape a radio program there. We spent some time in the area that was used for solitary confinement - they even locked up the teenagers in the main cell block. Frankly, it is a dismal, depressing environment, even when you're just visiting it as a museum. As our tour ended, we were led through a gate and into a scenic area just outside the wall. It was a gorgeous day, and we had a fantastic view of the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the San Francisco skyline. One of the teenagers looked back and mumbled three words, "Only a wall." When I asked what he meant, he said, "Just think, only a wall separated them from all this!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Highest Wall in the World."
It was sad when you looked at it that way. A beautiful world to enjoy, but it was on the other side of a wall. It's even sadder when you realize that many folks who've never been in prison are in that same situation. Missing some beautiful things they were created for because of the wall that keeps them from it; because of the wall that keeps them from the One who has so much that they have spent their whole life looking for.
Our word for today from the Word of God pointedly describes the spiritual condition many of us are in. Isaiah 59:2 bluntly says, "Your sins have separated you from your God." There's the wall. It's there because we have taken a life that our Creator was supposed to run and we've run it ourselves. Even the most religious people have this sin wall. In God's own words, "There is no one righteous, not even one" (Romans 3:10). That's how our best spiritual shot compares with God's perfection.
God is the relationship we've been missing and looking for our whole lives. We're lonely because we don't have His love. We're empty because only He can fill the hole in our heart. We're wondering what the meaning of our life is, but we can't get to the only One who knows, because He put us here. The wall is there. If we die with that wall still there between us and God, it will be there forever. The Bible has a word for that - hell. Even the heaven we want to go to is on the other side of that wall.
The most critical issue in your life is somehow getting the wall down between you and the God who made you. Here's the only way that can happen in God's own words, "God our Savior wants all men to be saved...there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men" (1 Timothy 2:4-5). A ransom is the price you pay to get someone back. Jesus paid that for you when He paid the death penalty for your sin on the cross. The day you take what He paid for with His life is the day the wall comes down.
You don't have to live another day with that wall between you and God if you will tell Jesus today that you want what He died for. You tell Him you want to begin your personal relationship with Him. There's so much God wants you to have. There's so much you have been seeking. What keeps you from it is what keeps you from Him - the wall called sin. Jesus already took care of it. He died for it.
If you're ready for the wall to come down, would you tell Him that right now? "Jesus, I believe You died and it took Your death to remove the wall of my sin. And I believe you walked out of your grave to be alive today to come into my life and forgive my sin. Today, Lord, erase every wrong thing I've ever done from God's book. Only You can, and I am Yours." You may have questions. You may say, "I'd like to know more about this." I'd encourage you to go to our website. That's what it's about. It's YoursForLife.net.
The wall is keeping you from so much only God can give you. And one day it will keep you from heaven. But Jesus, who died for you, stands ready this very moment to tear down that wall. This is your day to have it come down forever.
