Max Lucado Daily: Courteous Conduct
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Colossians 4:5
Those who don’t believe in Jesus—note what we do. They make decisions about Christ by watching us.
When we are kind, they assume Christ is kind. When we are gracious, they assume Christ is gracious. But when we are dishonest, what assumption will an observer make about our Master?
No wonder Paul says, “Be wise in the way you act with people who are not believers, making the most of every opportunity. When you talk, you should always be kind and pleasant so you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should” (Col. 4:5–6).
Courteous conduct honors Christ.
It also honors his children. When you surrender a parking place to someone, you honor him. When you return a borrowed book, you honor the lender. When you make an effort to greet everyone in the room, especially the ones others may have overlooked, you honor God’s children.
Let your courteous conduct honor Christ.
Psalm 64[a]
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 Hear me, my God, as I voice my complaint;
protect my life from the threat of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked,
from the plots of evildoers.
3 They sharpen their tongues like swords
and aim cruel words like deadly arrows.
4 They shoot from ambush at the innocent;
they shoot suddenly, without fear.
5 They encourage each other in evil plans,
they talk about hiding their snares;
they say, “Who will see it[b]?”
6 They plot injustice and say,
“We have devised a perfect plan!”
Surely the human mind and heart are cunning.
7 But God will shoot them with his arrows;
they will suddenly be struck down.
8 He will turn their own tongues against them
and bring them to ruin;
all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
9 All people will fear;
they will proclaim the works of God
and ponder what he has done.
10 The righteous will rejoice in the LORD
and take refuge in him;
all the upright in heart will glory in him!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Romans 12:9-21
Love in Action
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[a] Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[b] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[c]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
A Supporting Role
December 15, 2011 — by David C. McCasland
Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another. —Romans 12:10
After the American TV personality Ed McMahon died in 2009, one newspaper headline read, “When it came to being the No. 2 man, he was No. 1.” Best known for his 30-year tenure as Johnny Carson’s late-night sidekick, McMahon excelled at helping Carson succeed in the spotlight. While most entertainers strive for top billing, McMahon was content with a supporting role.
When the apostle Paul gave instructions about how to exercise our gifts as members of the body of Christ (Rom. 12:3-8), he affirmed the value of supporting roles. He began by saying that we should have a realistic opinion of ourselves (v.3), and he concluded with a call to genuine, unselfish love: “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another” (v.10). Or, as J. B. Phillips translates it, “a willingness to let the other man have the credit.”
Our gifts and abilities come to us by God’s grace and are to be used by faith (vv.3,6) in love and service for Christ—not for personal recognition.
May God grant us the ability to embrace with enthusiasm the supporting roles to which He calls us. The ultimate goal is His glory and not our own.
The church, a living body, containing all the parts—
It lives, it moves, it functions, and touches many hearts;
When each part is committed to do the Savior’s will,
His members are united, His purpose they fulfill. —Fitzhugh
The church works best when we see ourselves
as participants, not as spectators.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, December 15, 2011
"Approved to God"
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth —2 Timothy 2:15
If you cannot express yourself well on each of your beliefs, work and study until you can. If you don’t, other people may miss out on the blessings that come from knowing the truth. Strive to re-express a truth of God to yourself clearly and understandably, and God will use that same explanation when you share it with someone else. But you must be willing to go through God’s winepress where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle, experiment, and rehearse your words to express God’s truth clearly. Then the time will come when that very expression will become God’s wine of strength to someone else. But if you are not diligent and say, “I’m not going to study and struggle to express this truth in my own words; I’ll just borrow my words from someone else,” then the words will be of no value to you or to others. Try to state to yourself what you believe to be the absolute truth of God, and you will be allowing God the opportunity to pass it on through you to someone else.
Always make it a practice to stir your own mind thoroughly to think through what you have easily believed. Your position is not really yours until you make it yours through suffering and study. The author or speaker from whom you learn the most is not the one who teaches you something you didn’t know before, but the one who helps you take a truth with which you have quietly struggled, give it expression, and speak it clearly and boldly.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Stuck On the Welcome Mat - #6504
Thursday, December 15, 2011
We have a wide variety of people that come to our front door. The salesmen; oh they're basically asked to stay on the front steps and give us their little pitch. And then there are those neighborhood kids who are, well, they are raising money. Well, they usually get inside the door; we'll let them in to the welcome mat, and we'll deal with them there. Now we have a lot of acquaintances and friends who we will just immediately invite into our living room to sit down and stay as long as they want. And sometimes at the door is a relative or real close friend, and they come in and they go straight to the refrigerator and help themselves. They go to the telephone without asking, they call whoever they need to call, they use the bathroom. So you can tell how close we are by how far a person is allowed into our house.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Stuck On the Welcome Mat."
Well, our word for today from the Word of God: Colossians 2:6. God says, "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord..." Now, let's stop for a minute. You remember how that was when you received Him. Jesus described it once as "knocking on the door." You go to the door, you open it and you let Him in. Well, that's how you received Him. You invited Him in; He came in by invitation.
"So then as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him." In other words, the way to follow Christ, to be a Christian from the moment of conversion on, is to do what you did to get started with Jesus. And that is you keep on inviting. Not inviting Him in; He's in to stay. But you invite Him into more and more of the rooms of your life house so to speak. Continue to live in Him just the way you invited Him in.
Now, you keep on inviting. You say, "Well, right now my life house is a mess." Well, I have to tell you, I've been asked many times, "Ron, you know, I became a Christian. I invited Christ in. How come I still feel so lonely?" Or, "Why do I still feel so depressed?" Or, "I still feel so defeated by some of my old problems." One reason might be this: You might have invited Jesus in, but maybe you left Him on the welcome mat. Oh, He's in, but you're not inviting Him into any more rooms.
It's like a lot of people who have a spiritual wedding. They begin with Christ. They had a wonderful conversion and a testimony of how Christ saved them, but they haven't had much of a marriage since then. They just got Him in and thought that was it. It's more than a wedding. Well, Christ will only improve that which is consciously turned over to Him, and He only goes where He's invited.
Now, if you let Christ into let's say ten percent of your life, then 90 percent will still be as much of a mess as if you hadn't invited Him in. You may be missing much of the love, the peace, maybe the meaning that you came to Christ to get, because you've never asked Him past the welcome mat. Remember, He only goes where He's invited.
What specific part of your life did you invite Jesus Christ to rule today? See, that's always the question, or it should be, on any given day, "Into what specific part of you did you invite Jesus today?" It's only into that percentage of your life where you actively invited Him that you'll begin to know His peace, know His love, and know His answers.
So, keep on inviting Jesus deeper and deeper into what matters to you. You can tell how close you are to Him by how far you allow Him into your house.