Max Lucado Daily: The Careful Gardener
Posted: 26 Aug 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“I gave you this work: to go and produce fruit, fruit that will last.” John 15:16
A good gardener will do what it takes to help a vine bear fruit. What fruit does God want? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These are fruits of the Spirit. And this is what God longs to see in us. And like a careful gardener, he will clip and cut away anything that interferes.
Matthew 2
The Visit of the Magi
1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east[b] and have come to worship him."
3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ[c] was to be born. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'[d]"
7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east[e] went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
The Escape to Egypt
13When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." 14So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."[f]
16When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18"A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."[g]
The Return to Nazareth
19After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."
21So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 15:7-20
7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand.
11 What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'"
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"
13 He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.
14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
15 Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
16 "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.
17 "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?
18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.'
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
20 These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'"
Both Near And Far
August 27, 2010 — by Julie Ackerman Link
Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way. —Psalm 119:37
Everything was quiet in our yard. While I worked at the patio table, our dog, Maggie, lay nearby in the grass. A slight rustling of dry leaves changed everything. Maggie made her move, and suddenly she was circling a tree, where a woodchuck clung tightly to the trunk.
Maggie came when I called, but I couldn’t get her to look at me. Her neck was in a rigidly fixed position. Although she was near me physically, her thoughts and desires were with that woodchuck.
Maggie and the woodchuck remind me of how quickly I become preoccupied with things that take my eyes off Jesus. Old temptations, new responsibilities, or ongoing desires for possessions or pleasure can quickly divert my attention from the One who knows and wants what is best for me.
A similar spiritual condition afflicted the Pharisees (Matt. 15:8-9). They were serving in the temple and instructing others, but their hearts were far from God.
We too can teach and serve at church but be far from God. Even our religious activity becomes meaningless when our focus is not on Jesus. But if we stop being “stiff-necked” (Acts 7:51), the Lord can turn our eyes away from worthless things and revive our hearts.
Some people follow Jesus Christ,
Then obstacles get in their way;
But if they’ll focus on the Lord
They won’t be led astray. —Sper
When Christ is the center of our life, all else comes into proper focus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 27th , 2010
Living Your Theology
Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you . . . —John 12:35
Beware of not acting upon what you see in your moments on the mountaintop with God. If you do not obey the light, it will turn into darkness. “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” ( Matthew 6:23 ). The moment you forsake the matter of sanctification or neglect anything else on which God has given you His light, your spiritual life begins to disintegrate within you. Continually bring the truth out into your real life, working it out into every area, or else even the light that you possess will itself prove to be a curse.
The most difficult person to deal with is the one who has the prideful self-satisfaction of a past experience, but is not working that experience out in his everyday life. If you say you are sanctified, show it. The experience must be so genuine that it shows in your life. Beware of any belief that makes you self-indulgent or self-gratifying; that belief came from the pit of hell itself, regardless of how beautiful it may sound.
Your theology must work itself out, exhibiting itself in your most common everyday relationships. Our Lord said, “. . . unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” ( Matthew 5:20 ). In other words, you must be more moral than the most moral person you know. You may know all about the doctrine of sanctification, but are you working it out in the everyday issues of your life? Every detail of your life, whether physical, moral, or spiritual, is to be judged and measured by the standard of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Only Way to Get Where You Want to Go - #6165
Friday, August 27, 2010
It was a big youth event. And, one of the top contemporary Christian bands around was performing that night in a major arena, and I was part of the program, too. I offered to be a backup singer, but apparently they had that covered. I'm a good backup singer actually. I mean, when I sing, people back up! Actually, I was there to speak that night, and, not to do comedy, and it's a good thing, and I had some Native young people from our summer team there with me. One of them was accompanying me as we tried to connect with some of the team at another entrance. We went through the tunnels that connect the backstage areas of the arena, and everywhere we went, we met those big, beefy security guys. They'd look at my all-access security pass and they'd wave me on. But they weren't quite as friendly to the young team member who was with me. They stopped her and asked her if she had a pass. She didn't. None of the team members did because they weren't on the program. And that's where the magic words came in. They worked for the girl who was with me; they worked every time for the young people who joined me. I would just say, "She's with me. He's with me."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Only Way to Get Where You Want to Go."
One day you and I will reach the end of our journey here on earth and we'll keep our long-scheduled appointment with God Himself. It's an appointment we can't cancel; we can't postpone. The Bible describes it this way: "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). If you're like most people, you're hoping God will welcome you into His heaven. The Bible gives only one other alternative and it's an unthinkable way to spend eternity.
A lot of people aren't going to make it. Jesus said, "only a few find the road that leads to eternal life" (Matthew 7:14). How can you be sure you're going to heaven when you die? We can learn a lot from listening in on a conversation that Jesus had in His last moments before He died on the cross, with a thief who was being crucified on the cross next to Him. It's recorded in Luke 23:42-43, our word for today from the Word of God. The thief speaks first: "'Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.' Jesus answered him, 'Today you will be with Me in paradise.'" This man was guaranteed by Jesus Himself that he would be in heaven that day because of two words, "With Me." When he stood before God, Jesus would say, "He's with Me."
Will He say that when it's your turn to stand before God? See it all depends on what you're depending on to get you to heaven. You can't get in to heaven with the sin of your life still in God's book, and there's only one way for your sin to be erased. The eternal death penalty for your sins has to be paid. On that awful cross, God's Son was actually absorbing that penalty so you would never have to pay it. He did your hell so you could have heaven because He loves you beyond words. The Bible says, "Everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through His name" (Acts 10:43). If you're pinning your hopes for heaven on anything other than Jesus; your religion, your goodness, your Christian family, your Christian beliefs, you're holding onto a ticket that God will never accept.
Jesus described some people with lots of Christianity who will stand before Him on Judgment Day and He will say these four chilling words to them, "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:24). Because they never got past knowing about Him to knowing Him. Don't let that be you. If you've never really pinned all your hopes on Jesus as your only Rescuer from your sin, this could be a very good day to do that; the only day you can be sure of.
I'd love to be able to help you make sure you belong to Him, and I want to encourage you to visit our website. I've put a brief, non-religious explanation there of just how to be sure your sins have been forgiven and that you've traded a spiritual death penalty for guaranteed eternal life. Just go to yoursforlife.net. A lot of people have. yoursforlife.net.
Turn to Jesus and say, "Remember me, Lord." And when you stand at the gates of heaven, you're going in because Jesus will look at you and say those words that decide everything, "He's with Me. She's with Me."