Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
July 5
There will be no more death, sadness, crying, or pain, because all the old ways are gone.
Revelation 21:4 (NCV)
Folks, if you're expecting to be given a fair shake in your life, forget it! You won't be.
You're going to face illness. And your body is going to wear out. You may be the victim of someone else's mistake.
But you can get through those tough times if you prepare your heart now, living to know and serve the Savior who loves you and died so that you might have an eternal home free of pain and sorrow.
From: Everyday Blessings
Copyright (J. Countryman, 2004)
Max Lucado
1 Corinthians 13
Love
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Matthew 25:31-40
The Sheep and the Goats
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
July 5, 2008
Finders Keepers
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READ: Matthew 25:31-40
Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me. —Matthew 25:40
People who find something of value are generally eager to keep it. In such cases, the notion of “finders keepers” seems like a good thing. But what if the thing we find is a problem? In that case, we’re eager to give it up.
While working for the US Justice Department, Gary Haugen discovered a big problem. Someone needs to do something about this, he thought. He looked around for someone who could take on the injustice and abuse of authority he had uncovered. But then he realized that God was looking at him. In 1997, Haugen founded International Justice Mission to rescue victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery, and oppression.
Just as Moses was God’s answer for the slavery of His people in Egypt (Ex. 3:9-10), so too Haugen and his team are becoming God’s answer for those in slavery today. As Haugen says, “God doesn’t have a Plan B. His plan is you. You are the answer.”
God places us in unique circumstances where our abilities match the problem He wants to fix. Jesus said that what we do for those in need, we do for Him (Matt. 25:35-40).
Have you found a problem? How might you be God’s solution? God may want you to be an answer to someone’s prayer. — Julie Ackerman Link
By God’s design, there lies in wait for you
Important work that no one else can do.
Just as the planets find their paths through space,
You too must grow to fill your proper place. —Thayer
When God shows you a problem, He may ask you to be His solution.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 5, 2008
Don’t Plan Without God
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READ:
Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass —Psalm 37:5
Don’t plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him— that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.
In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our "spiritual face" before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.
Don’t plan with a concern for evil in mind. Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? "Love . . . thinks no evil" ( 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 ). Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning. When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint.
Don’t plan with a rainy day in mind. You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled . . ." (John 14:1 ). God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command— "Let not. . . ." To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind.
It’s Inexplicable
Saturday, July 05, 2008
“The LORD who saves you is the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 49:7
Even after generations of people had spit in his face, he still loved them. After a nation of chosen ones had stripped him naked and ripped his incarnated flesh, he still died for them. And even today, after billions have chosen to prostitute themselves before the pimps of power, fame, and wealth, he still waits for them.
It is inexplicable. It doesn’t have a drop of logic nor a thread of rationality.
And yet, it is that very irrationality that gives the gospel its greatest defense. For only God could love like that…
How absurd to think that such nobility would go to such poverty to share such a treasure with such thankless souls.
But he did.
From Max Lucado's Daily Devotion
