Max Lucado Daily: His Public Offer
His Public Offer
Posted: 22 Apr 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“All of us became part of Christ when we were baptized.” Romans 6:3
We owe God a perfect life. Perfect obedience to every command. Not just the command of baptism, but the commands of humility, honesty, integrity. We can’t deliver. Might as well charge us for the property of Manhattan. But Christ can and he did. His plunge into the Jordan is a picture of his plunge into our sin. His baptism announces, “Let me pay.”
Your baptism responds, “You bet I will.” He publicly offers. We publicly accept.
Nehemiah 4
"I Stationed Armed Guards"
1-2When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall he exploded in anger, vilifying the Jews. In the company of his Samaritan cronies and military he let loose: "What are these miserable Jews doing? Do they think they can get everything back to normal overnight? Make building stones out of make-believe?"
3 At his side, Tobiah the Ammonite jumped in and said, "That's right! What do they think they're building? Why, if a fox climbed that wall, it would fall to pieces under his weight."
4-5 Nehemiah prayed, "Oh listen to us, dear God. We're so despised: Boomerang their ridicule on their heads; have their enemies cart them off as war trophies to a land of no return; don't forgive their iniquity, don't wipe away their sin—they've insulted the builders!"
6 We kept at it, repairing and rebuilding the wall. The whole wall was soon joined together and halfway to its intended height because the people had a heart for the work.
7-9 When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairs of the walls of Jerusalem were going so well—that the breaks in the wall were being fixed—they were absolutely furious. They put their heads together and decided to fight against Jerusalem and create as much trouble as they could. We countered with prayer to our God and set a round-the-clock guard against them.
10 But soon word was going around in Judah,
The builders are pooped,
the rubbish piles up;
We're in over our heads,
we can't build this wall.
11-12 And all this time our enemies were saying, "They won't know what hit them. Before they know it we'll be at their throats, killing them right and left. That will put a stop to the work!" The Jews who were their neighbors kept reporting, "They have us surrounded; they're going to attack!" If we heard it once, we heard it ten times.
13-14 So I stationed armed guards at the most vulnerable places of the wall and assigned people by families with their swords, lances, and bows. After looking things over I stood up and spoke to the nobles, officials, and everyone else: "Don't be afraid of them. Put your minds on the Master, great and awesome, and then fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes."
15-18 Our enemies learned that we knew all about their plan and that God had frustrated it. And we went back to the wall and went to work. From then on half of my young men worked while the other half stood guard with lances, shields, bows, and mail armor. Military officers served as backup for everyone in Judah who was at work rebuilding the wall. The common laborers held a tool in one hand and a spear in the other. Each of the builders had a sword strapped to his side as he worked. I kept the trumpeter at my side to sound the alert.
19-20 Then I spoke to the nobles and officials and everyone else: "There's a lot of work going on and we are spread out all along the wall, separated from each other. When you hear the trumpet call, join us there; our God will fight for us."
21 And so we kept working, from first light until the stars came out, half of us holding lances.
22 I also instructed the people, "Each person and his helper is to stay inside Jerusalem—guards by night and workmen by day."
23 We all slept in our clothes—I, my brothers, my workmen, and the guards backing me up. And each one kept his spear in his hand, even when getting water.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Eccl 3:1-13
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What does the worker gain from his toil?
10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.
13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil--this is the gift of God.
Longing For Spring
April 23, 2010 — by Julie Ackerman Link
Read: Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives. —Ecclesiastes 3:12
Bible in a year:
2 Samuel 16-18; Luke 17:20-37
It’s been a long, cold winter, and I am eager for warm weather. I’m tired of seeing bare trees and lifeless brown leaves covering the ground. I long to see wildflowers poke through the dead leaves and to watch the woods turn green once more.
Yet even as I anticipate my favorite season, I hear my mother’s voice saying, “Don’t wish your life away.”
If you’re like me, you sometimes hear yourself saying, “When such and such happens, then I will . . . or, If only so and so would do this, then I would do that . . . or, I would be happy if . . . or, I will be satisfied when . . .”
In longing for some future good, we forget that every day—regardless of the weather or our circumstances—is a gift from God to be used for His glory.
According to author Ron Ash, “We are where we need to be and learning what we need to learn. Stay the course because the things we experience today will lead us to where He needs us to be tomorrow.”
In every season, there is a reason to rejoice and an opportunity to do good (Eccl. 3:12). The challenge for each of us every day is to find something to rejoice about and some good to do—and then to do both.
Just as the winter turns to spring,
Our lives have changing seasons too;
So when a gloomy forecast comes,
Remember—God has plans for you. —Sper
Every season brings a reason to rejoice.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 23, 2010
Do You Worship The Work?
We are God’s fellow workers . . . —1 Corinthians 3:9
Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number of Christian workers worship their work. The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God. This will mean that all the other boundaries of life, whether they are mental, moral, or spiritual limits, are completely free with the freedom God gives His child; that is, a worshiping child, not a wayward one. A worker who lacks this serious controlling emphasis of concentration on God is apt to become overly burdened by his work. He is a slave to his own limits, having no freedom of his body, mind, or spirit. Consequently, he becomes burned out and defeated. There is no freedom and no delight in life at all. His nerves, mind, and heart are so overwhelmed that God’s blessing cannot rest on him.
But the opposite case is equally true–once our concentration is on God, all the limits of our life are free and under the control and mastery of God alone. There is no longer any responsibility on you for the work. The only responsibility you have is to stay in living constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to hinder your cooperation with Him. The freedom that comes after sanctification is the freedom of a child, and the things that used to hold your life down are gone. But be careful to remember that you have been freed for only one thing–to be absolutely devoted to your co-Worker.
We have no right to decide where we should be placed, or to have preconceived ideas as to what God is preparing us to do. God engineers everything; and wherever He places us, our one supreme goal should be to pour out our lives in wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might . . .” (Ecclesiastes 9:10 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Seeds You're Planting - #6075
Friday, April 23, 2010
With my wife growing up in the South, she looked forward to a spring that was getting under way by early or mid-March. With me growing up in the North, I got used to spring beginning a little later than that. And in some places in the North, if you miss the Fourth of July weekend, you may miss summer. But let's stick with spring right now. Some people look for the first robin, let's say, to mark the end of winter. For my wife, it was the daffodils. Those bright yellow flowers were the harbingers of spring for her - as well as a way to mark her early spring birthday. Living in the North, I've had to really do some creative florist work to try to get her some birthday daffodils. Of course, it's cheaper than paying for counseling for her, right? But this year, she got to pick the first daffodils at Grandma and Granddad's old farmstead. Grandma's been gone for quite a while now, but the flowers she planted a long time ago are still blooming.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Seeds You're Planting."
You may have never worked in a garden in your life. But you're planting seeds, whether you realize it or not. In fact, some of what's happening in your life today - for better and for worse - is the harvest of some seeds you planted years ago. And, as the Bible makes crystal clear, "A man reaps what he sows" (Galatians 6:7).
One of the Bible's great planting promises is in Psalm 126:6, our word for today from the Word of God. The Lord says, "He who goes out with weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.' There are things you really hope and pray will happen in the lives of people that you love, in your life's work, or in your personal world. Your job isn't the harvest - God does that part. Your job is to keep faithfully sowing the kind of seed that can bring about the results you so passionately want. And, like Grandma's daffodils, the legacy of your life will go on blooming and beautifying people's lives long after you're gone.
And you have to keep that long view to keep from becoming discouraged with the short-term results. Seed planted in the ground appears to be doing absolutely nothing for a while. Seed planted in people's lives is often the same way. The danger is that we'll keep digging up the seed to see if anything's happening - and, in so doing, we'll doom the very harvest we're hoping for. That "digging up the seed" is things like nagging, panicking, giving up, turning hard, or turning bitter. So many have given up on the garden they've planted just before it was about to bloom. That's what God is trying to head off when He says in Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Maybe you've lost the long view recently. You're seeing tasks you have to do instead of lives at stake. You've been settling for making a living when you're here to make a difference! Maybe you've been neglecting your spiritual garden - the sowing you need to be doing in the life of your husband or wife, your children, your coworkers, your students, people God has given you to influence. It's time to remove the zoom lens that's focused on just what's happening today and replace it with God's wide-angle lens that shows you the big picture...the legacy of your life when you live it righteously. That's the big picture. Don't sow seeds of bitterness, cynicism, criticism, or of negativity. Life's too short for that.
Sow the seeds of God's unconditional love, of God's dependable promises - Jesus-seed. The harvest will come - some while you're here, some after you're gone. But think legacy, so the seed sown by your life will still be blooming and beautifying long after you're gone!