Max Lucado Daily: Forgiven People Forgive People
Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Romans 2:4
Jesus says—Give the grace you’ve been given!
Romans 2:4 says God is kind to you so you will change your hearts and lives.
We’re not to be like the unchanged wife. Before her conversion to Christ, she endlessly nagged, picked on, and berated her husband. When she became a Christian, nothing changed. One might question if she was truly born again to start with.
Forgiven people will forgive others. And they’ll be grateful—because gratitude is the joy of the forgiven servant.
We all choose what lives inside us.
Make it a day changer! Choose forgiveness!
Psalm 72
Of Solomon.
1 Endow the king with your justice, O God,
the royal son with your righteousness.
2 May he judge your people in righteousness,
your afflicted ones with justice.
3 May the mountains bring prosperity to the people,
the hills the fruit of righteousness.
4 May he defend the afflicted among the people
and save the children of the needy;
may he crush the oppressor.
5 May he endure[a] as long as the sun,
as long as the moon, through all generations.
6 May he be like rain falling on a mown field,
like showers watering the earth.
7 In his days may the righteous flourish
and prosperity abound till the moon is no more.
8 May he rule from sea to sea
and from the River[b] to the ends of the earth.
9 May the desert tribes bow before him
and his enemies lick the dust.
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores
bring tribute to him.
May the kings of Sheba and Seba
present him gifts.
11 May all kings bow down to him
and all nations serve him.
12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out,
the afflicted who have no one to help.
13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy
and save the needy from death.
14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence,
for precious is their blood in his sight.
15 Long may he live!
May gold from Sheba be given him.
May people ever pray for him
and bless him all day long.
16 May grain abound throughout the land;
on the tops of the hills may it sway.
May the crops flourish like Lebanon
and thrive[c] like the grass of the field.
17 May his name endure forever;
may it continue as long as the sun.
Then all nations will be blessed through him,[d]
and they will call him blessed.
18 Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel,
who alone does marvelous deeds.
19 Praise be to his glorious name forever;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.
20 This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Philippians 4:10-20
Thanks for Their Gifts
10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. 17 Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. 18 I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
20 To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
More, More, More
February 15, 2012 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt
I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. —Philippians 4:11
Now that my daughter is learning to talk, she has adopted a favorite word: more. She will say “more” and point to toast with jam. She held out her palm and said “More!” when my husband gave her some coins for her piggy bank. She even exclaimed, “More Daddy!” one morning after her father left for work.
Like my little one, many of us look around and call for “more.” Unfortunately, enough is never enough. We need the power of Christ to break the cycle so that we can say with Paul, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (Phil. 4:11).
The phrase “I have learned” tells me that Paul did not meet every situation with a smile. Learning contentment required practice. His testimony included ups and downs ranging from snake bites to soul-saving; false accusations to founding churches. Yet he claimed that Jesus was the answer to soul-level satisfaction. He said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (v.13). Jesus had given him the spiritual muscle to endure lean times and to avoid the pitfalls of abundance.
If you find yourself angling for “more, more, more,” remember that contentment comes when you have “more” of Christ.
Fret not for want of earthly things;
They’ll never satisfy.
The secret of contentment is
To let the Lord supply. —D. De Haan
True contentment is not dependent on anything in this world.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
"Am I My Brother’s Keeper?"
None of us lives to himself . . . —Romans 14:7
Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible spiritually to God for other people? For instance, if I allow any turning away from God in my private life, everyone around me suffers. We “sit together in the heavenly places . . .” (Ephesians 2:6). “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it . . .” (1 Corinthians 12:26). If you allow physical selfishness, mental carelessness, moral insensitivity, or spiritual weakness, everyone in contact with you will suffer. But you ask, “Who is sufficient to be able to live up to such a lofty standard?” “Our sufficiency is from God . . .” and God alone (2 Corinthians 3:5).
“You shall be witnesses to Me . . .” (Acts 1:8). How many of us are willing to spend every bit of our nervous, mental, moral, and spiritual energy for Jesus Christ? That is what God means when He uses the word witness. But it takes time, so be patient with yourself. Why has God left us on the earth? Is it simply to be saved and sanctified? No, it is to be at work in service to Him. Am I willing to be broken bread and poured-out wine for Him? Am I willing to be of no value to this age or this life except for one purpose and one alone— to be used to disciple men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ. My life of service to God is the way I say “thank you” to Him for His inexpressibly wonderful salvation. Remember, it is quite possible for God to set any of us aside if we refuse to be of service to Him— “. . . lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Outrageous - #6548
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Well, for many years, Penn State was just one college of many with a powerful football program. And then not too long ago, it suddenly became the epicenter of a whole lot of outrage.
Screaming students; angry that Joe Paterno, their iconic coach - the "winning-est" college coach ever - had been summarily fired. And then the parents, the politicians, the pundits, enraged as they should be, at allegations of young lives ruined by sexual abuse. Allegedly by a coach who used a locker room as a place to horribly exploit young boys.
All of which has caused me to ask this question, "So what is it that enrages you, Ron? Or should?"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Outrageous."
My friend Bob asks, "What are your 'things to die for'?" He confesses that his list has changed. It used to be a list of legalistic "don'ts" that he thought were the causes worth fighting for. Not anymore. God has broken his heart for people who are going to hell instead of people who are breaking the rules. And he's outraged over the devil enslaving and damning people God created and Jesus died for.
There's something about us that gets all uptight about things that matter a little and largely complacent about things that break and even enrage the heart of God. We can really get up a head of steam about worship music, or liberals, or Christians who are "different," or the way the culture's going downhill. But then we can be strangely unmoved by young girls who suddenly disappear into the snake pit of sexual slavery. Or children who cry every night for food that never comes. A woman living with a man she thought loved her, and tonight fearing again for her life. Innocent kids, unspeakably twisted and scarred by someone who abuses them for their own gratification.
Our word for today from the Word of God talks about these outrages in Romans 1:18 - outrages that provoke what the Bible calls the "wrath of God (which) is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men." He can't stand; He can't stand for the victimizing of any person He created in His holy image. Proverbs says, "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God" (Proverbs 14:31). God talks about defending the cause of the poor and the needy and then He asks probingly, "Is not what this means to know Me?" (Jeremiah 22:16).
Above all, the Bible says, "He is not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). And we're surrounded by people who are one heartbeat away from perishing forever and ever, because no one told them about the Savior who perished so they wouldn't have to. God accepts no excuse for failing to, as Proverbs says, "rescue those being led away to death...If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it...Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?" (Proverbs 24:11-12).
God is not deaf to the shattered lives; the anguished cries of a world that sin has devastated. God says today as He said to Moses in Exodus, "I have heard them crying out...I am concerned about their suffering...So I have come down to rescue them." Oh good! God's going to do something about all this hurt and lostness. Yes He is, and He has a plan. Listen to the next verse, "So, now, go. I am sending you" (Exodus 3:7-10).
So, are the things you'll "die for" the things Jesus died for?