Max Lucado Daily: Holiness
Holiness
Posted: 19 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
God, examine me and know my heart…Lead me on the road to everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24
You don’t have to be like the world to have an impact on the world. You don’t have to be like the crowd to change the crowd. You don’t have to lower yourself down to their level to lift them up to your level. Holiness doesn’t seek to be odd. Holiness seeks to be like God.
Job 24
1 "Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?
Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
2 Men move boundary stones;
they pasture flocks they have stolen.
3 They drive away the orphan's donkey
and take the widow's ox in pledge.
4 They thrust the needy from the path
and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
5 Like wild donkeys in the desert,
the poor go about their labor of foraging food;
the wasteland provides food for their children.
6 They gather fodder in the fields
and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
7 Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
8 They are drenched by mountain rains
and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
9 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;
the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked;
they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
11 They crush olives among the terraces [c] ;
they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city,
and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.
But God charges no one with wrongdoing.
13 "There are those who rebel against the light,
who do not know its ways
or stay in its paths.
14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up
and kills the poor and needy;
in the night he steals forth like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk;
he thinks, 'No eye will see me,'
and he keeps his face concealed.
16 In the dark, men break into houses,
but by day they shut themselves in;
they want nothing to do with the light.
17 For all of them, deep darkness is their morning [d] ;
they make friends with the terrors of darkness. [e]
18 "Yet they are foam on the surface of the water;
their portion of the land is cursed,
so that no one goes to the vineyards.
19 As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,
so the grave [f] snatches away those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them,
the worm feasts on them;
evil men are no longer remembered
but are broken like a tree.
21 They prey on the barren and childless woman,
and to the widow show no kindness.
22 But God drags away the mighty by his power;
though they become established, they have no assurance of life.
23 He may let them rest in a feeling of security,
but his eyes are on their ways.
24 For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
they are cut off like heads of grain.
25 "If this is not so, who can prove me false
and reduce my words to nothing?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Corinthians 2:1-9
1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.
2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.
4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,
5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.
Wisdom From the Spirit
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"--
Well-Chosen Words
October 20, 2010 — by Dennis Fisher
[I] did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. —1 Corinthians 2:1
When I was a kid, I learned a big word that was fun to pronounce: “antidisestablishmentarianism.” What a mouthful! I recently took the time to look it up. The dictionary defines it as “the doctrine or political position that opposes the withdrawal of state recognition of an established church.” The definition is almost as difficult as the term itself. Neither I nor my school friends knew what it meant. But using the big word made me look knowledgeable.
When the apostle Paul ministered to people, he didn’t try to impress others. In his letter to the Corinthians, he wrote: “When I came to you, [I] did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God” (1 Cor. 2:1). “Excellence of speech” is the translation of Greek words meaning “high-sounding words” or “pompous speech.” This implies using words to exalt self instead of to instruct others. Paul was a brilliant scholar who expressed the deep things of God in Scripture. Yet he did not use lofty language to elevate his self-importance.
As we grow in our understanding of God’s Word, let’s follow Paul’s example and guard against parading knowledge for knowledge’s sake. Instead, let’s use well-chosen words that build up and encourage others.
The words we speak may indicate
A heart that’s filled with pride;
But godly self-control displays
The Spirit’s work inside. —Sper
It’s not the words we know that show wisdom,
but how and when we use them.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 20th, 2010
Is God’s Will My Will?
This is the will of God, your sanctification . . . —1 Thessalonians 4:3
Sanctification is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me— is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me everything that has been made possible through the atonement of the Cross of Christ? Am I willing to let Jesus become sanctification to me, and to let His life be exhibited in my human flesh? (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). Beware of saying, “Oh, I am longing to be sanctified.” No, you are not. Recognize your need, but stop longing and make it a matter of action. Receive Jesus Christ to become sanctification for you by absolute, unquestioning faith, and the great miracle of the atonement of Jesus will become real in you.
All that Jesus made possible becomes mine through the free and loving gift of God on the basis of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound, humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness). It is a holiness based on agonizing repentance, a sense of inexpressible shame and degradation, and also on the amazing realization that the love of God demonstrated itself to me while I cared nothing about Him (see Romans 5:8). He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification. No wonder Paul said that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
Sanctification makes me one with Jesus Christ, and in Him one with God, and it is accomplished only through the magnificent atonement of Christ. Never confuse the effect with the cause. The effect in me is obedience, service, and prayer, and is the outcome of inexpressible thanks and adoration for the miraculous sanctification that has been brought about in me because of the atonement through the Cross of Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How a Father Builds A Son - #6203
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
I guess it's in the testosterone. Guys are just wired to build something; a business, a church, furniture, home improvement projects. Some men build a team, some build financial security for their family, and some just build a name for themselves. Even I've felt motivated to build a few things, I'm the ultimate un-handyman. There was the little tree house - well, more like a tree platform - but the kids enjoyed it. The dollhouse for our daughter. The miniature barn for our son. There's a reason that God put this building thing in guys. Some of us have a really big project to build!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How a Father Builds A Son."
When God trusts a man with a son, He is putting in his hands probably the most important building project of his life. If a man builds a mighty empire or a billion dollar enterprise and loses his son, can we call his life a true success? A boy will decide what the word "man" means based on the first one he knows and the one he knows best - his dad. A boy will likely decide what God is like, and whether or not he wants anything to do with Him, based on how his dad treats him...because God has introduced Himself to us as our Heavenly Father.
How a man treats the women in his life; what he thinks really matters...what he thinks really doesn't matter, he'll get that from copying the biggest man in his life - his dad. And how many boys have grown up into men who are never sure they were good enough, always insecure, and always feeling like they've got something to prove, because the main man in his shaping years failed to make him feel loved and confident and valuable? Building a son - now that takes a real man. Tearing one down - that's not much of a man at all.
There's a revealing picture of how a father builds a son in our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 3:16-17 . Jesus, God's Son, is about to launch into the earthly ministry that His Father sent Him to earth for. His first public act is to be baptized by John the Baptist. It's there that we get an incredible glimpse behind the veil at the awesome relationship between God the Father and God the Son. The Bible tells us: "As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water... And a voice from heaven said, 'This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.'"
Here's the Father affirming His approval of His Son - a vote of confidence that must have meant a lot to Jesus as He headed out into battle. It's a demonstration of the power of a father's praise at the highest possible level. It's what your son desperately needs from you, Dad. 1 Thessalonians 2:12 describes in three action words how a father should treat his children: "encouraging, comforting and urging." The question is, Dad, how do you try to motivate your children; especially your boy? With shame? With silence? By giving love when they perform and withdrawing love when they don't? By never letting them know where they really stand? That's not building a boy. That's dismantling a boy.
He needs your praise - frequently. He needs the kind of focused time with you that says to him, "I like you, son. I want to be with you." Your son needs your undivided attention when he's talking so he learns that what he says is important to you, just because he's saying it. And often your son needs to hear your compliments, your pleasure, your pride in him. You can give him the courage that he'll need to lead, to say no to the pressure, to attempt great things, to treat other people like they're important.
You build a son by building up your son, by often helping him see the awesome thing God did when He created that boy. Even God the Father launched His Son into life with His public approval. How can you do any less for the son He's given you?