Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
February 28
LORD, teach me what you want me to do, and I will live by your truth.
Psalm 86:11 (NCV)
When kindness comes grudgingly, we'll remember God's kindness to
us and ask Him to make us more kind.
When patience is scarce, we'll thank Him for His and ask Him to make us
more patient.
When it's hard to forgive, we won't list all the times we've been given
grief. Rather, we'll list all the times we've been given grace and pray to
become more forgiving.
Song of Solomon 2
Beloved [d]
1 I am a rose [e] of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
Lover
2 Like a lily among thorns
is my darling among the maidens.
Beloved
3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest
is my lover among the young men.
I delight to sit in his shade,
and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
4 He has taken me to the banquet hall,
and his banner over me is love.
5 Strengthen me with raisins,
refresh me with apples,
for I am faint with love.
6 His left arm is under my head,
and his right arm embraces me.
7 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.
8 Listen! My lover!
Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Look! There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattice.
10 My lover spoke and said to me,
"Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, and come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me."
Lover
14 My dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the hiding places on the mountainside,
show me your face,
let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
15 Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
our vineyards that are in bloom.
Beloved
16 My lover is mine and I am his;
he browses among the lilies.
17 Until the day breaks
and the shadows flee,
turn, my lover,
and be like a gazelle
or like a young stag
on the rugged hills. [f]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Matthew 22:34-40 (New International Version)
The Greatest Commandment
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[a] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
February 28, 2009
Fever Pitch
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Matthew 22:34-40
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. —Matthew 22:39
In the movie Fever Pitch, Ben Wrightman is crazy about the Boston Red Sox baseball team. He rarely misses a game during the spring and summer months.
One winter, Ben falls in love with a young woman named Lindsey and wins her heart. Then spring rolls around, and she finds out that he’s a different person during baseball season. He has no time for her unless she goes to the games with him.
When Lindsey ends her relationship with Ben because of his fanaticism, he talks with a young friend, who says, “You love the Sox. But tell me, have they ever loved you back?” Those words cause Ben to analyze his priorities and to give more time to the woman he loves, who loves him back.
We pour our lives into hobbies, pleasures, activities, work—many good things. But two things should always be thought about when making our choices. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart . . . . You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37,39).
When it seems our life is getting out of balance, the question, “Has that hobby or activity or thing ever loved me back?” may help to keep us in check. Loving God and loving people are what really count. — Anne Cetas
Follow with reverent steps the great example
Of Him whose holy work was doing good:
So shall the wide earth seem our Father’s temple,
Each loving life a psalm of gratitude. —Whittier
We show our love for God when we share His love with others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 28, 2009
'Do You Now Believe?'
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READ:
’By this we believe . . . .’ Jesus answered them, ’Do you now believe?’ —John 16:30-31
Now we believe. . . ." But Jesus asks, "Do you . . . ? Indeed the hour is coming . . . that you . . . will leave Me alone" ( John 16:31-32 ). Many Christian workers have left Jesus Christ alone and yet tried to serve Him out of a sense of duty, or because they sense a need as a result of their own discernment. The reason for this is actually the absence of the resurrection life of Jesus. Our soul has gotten out of intimate contact with God by leaning on our own religious understanding (see Proverbs 3:5-6 ). This is not deliberate sin and there is no punishment attached to it. But once a person realizes how he has hindered his understanding of Jesus Christ, and caused uncertainties, sorrows, and difficulties for himself, it is with shame and remorse that he has to return.
We need to rely on the resurrection life of Jesus on a much deeper level than we do now. We should get in the habit of continually seeking His counsel on everything, instead of making our own commonsense decisions and then asking Him to bless them. He cannot bless them; it is not in His realm to do so, and those decisions are severed from reality. If we do something simply out of a sense of duty, we are trying to live up to a standard that competes with Jesus Christ. We become a prideful, arrogant person, thinking we know what to do in every situation. We have put our sense of duty on the throne of our life, instead of enthroning the resurrection life of Jesus. We are not told to "walk in the light" of our conscience or in the light of a sense of duty, but to "walk in the light asHe is in the light. . ." ( 1 John 1:7 ). When we do something out of a sense of duty, it is easy to explain the reasons for our actions to others. But when we do something out of obedience to the Lord, there can be no other explanation-just obedience. That is why a saint can be so easily ridiculed and misunderstood.