Max Lucado Daily: Resentment
“This is my command: Love each other.” John 15:17
Resentment is when you let your hurt become hate. Resentment is when you allow what is eating you to eat you up. Resentment is when you poke, stoke, feed, and fan the fire, stirring the flames and reliving the pain . . .
Revenge is the raging fire . . . Bitterness is the trap that snares . . . And mercy is the choice that can set them all free.
Ruth 3
Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor
1 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home[h] for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”
5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.
7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!
9 “Who are you?” he asked.
“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer[i] of our family.”
10 “The LORD bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.”
14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.”
15 He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he[j] went back to town.
16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”
Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”
18 Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
Awaiting the New Body
1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Blessed Assurance
September 12, 2011 — by Joe Stowell
We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. —2 Corinthians 5:8
As I was talking with a gentleman whose wife had died, he shared with me that a friend said to him, “I’m sorry you lost your wife.” His reply? “Oh, I haven’t lost her; I know exactly where she is!”
To some this may seem like a rather bold or even flippant assertion. With so many after-death theories, one might wonder how we can be really sure where our loved ones go after death, let alone where we ourselves will end up.
Yet, confidence is appropriate for followers of Jesus Christ. We have the assurance from God’s Word that when we die we will immediately be with our Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). Thankfully, this is more than just wishful thinking. It is grounded in the historic reality of Jesus, who came and died to cancel our penalty for sin so that we could receive eternal life (Rom. 6:23). He then proved that there was life after death by exiting His grave and ascending into heaven where, as He promised, He is preparing a place for us (John 14:2).
So, rejoice! Since the benefits of this reality are out of this world, we can boldly say with Paul that “we are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8).
Lord, when I take my final breath
And see You face to face in death,
Then shall my heart forever sing
The heavenly praises of my King. —Raniville
For the follower of Jesus, death means heaven,
happiness, and Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 12th, 2011
Going Through Spiritual Confusion
Jesus answered and said, ’You do not know what you ask’ —Matthew 20:22
There are times in your spiritual life when there is confusion, and the way out of it is not simply to say that you should not be confused. It is not a matter of right and wrong, but a matter of God taking you through a way that you temporarily do not understand. And it is only by going through the spiritual confusion that you will come to the understanding of what God wants for you.
The Shrouding of His Friendship (see Luke 11:5-8). Jesus gave the illustration here of a man who appears not to care for his friend. He was saying, in effect, that is how the heavenly Father will appear to you at times. You will think that He is an unkind friend, but remember?He is not. The time will come when everything will be explained. There seems to be a cloud on the friendship of the heart, and often even love itself has to wait in pain and tears for the blessing of fuller fellowship and oneness. When God appears to be completely shrouded, will you hang on with confidence in Him?
The Shadow on His Fatherhood (see Luke 11:11-13). Jesus said that there are times when your Father will appear as if He were an unnatural father?as if He were callous and indifferent— but remember, He is not. “Everyone who asks receives . . .” (Luke 11:10). If all you see is a shadow on the face of the Father right now, hang on to the fact that He will ultimately give you clear understanding and will fully justify Himself in everything that He has allowed into your life.
The Strangeness of His Faithfulness (see Luke 18:1-8). “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). Will He find the kind of faith that counts on Him in spite of the confusion? Stand firm in faith, believing that what Jesus said is true, although in the meantime you do not understand what God is doing. He has bigger issues at stake than the particular things you are asking of Him right now.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Oven, The Wheel, and the Masterpiece - #6436
Monday, September 12, 2011
Well, we've visited a few Colonial restorations in our day as a family. My kids would always go, "No, not a tour!" But it's interesting if you get involved with some of the craftsmen. You can pretty much judge what it will be like before you get there.
Oh, yeah, you'll see some men in tricorn hats. There'll be ladies in lace caps (because the men really don't look too good in them). And there's a potter there usually. And he's pretty intriguing to watch. There he is doing his skilled work with this blob of clay. Did you ever stop to think what it's like to be the clay? I don't know why you would; only I would do this. You say, "Come on, Ron." Well look, you haven't got anything better to do for the next five minutes probably. So, let's think what it's like to be that blob of clay.
First, you get pushed, and squeezed, and poked, and then the potter takes you for a spin and you are endlessly going around in circles on his wheel. And then just about the time you say, "Oh, man, I'm glad that's over," he pops you into an oven at 2,200 degrees and you think you're going to die. Then he takes you out at last only to put you back in that oven at another 2,200 degrees. I can imagine that you would say to the potter, "Why are you doing this to me?" You know, the longer I think like the clay, the more familiar these feelings seem--maybe for you, too. Why is God spinning you around, squeezing you, putting you through this heat right now?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Oven, The Wheel, and the Masterpiece."
Our word for today from the Word of God gives us a little insight into the potter and that blob of clay that we feel like sometimes - Romans 8:28. You know the verse, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Did you ever notice people always quote those things after the crisis is over. "Yes, all things work together for good." No, the trick is to quote "All things work together for good" in the middle of the crisis when you can't see the good. But how can all things work together for good?
Well, you can't understand that until you get to verse 29, "For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son." The purpose for these "all things that are working together" for the good in your life, the purpose is for you to be like Jesus. God says, "I will work all these things together to help you be in some way more like My Son; having more of His traits."
Now, after we saw the potter, we went to the gift shop. And I saw what he could make of that blob of clay. Every squeeze, every poke, every spin, every cooking was to turn that clay into a masterpiece. Well, you're God's clay and the mold is Jesus.
One of life's most frequently asked questions, and you might be asking it right now is, "Why, God? Why is this happening?" Well, there's one answer that fits all those situations. You can listen to the Lord saying, "Because this can make you more like My Son. That's the good I'm working it together for."
Now, there are some hard things in your life that God sends, there are others that He allows, but He will only send or allow what can make you more valuable. You can't learn to love like Jesus unless there's someone in your life who's hard to love. You can't learn the kind of sensitivity Christ had without going through a hurting time. You can't learn to have Jesus' patience without having to wait for something or to put up with somebody difficult. You can't learn Jesus' joy without circumstances that you have to rise above. You can't learn Jesus' peace without some pressure on you. You can't learn faith without needs that are bigger than you have the ability to meet.
Unlike the clay, though, you choose whether the potter's beautiful intentions are realized; whether you'll let it make you like Jesus or not. If you forget the goal, you can become desperate, and bitter, and hard, and self-absorbed. Or you can let Christ use it for the ultimate goal. You may not enjoy the process, but at least you can understand it's going to a great result. If you're going to get the pain, get the point.
If the question is, "Why, God?" He's saying, "To make you more like Jesus." And the oven, and the wheel are how He turns blobs of clay into masterpieces.
