Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
June 25
An Uncommon Call
The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.
1 Corinthians 12:7 (CEV)
You have one. A divine spark. An uncommon call to an uncommon life.
“The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.” So much for the excuse “I don’t have anything to offer.” Did the apostle Paul say, “The Spirit has given some of us…”? Or, “The Spirit has given a few of us…”? No. “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.” Enough of this self-deprecating “I can’t do anything.”
And enough of its arrogant opposite: “I have to do everything.” No, you don’t! You’re not God’s solution to society, but a solution in society. Imitate Paul, who said, “Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us” (2 Cor. 10:13 NLT). Clarify your contribution.
Don’t worry about skills you don’t have. Don’t covet strengths others do have. Just extract your uniqueness.
Matthew 18
Who Is the Most Important Person in the Kingdom?
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus. They asked him, "Who is the most important person in the kingdom of heaven?"
2 Jesus called a little child over to him. He had the child stand among them. 3 Jesus said, "What I'm about to tell you is true. You need to change and become like little children. If you don't, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Anyone who becomes as free of pride as this child is the most important in the kingdom of heaven.
5 "Anyone who welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.
6 "But what if someone leads one of these little ones who believe in me to sin? If he does, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and be drowned at the bottom of the sea.
7 "How terrible it will be for the world because of the things that lead people to sin! Things like that must come. But how terrible for those who cause them!
8 "If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It would be better for you to enter the kingdom of heaven with only one hand or one foot than to go into hell with two hands and two feet. In hell the fire burns forever. 9 If your eye causes you to sin, poke it out and throw it away. It would be better for you to enter the kingdom of heaven with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
The Story of the Lost Sheep
10-11"See that you don't look down on one of these little ones. Here is what I tell you. Their angels in heaven can go at any time to see my Father who is in heaven.
12 "What do you think? Suppose a man owns 100 sheep and one of them wanders away. Won't he leave the 99 sheep on the hills? Won't he go and look for the one that wandered off? 13 What I'm about to tell you is true. If he finds that sheep, he is happier about the one than about the 99 that didn't wander off. 14 It is the same with your Father in heaven. He does not want any of these little ones to be lost.
When Someone Sins Against You
15 "If your brother sins against you, go to him. Tell him what he did wrong. Keep it between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won him back.
16 "But what if he won't listen to you? Then take one or two others with you. Scripture says, 'Every matter must be proved by the words of two or three witnesses.'—(Deuteronomy 19:15) 17 But what if he also refuses to listen to the witnesses? Then tell it to the church. And what if he refuses to listen even to the church? Then don't treat him as your brother. Treat him as you would treat an ungodly person or a tax collector.
18 "What I'm about to tell you is true. What you lock on earth will be locked in heaven. What you unlock on earth will be unlocked in heaven.
19 "Again, here is what I tell you. Suppose two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for. My Father in heaven will do it for you. 20 Where two or three people meet together in my name, I am there with them."
The Servant Who Had No Mercy
21 Peter came to Jesus. He asked, "Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but 77 times.
23 "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to collect all the money his servants owed him. 24 As the king began to do it, a man who owed him millions of dollars was brought to him. 25 The man was not able to pay. So his master gave an order. The man, his wife, his children, and all he owned had to be sold to pay back what he owed.
26 "The servant fell on his knees in front of him. 'Give me time,' he begged. 'I'll pay everything back.'
27 "His master felt sorry for him. He forgave him what he owed and let him go.
28 "But then that servant went out and found one of the other servants who owed him a few dollars. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he said.
29 "The other servant fell on his knees. 'Give me time,' he begged him. 'I'll pay you back.'
30 "But the first servant refused. Instead, he went and had the man thrown into prison. The man would be held there until he could pay back what he owed. 31 The other servants saw what had happened. It troubled them greatly. They went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 "Then the master called the first servant in. 'You evil servant,' he said. 'I forgave all that you owed me because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on the other servant just as I had mercy on you?' 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers. He would be punished until he paid back everything he owed.
35 "This is how my Father in heaven will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Numbers 14
The People Refuse to Obey the Lord
1 That night all of the people in the community raised their voices. They sobbed out loud.
2 The people of Israel spoke against Moses and Aaron. The whole community said to them, "We wish we had died in Egypt or even in this desert. 3 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land? We're going to be killed with swords. Our enemies will capture our wives and children. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?"
4 They said to one another, "We should choose another leader. We should go back to Egypt."
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell with their faces to the ground. They did it in front of the whole community of Israel that was gathered there.
6 Joshua, the son of Nun, tore his clothes. So did Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. Joshua and Caleb were two of the men who had checked out the land. 7 They spoke to the whole community of Israel. They said, "We passed through the land and checked it out. It's very good. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he'll lead us into that land. It's a land that has plenty of milk and honey. He'll give it to us.
9 "But don't refuse to obey him. And don't be afraid of the people of the land. We will swallow them up. The Lord is with us. So nothing can save them. Don't be afraid of them."
10 But all of the people talked about killing Joshua and Caleb by throwing stones at them.
Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting. All of the people of Israel saw it.
June 25, 2009
Chimp Eden
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READ: Numbers 14:1-10
If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us. —Numbers 14:8
Eugene Cussons rescues chimpanzees. Orphaned by those in the business of bush-meat trade and taken from the jungle as infants, many have lived their entire lives confined in a space smaller than a prison cell. When Cussons arrives to take them to the game reserve he calls “Chimp Eden,” he often finds them hostile and untrusting.
“These chimps don’t realize that I am one of the good guys,” Cussons says. When he tries to put them into a smaller crate for the trip to their new home, they put up quite a fight. “They don’t know that I’m going to take them back to Chimp Eden and give them a life so much better.”
On a much grander scale, God’s offer to liberate us from the slavery of sin is often met with resistance. When He rescued the children of Israel from Egypt, God took them through difficult places that caused them to doubt His good intentions. “Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” they cried (Num. 14:3).
On our journey of faith, there are times when the “freedom” of sin that we left behind is more appealing than the restrictions of faith that lie ahead. We must trust the protective boundaries found in God’s Word as the only way to get to the place of ultimate freedom. — Julie Ackerman Link
Sin’s lure may look like freedom
But in its grip we’re bound;
It’s when we’re bound to Jesus
Real freedom will be found. —D. De Haan
Obedience to God is the key to freedom.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 25, 2009
Receiving Yourself in the Fires of Sorrow
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READ:
. . . what shall I say? ’Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. ’Father, glorify Your name’ —John 12:27-28
As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour.
We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.
Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. But if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away. If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Going Where You've Never Gone - Seeing What You've Never Seen - #5859
Thursday, June 25, 2009
One of our staff came back from his vacation and reported on how exciting it had been for him and his family to see the sights of Washington, D.C. I asked him if he had ever been to the nation's Capitol before, and he said, "No. None of them had ever seen it." He went on to explain, "You know I'm sort of a hometown kind of guy." And that's true. He actually has lived most of his life within a relatively short distance of home base. My friend said, "I sort of had to stretch to do this, but I'm really glad we did."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Going Where You've Never Gone - Seeing What You've Never Seen."
My friend actually had to move out of where he felt comfortable to experience some exciting things he'd never experienced before. So do you and I. That is, in fact, a fundamental principle of getting all our Lord Jesus wants us to experience. And maybe it's important we talk about that today, because someone who's listening may be stuck in their comfort zone, missing some scary but exciting things that God wants you to see.
I love the picture that God gives of this dynamic in Matthew 14, beginning with verse 25, our word for today from the Word of God. Jesus had told His disciples to go on across the Sea of Galilee without Him. They encountered a violent storm, during which, the Bible says, "Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake." The disciples were understandably freaked out. The Bible says, "but Jesus immediately said to them: 'Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.' 'Lord, if it's You,' Peter replied, 'tell me to come to You on the water.' 'Come,' Jesus said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came to Jesus."
Peter did what no man, other than Jesus, had ever done before or has ever done since: he walked on water! The boat was obviously the safe place to be. But Peter was willing to leave where it was safe on one condition, "Lord, if it's You." And that's got to be our bottom line, too. Is that You, Lord, leading me out of the boat I've been in and out into the "wild water" of something new? If it's You, I'm going!
Like my friend who saw some memorable new things when he moved beyond where he felt comfortable, you will see powerful things you've never seen before if you'll get out of the boat. God is leading you beyond where you feel adequate, where you can figure it out, where you can pull it off. But what a great place to be - you're in the miracle zone! He's leading you into a new episode where you'll need Him more than you've ever needed Him before and have Him as you've never had Him before. It's not the water that's going to hold you up, it's Jesus. You're headed where it's going to be not much of you and a whole lot of God! That is something to be excited about!
One day this same Peter who dared to get out of the boat would be led by his Lord to preach the Gospel boldly on the streets of Jerusalem, calling to Christ some of the very people who had wanted Jesus crucified. (Talk about getting out of your comfort zone!) And Jesus would ask him to go where no Jew ever thought he'd go - to introduce those nasty Gentiles to Jesus.
Once you stop defining your decisions by what's comfortable, once you follow Jesus into a place where He is everything, you have begun to blow the lid off your life. Living by faith turns out to be the only really safe way there is to live! But you'll never walk on water if you never get out of the boat!
