Max Lucado Daily: It’s Not What You Do
It’s Not What You Do
Posted: 07 Mar 2010 10:01 PM PST
“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ.” Romans 8:1 NIV
There is never a point at which you are any less saved than you were the first moment Christ saved you. Just because you were grumpy at breakfast doesn’t mean you were condemned at breakfast. When you lost your temper yesterday, you didn’t lose your salvation. Your name doesn’t disappear and reappear in the book of life according to your moods and actions . . .
You are saved, not because of what you do, but because of what Christ did.
Isaiah 40
Messages of Comfort
Prepare for God's Arrival
1-2 "Comfort, oh comfort my people,"
says your God.
"Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem,
but also make it very clear
That she has served her sentence,
that her sin is taken care of—forgiven!
She's been punished enough and more than enough,
and now it's over and done with."
3-5Thunder in the desert!
"Prepare for God's arrival!
Make the road straight and smooth,
a highway fit for our God.
Fill in the valleys,
level off the hills,
Smooth out the ruts,
clear out the rocks.
Then God's bright glory will shine
and everyone will see it.
Yes. Just as God has said."
6-8A voice says, "Shout!"
I said, "What shall I shout?"
"These people are nothing but grass,
their love fragile as wildflowers.
The grass withers, the wildflowers fade,
if God so much as puffs on them.
Aren't these people just so much grass?
True, the grass withers and the wildflowers fade,
but our God's Word stands firm and forever."
9-11Climb a high mountain, Zion.
You're the preacher of good news.
Raise your voice. Make it good and loud, Jerusalem.
You're the preacher of good news.
Speak loud and clear. Don't be timid!
Tell the cities of Judah,
"Look! Your God!"
Look at him! God, the Master, comes in power,
ready to go into action.
He is going to pay back his enemies
and reward those who have loved him.
Like a shepherd, he will care for his flock,
gathering the lambs in his arms,
Hugging them as he carries them,
leading the nursing ewes to good pasture.
The Creator of All You Can See or Imagine
12-17Who has scooped up the ocean
in his two hands,
or measured the sky between his thumb and little finger,
Who has put all the earth's dirt in one of his baskets,
weighed each mountain and hill?
Who could ever have told God what to do
or taught him his business?
What expert would he have gone to for advice,
what school would he attend to learn justice?
What god do you suppose might have taught him what he knows,
showed him how things work?
Why, the nations are but a drop in a bucket,
a mere smudge on a window.
Watch him sweep up the islands
like so much dust off the floor!
There aren't enough trees in Lebanon
nor enough animals in those vast forests
to furnish adequate fuel and offerings for his worship.
All the nations add up to simply nothing before him—
less than nothing is more like it. A minus.
18-20So who even comes close to being like God?
To whom or what can you compare him?
Some no-god idol? Ridiculous!
It's made in a workshop, cast in bronze,
Given a thin veneer of gold,
and draped with silver filigree.
Or, perhaps someone will select a fine wood—
olive wood, say—that won't rot,
Then hire a woodcarver to make a no-god,
giving special care to its base so it won't tip over!
21-24Have you not been paying attention?
Have you not been listening?
Haven't you heard these stories all your life?
Don't you understand the foundation of all things?
God sits high above the round ball of earth.
The people look like mere ants.
He stretches out the skies like a canvas—
yes, like a tent canvas to live under.
He ignores what all the princes say and do.
The rulers of the earth count for nothing.
Princes and rulers don't amount to much.
Like seeds barely rooted, just sprouted,
They shrivel when God blows on them.
Like flecks of chaff, they're gone with the wind.
25-26"So—who is like me?
Who holds a candle to me?" says The Holy.
Look at the night skies:
Who do you think made all this?
Who marches this army of stars out each night,
counts them off, calls each by name
—so magnificent! so powerful!—
and never overlooks a single one?
27-31Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,
or, whine, Israel, saying,
"God has lost track of me.
He doesn't care what happens to me"?
Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening?
God doesn't come and go. God lasts.
He's Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath.
And he knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don't get tired,
they walk and don't lag behind.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Luke 15
The Story of the Lost Sheep
1-3By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends." Their grumbling triggered this story.
4-7"Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.
March 8, 2010
To The Rescue
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Luke 15:1-7
There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. —Luke 15:7
Martie and I recently traveled to some major cities in several countries. We were struck with how lost our world is and grieved over the millions who have never heard the message of the saving grace of Jesus. The thought of reaching our world for Christ felt overwhelming.
Until I remembered the story of the boy walking on a beach. Encountering hundreds of starfish dying under the heat of the burning sun, he started throwing them back into the sea. A passerby asked, “What are you doing?” “Saving their lives,” the boy replied. “Forget it,” the man said. “You can’t possibly save all these starfish.” “Right,” replied the boy, “but it makes a big difference to each one I do save.”
I love the boy’s perspective. When the wave of sin threw us onto the shore to die, God sent His Son to walk on the beach to rescue all who would repent. And, as Jesus told His listeners in Luke 15, each time someone is rescued, heaven throws a party. “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7).
Has heaven rejoiced over your rescue? If so, join the ranks of those who reach other lost souls with the rescuing grace of Jesus. — Joe Stowell
Your love, O God, would spare no pain
To conquer death and win;
You sent Your only Son to die
To rescue us from sin. —M. Gustafson
When you’ve been rescued, you’ll want to rescue others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 8, 2010
The Surrendered Life
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
I have been crucified with Christ . . . —Galatians 2:20
To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not only to give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at things. Being born again by the Spirit of God means that we must first be willing to let go before we can grasp something else. The first thing we must surrender is all of our pretense or deceit. What our Lord wants us to present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do better, but real solid sin. Actually, that is all He can take from us. And what He gives us in exchange for our sin is real solid righteousness. But we must surrender all pretense that we are anything, and give up all our claims of even being worthy of God’s consideration.
Once we have done that, the Spirit of God will show us what we need to surrender next. Along each step of this process, we will have to give up our claims to our rights to ourselves. Are we willing to surrender our grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in our lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?
We will suffer a sharp painful disillusionment before we fully surrender. When people really see themselves as the Lord sees them, it is not the terribly offensive sins of the flesh that shock them, but the awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ. When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, horror, and desperate conviction hit home for them.
If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender, make a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that you have and all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do all that He requires of you.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Difference Between List and Death - #6041
Monday, March 8, 2010
The cable news people called it a miracle. So did the man whose alive today because of what happened. He'd gone out for an afternoon on his boat off the coast of California. He didn't expect that sudden high wind that hit his vessel and threw him catapulting over the rail and into the water. The boat continued moving with its propellers nearly cutting him to pieces. He escaped that danger with relatively minor cuts, but now he was alone and adrift in those cold waters, knowing that hypothermia would soon set in. He was unable to sustain himself in the water, and he prayed for divine help. At that moment, he saw a balloon floating on the water nearby. He grabbed the balloon. He put it under his shirt to keep him buoyant. There's one problem with balloons - they tend to lose air. And slowly, the balloon that was holding him up did just that.
With hypothermia beginning to set in, he was at the end of his ability to stay alive and stay afloat. He closed his eyes, knowing that death must be near. He said, "All I could do was to begin to say the 23rd Psalm out loud, 'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.' When I got to the part that says, 'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me,' I opened my eyes. And there, floating in front of me, was a board. I grabbed it. I hung on tight. Then, in front of me, I saw a large buoy. I paddled to that buoy, only to be challenged by a huge sea lion." That's when he was sure he was going to die. But that was when, five hours after he'd gone overboard, his brother arrived in a search boat and saved his life.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Difference Between Life and Death."
A man facing a seemingly deadly situation, a series of amazing interventions, and the arrival of the rescuer who was his only hope...just in the nick of time. For someone listening today, that's not just a story from the news. That's your story. Or it's about to be. It's my story and the story of millions of others whose only hope was
a rescue - a spiritual rescue.
Our word for today from the Word of God is really just eight powerful words from Zephaniah 3:17. It simply says, "The Lord your God is mighty to save." He really is. He has both the love and the power to do whatever it takes to save you from the emptiness and the turbulence of a life away from God, and more importantly, from the awful agony of an eternity without Him. God is in the saving business.
Like that man overboard, the Bible says that we're all in a deadly situation from which we cannot save ourselves, and often we don't even know the danger we're in. The Bible says we are "without hope and without God in this world." (Ephesians 2:12); away from the Source of our life because we've hijacked our life from Him. It's called sin: a lifetime of willful choices that have ignored and disobeyed God's laws. And the Bible says, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). We're overboard, we're drifting, and we're dying.
Along the way, the One who is "mighty to save" has sent you some "boards" and "balloons" that would keep you afloat until you could find the real Rescuer. You are alive today by His grace and His intervention in ways you don't even know. He's wanted you to have a chance to grab the hand of His Son, His rescuer from heaven. Because one day you will "walk through the valley of the shadow of death," and your only hope is those four words, "You are with me." If Jesus isn't with you when you enter eternity, you are without hope. If He is with you, you're in heaven forever.
Today, the nail-pierced hand of heaven's Rescuer is reaching for you. The nail prints are there because He had to die so you could live; taking the penalty for your sin on that awful cross. And this day, you have to make your choice about Him. How do you grab His hand? You say, "Jesus, I've done it my way long enough. You died for my sin. I am Yours." In that moment, you're saved, you're rescued, and you're safe.
There's a lot more at our website about how to be sure you belong to Christ. This might be a great time for you to visit there. It's YoursForLife.net. None of us knows how much longer we have to choose life. Let today be the day you grab the hand of that One who is mighty to save.
