Max Lucado Daily: God is Everywhere
God is Everywhere
Posted: 10 May 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” Psalm 139:7-8, NIV
Our asking “Where is God?” is like a fish asking “Where is water?” or a bird asking “Where is air?” God is everywhere! Equally present in Peking and Peoria. As active in the lives of Icelanders as in the lives of Texans.
We cannot find a place where God is not.
Mark 3
Doing Good on the Sabbath
1-3 Then he went back in the meeting place where he found a man with a crippled hand. The Pharisees had their eyes on Jesus to see if he would heal him, hoping to catch him in a Sabbath infraction. He said to the man with the crippled hand, "Stand here where we can see you."
4Then he spoke to the people: "What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?" No one said a word.
5-6He looked them in the eye, one after another, angry now, furious at their hard-nosed religion. He said to the man, "Hold out your hand." He held it out—it was as good as new! The Pharisees got out as fast as they could, sputtering about how they would join forces with Herod's followers and ruin him.
The Twelve Apostles
7-10Jesus went off with his disciples to the sea to get away. But a huge crowd from Galilee trailed after them—also from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, across the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon—swarms of people who had heard the reports and had come to see for themselves. He told his disciples to get a boat ready so he wouldn't be trampled by the crowd. He had healed many people, and now everyone who had something wrong was pushing and shoving to get near and touch him.
11-12Evil spirits, when they recognized him, fell down and cried out, "You are the Son of God!" But Jesus would have none of it. He shut them up, forbidding them to identify him in public.
13-19He climbed a mountain and invited those he wanted with him. They climbed together. He settled on twelve, and designated them apostles. The plan was that they would be with him, and he would send them out to proclaim the Word and give them authority to banish demons. These are the Twelve:
Simon (Jesus later named him Peter, meaning "Rock"),
James, son of Zebedee,
John, brother of James (Jesus nicknamed the Zebedee brothers Boanerges, meaning "Sons of Thunder"),
Andrew,
Philip,
Bartholomew,
Matthew,
Thomas,
James, son of Alphaeus,
Thaddaeus,
Simon the Canaanite,
Judas Iscariot (who betrayed him).
Satan Fighting Satan?
20-21Jesus came home and, as usual, a crowd gathered—so many making demands on him that there wasn't even time to eat. His friends heard what was going on and went to rescue him, by force if necessary. They suspected he was getting carried away with himself.
22-27The religion scholars from Jerusalem came down spreading rumors that he was working black magic, using devil tricks to impress them with spiritual power. Jesus confronted their slander with a story: "Does it make sense to send a devil to catch a devil, to use Satan to get rid of Satan? A constantly squabbling family disintegrates. If Satan were fighting Satan, there soon wouldn't be any Satan left. Do you think it's possible in broad daylight to enter the house of an awake, able-bodied man, and walk off with his possessions unless you tie him up first? Tie him up, though, and you can clean him out.
28-30"Listen to this carefully. I'm warning you. There's nothing done or said that can't be forgiven. But if you persist in your slanders against God's Holy Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives, sawing off the branch on which you're sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives." He gave this warning because they were accusing him of being in league with Evil.
Jesus' Mother and Brothers
31-32Just then his mother and brothers showed up. Standing outside, they relayed a message that they wanted a word with him. He was surrounded by the crowd when he was given the message, "Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside looking for you."
33-35Jesus responded, "Who do you think are my mother and brothers?" Looking around, taking in everyone seated around him, he said, "Right here, right in front of you—my mother and my brothers. Obedience is thicker than blood. The person who obeys God's will is my brother and sister and mother."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Ephesians 6:1-6
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 "Honor your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise--
3 "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Slaves and Masters
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.
6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.
Dilbert
May 11, 2010 — by Dennis Fisher
. . not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. —Ephesians 6:6
Cartoonist Scott Adams has become famous for his humorous cartoon strip “Dilbert.” He also wrote a book in the 1990s called The Dilbert Principle. In it he mocks technology, leadership fads, and incompetent managers. Many laugh out loud at the connections the book makes with their own work-a-day world.
Regarding employee laziness and deceit, the author writes: “When it comes to avoiding work, it is fair to say I studied with the masters. After nine years . . . I learned just about everything there is to know about looking busy without actually being busy.”
Believers, however, have a much higher calling when it comes to dealing with employers. In the Scriptures, we are encouraged to exhibit a respectful attitude toward those who supervise us: “Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart” (Eph. 6:5-6).
The right work ethic begins with a heart of sincerity in which we consider Jesus Christ our employer. We please Him when we diligently serve our boss and others in the workplace.
Whatever task you find to do,
Regardless if it’s big or small,
Perform it well, with all your heart,
Because there’s One who sees it all. —Sper
No matter who your boss is, you are really working for God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 11, 2010
"Love One Another"
. . . add to your . . . brotherly kindness love —2 Peter 1:5, 7
Love is an indefinite thing to most of us; we don’t know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the loftiest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this sovereign preference be for Himself (see Luke 14:26 ). Initially, when “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” ( Romans 5:5 ), it is easy to put Jesus first. But then we must practice the things mentioned in 2 Peter 1 to see them worked out in our lives.
The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, “. . . love one another as I have loved you” ( John 15:12 ). He is saying, “I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you.” This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable— it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.
“The Lord . . . is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish . . .” ( 2 Peter 3:9 ). I should look within and remember how wonderfully He has dealt with me. The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. I may get irritated because I have to live with an unusually difficult person. But just think how disagreeable I have been with God! Am I prepared to be identified so closely with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured out through Me? Neither natural love nor God’s divine love will remain and grow in me unless it is nurtured. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Infallible Umpire - #6087
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
They take more abuse than anyone in professional baseball. More than the managers who make some dumb decisions. More than the players who mess up. No, it's those umpires that many fans love to hate. Oh sure, they make some calls the fans don't like or agree with, but I'd hate to think of a ball game without some objective official deciding whether the pitch is a ball or a strike, or whether a hit is foul or fair. I mean, it would be chaos without the umpire. Perhaps the place he's needed the most - and sometimes appreciated the least - is those close judgment calls when the runner and the ball arrive at the base at the same time. Everyone holds their breath as the umpire signals his verdict "Safe!" or "Out!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Infallible Umpire."
The umpire decides what's safe or out in baseball - a decision which should not be left to the players themselves. Of course, baseball is just a game. It's in the decisions we make in our everyday lives that we could use a good umpire - one who could make a call as to whether what we're considering is safe for us or out. From God's perspective, that is, the only perspective that is never wrong - that's always best.
If you've been around Christian things very long, you know about the importance of trying to find out what the "will of God" is in the decisions that define our life. Well, that's easier said than done. Not because God is trying to hide His plan for us, but because we have a hard time discerning what's His will and what's my will. We know His plans are much better than ours. But we're pretty caught up in our own plans, and it's often confusing to figure out what is God's will for us.
But God has provided an umpire that will make the call for us. He writes to us about it in Colossians 3:15-16, our word for today from the Word of God. "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts...and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." That word "rule" carries an interesting connotation in the original Greek language of the New Testament. It suggests someone officiating at an athletic contest. "Let the peace of Christ 'be the umpire' in your hearts." Or, let Christ's peace decide whether something is "safe" for you or "out" for you.
When you're struggling with a decision, one helpful guideline in getting it right is this: trust what you have peace about in the times when you are in God's presence. In other words, believe what you feel most consistently when you're praying fervently about that decision. That peace tends to get compromised as we get up from our knees and start listening to all those other voices and to our roller coaster feelings. But the peace of Christ is clearest when we're closest to Him. It doesn't mean the absence of doubts or questions, but a sense of rightness about a certain course, especially when we're listening to Him alone.
That "peace of Christ" is, of course, tied directly to having the "word of Christ" permeating your life. The shaft of light shining on the right road comes as God illuminates a verse from His Word and makes it an arrow that points His direction. Those who don't spend regular time in the Word of God are unlikely to recognize the will of God. As are those who come seeking God's direction, full of their own will. Many have missed God's best because they tried to manipulate God or His Word so that their will would be God's will. It does not work that way.
You'll never know what God wants if you come to Him with a contract containing what you want Him to sign for. You have to come to Him with a blank piece of paper, signed by you, accepting sight unseen what He writes there. The most powerful prayer in the Bible may be Jesus' eight words in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Yet not My will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42).
God promised that He would "...instruct you and teach you in the way you should go" (Psalm 32:8). And if you believe Him for the answers He promised, you'll experience the peace of Christ over the road He wants you to take - God's infallible umpire to let you know if it's "safe" or "out."