Max Lucado Daily: All Things
All Things
Posted: 29 Sep 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“How long must I stay with you?” Mark 9:19
How long? “Until the rooster sings and the sweat stings and the mallet rings . . .”
How long? “Long enough for every sin to so soak my sinless soul that heaven will turn in horror until my swollen lips pronounce the final transaction: ‘It is finished.’”
Jesus bore all things, believed all things, hoped all things, and endured all things. Every single one.
Job 9
Job
1 Then Job replied:
2 "Indeed, I know that this is true.
But how can a mortal be righteous before God?
3 Though one wished to dispute with him,
he could not answer him one time out of a thousand.
4 His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.
Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
5 He moves mountains without their knowing it
and overturns them in his anger.
6 He shakes the earth from its place
and makes its pillars tremble.
7 He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;
he seals off the light of the stars.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
10 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
miracles that cannot be counted.
11 When he passes me, I cannot see him;
when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.
12 If he snatches away, who can stop him?
Who can say to him, 'What are you doing?'
13 God does not restrain his anger;
even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.
14 "How then can I dispute with him?
How can I find words to argue with him?
15 Though I were innocent, I could not answer him;
I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.
16 Even if I summoned him and he responded,
I do not believe he would give me a hearing.
17 He would crush me with a storm
and multiply my wounds for no reason.
18 He would not let me regain my breath
but would overwhelm me with misery.
19 If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty!
And if it is a matter of justice, who will summon him [c] ?
20 Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me;
if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.
21 "Although I am blameless,
I have no concern for myself;
I despise my own life.
22 It is all the same; that is why I say,
'He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.'
23 When a scourge brings sudden death,
he mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 When a land falls into the hands of the wicked,
he blindfolds its judges.
If it is not he, then who is it?
25 "My days are swifter than a runner;
they fly away without a glimpse of joy.
26 They skim past like boats of papyrus,
like eagles swooping down on their prey.
27 If I say, 'I will forget my complaint,
I will change my expression, and smile,'
28 I still dread all my sufferings,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29 Since I am already found guilty,
why should I struggle in vain?
30 Even if I washed myself with soap [d]
and my hands with washing soda,
31 you would plunge me into a slime pit
so that even my clothes would detest me.
32 "He is not a man like me that I might answer him,
that we might confront each other in court.
33 If only there were someone to arbitrate between us,
to lay his hand upon us both,
34 someone to remove God's rod from me,
so that his terror would frighten me no more.
35 Then I would speak up without fear of him,
but as it now stands with me, I cannot.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Colossians 3:12-17
12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Sweet Praise
September 30, 2010 — by Cindy Hess Kasper
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly . . . singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. —Colossians 3:16
Several years ago, my husband helped to lead a work crew of high school students on a short-term missions trip to a Christian school in an urban community. Unfortunately, Tom had broken his foot shortly before the trip and was supervising the work from a wheelchair. He was discouraged because he wasn’t able to get around as he had hoped.
While he was working on the ground floor, a few of the girls were painting on the third floor. He could hear them singing praise choruses in harmony as their voices echoed down the wide-open staircases. Song after song ministered to him. “It was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard,” he told me later. “And it lifted my spirits.”
Colossians 3 reminds us, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (v.16). Not only were those teenage girls giving sweet praise to God, they were ministering to a co-worker.
Whatever you’re doing today, cultivate an attitude of praise. Whether it is through song or conversation, let your joy in the Lord reverberate to others. You never know who you might encourage.
Our words of praise and songs of joy
Can be a welcomed gift
To those who need encouragement—
Whose spirits need a lift. —Sper
Hope can be ignited by a spark of encouragement.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 30th, 2010
The Assigning of the Call
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church . . . —Colossians 1:24
We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us. And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, “Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).
This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet God can never make us into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, “If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn’t object!” But when He uses someone we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed—you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.
I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into God and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Home Keys That Make Life Make Sense - #6189
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Most of us had some classes in high school where we sat there and grumbled, "When am I ever going to use this stuff?" In some cases, we really have ended up using what Miss Pringle taught us. In other cases, we were right about never using it. There's one class that I've benefited from almost every day of my life, including today - typing class. Sure, I started out with one of those Selectric typewriters. Younger listeners are asking, "Selectric? What's that?" Never mind. Today, I'm typing on a computer keyboard, but I have a lot of writing to do. It's a good thing that I learned to type those many years ago. In fact, my wife says I'm one of the fastest typists she knows. With the amount of work I have to get done in a day, do I have a choice?
Of course, it isn't just the speed that counts. There's that accuracy thing, too. Going fast doesn't always mean you're getting it right. Every once in a while I'll look up at the screen only to see a string of words that don't exist, "gozornanplatz fufti." I look down. My fingers aren't where they're supposed to be on that keyboard. I learned it my first day in typing class - the home keys. You make sure your typing fingers are on the home keys, then you reach out to all the other keys from there, unless you want to produce something that makes absolutely no sense!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Home Keys That Make Life Make Sense."
The home keys. They're the only starting point on a keyboard from which you can compose things that make sense. Start any other place and you're going to have a mess.
Life has some home keys; a starting point from which we should run our life. Unfortunately, too many of us stand back and look at where our life is going, and what's showing up on the screen just isn't making much sense. Things aren't working the way they're supposed to. Too many things we had hoped would fulfill us have left us empty. Too many relationships we thought would be what we needed have left us disappointed. And so many pursuits we thought would give our life some meaning have turned out to be so hollow.
Life doesn't work until you land on the home keys. And thankfully, the God who put us here has made clear just where home base is. It's spelled out in Matthew 6:33 , our word for today from the Word of God. He says: "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need" (NLT). There's home base. Putting what God wants first, which we haven't. We put what we want first. Maybe that's why the middle letter of sin is "I." And we're created it says, to "live righteously." Too often, we don't. Instead we do the selfish thing, the angry thing, the dirty thing, the hurting thing. We've tried to run our life from the wrong starting point. It's called "my way."
But God didn't leave us there, even though He had every right to. Instead, He sent the most precious thing He has, His Son, to help us find home. Here's how God poured out His love for you. The Bible says: "Christ suffered for our sins...to bring you safely home to God" (1 Peter 3:18 ). Home is where God is, and only Jesus can bring you there, because it took more than a religion to span that Grand Canyon between us and God. It took the cross; it took the life of the only Son God has.
Your restlessness, your loneliness, your dissatisfaction with life, they're all pointing you to find the only starting point that makes life make sense - in a personal love relationship with Jesus Christ. Look, if that's what you want, you need to tell Him that, "Jesus, I'm done running life my way. I know that doesn't work. I'm Yours, Jesus!" That is how you'll find home. Now, we would love to help you get there if you'll just take a couple of minutes to check out our website. It's really all about helping you get started with Jesus Christ. It's helped others, maybe it will be the encouragement you need today. Just go to yoursforlife.net. Or if you'd rather, I'd be glad to send you that information in printed form, in my little booklet which is called "Yours For Life." Here's the toll free number you can call, just ask for it. It's 877-741-1200.
You've tried it with your heart away from the only One who can make it all make sense. You could find home base today and then start building a life that really works.
