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Max Lucado Daily: Suitcases of Guilt
Do you carry a load of guilt? So many do. If our spiritual baggage were visible, you know what you’d see? Suitcases of guilt, bulging with binges, blowups, and compromises. The kid with the baggy jeans and nose ring? He’d give anything to retract the words he said to his mother. But he can’t. So he tows them along. The woman in the business suit that looks like she could run for Senator? She can’t run at all. Not hauling that carpet bag wherever she goes. So what do we do?
In Psalm 23:3 David said it like this, “He leads me in the paths of righteousness.” The path of righteousness is a narrow, winding trail up a steep hill. At the top is a cross. At the base of the cross are bags, countless bags full of innumerable sins. Calvary is the compost pile for guilt. Would you like to leave yours there as well?
From Traveling Light
Jeremiah 5
Not One Is Upright
5 “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem,
look around and consider,
search through her squares.
If you can find but one person
who deals honestly and seeks the truth,
I will forgive this city.
2 Although they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’
still they are swearing falsely.”
3 Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
You struck them, but they felt no pain;
you crushed them, but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than stone
and refused to repent.
4 I thought, “These are only the poor;
they are foolish,
for they do not know the way of the Lord,
the requirements of their God.
5 So I will go to the leaders
and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the Lord,
the requirements of their God.”
But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke
and torn off the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them,
a wolf from the desert will ravage them,
a leopard will lie in wait near their towns
to tear to pieces any who venture out,
for their rebellion is great
and their backslidings many.
7 “Why should I forgive you?
Your children have forsaken me
and sworn by gods that are not gods.
I supplied all their needs,
yet they committed adultery
and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.
8 They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
each neighing for another man’s wife.
9 Should I not punish them for this?”
declares the Lord.
“Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?
10 “Go through her vineyards and ravage them,
but do not destroy them completely.
Strip off her branches,
for these people do not belong to the Lord.
11 The people of Israel and the people of Judah
have been utterly unfaithful to me,”
declares the Lord.
12 They have lied about the Lord;
they said, “He will do nothing!
No harm will come to us;
we will never see sword or famine.
13 The prophets are but wind
and the word is not in them;
so let what they say be done to them.”
14 Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty says:
“Because the people have spoken these words,
I will make my words in your mouth a fire
and these people the wood it consumes.
15 People of Israel,” declares the Lord,
“I am bringing a distant nation against you—
an ancient and enduring nation,
a people whose language you do not know,
whose speech you do not understand.
16 Their quivers are like an open grave;
all of them are mighty warriors.
17 They will devour your harvests and food,
devour your sons and daughters;
they will devour your flocks and herds,
devour your vines and fig trees.
With the sword they will destroy
the fortified cities in which you trust.
18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely. 19 And when the people ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’
20 “Announce this to the descendants of Jacob
and proclaim it in Judah:
21 Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear:
22 Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord.
“Should you not tremble in my presence?
I made the sand a boundary for the sea,
an everlasting barrier it cannot cross.
The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail;
they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts;
they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say to themselves,
‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
who gives autumn and spring rains in season,
who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’
25 Your wrongdoings have kept these away;
your sins have deprived you of good.
26 “Among my people are the wicked
who lie in wait like men who snare birds
and like those who set traps to catch people.
27 Like cages full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
they have become rich and powerful
28 and have grown fat and sleek.
Their evil deeds have no limit;
they do not seek justice.
They do not promote the case of the fatherless;
they do not defend the just cause of the poor.
29 Should I not punish them for this?”
declares the Lord.
“Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?
30 “A horrible and shocking thing
has happened in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy lies,
the priests rule by their own authority,
and my people love it this way.
But what will you do in the end?
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Corinthians 12:12-27
New International Version (NIV)
Unity and Diversity in the Body
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Let’s Stick Together
June 27, 2013 — by Joe Stowell
For in fact the body is not one member but many. —1 Corinthians 12:14
Most regions of the world are familiar with the amazing phenomenon of snow. Snowflakes are beautiful, uniquely crafted ice crystals. Individual snowflakes are fragile, and they quickly melt if they land on your hand. Yet, en masse they create a force to be reckoned with. They can shut down major cities while creating beautiful landscapes of snow-laden trees whose pictures decorate calendars and become the subject of artwork. They provide pleasure on the ski slopes and joy for children as they make snowmen and ammunition for snowball fights. All because they stick together.
So it is with those of us who follow Christ. Each of us has been uniquely gifted with the capacity to make a contribution to the work of Christ. We were never intended to live in isolation but to work together to become a great force for God and the advance of His cause. As Paul reminds us, the body of Christ “is not one member but many” (1 Cor. 12:14). All of us are to use our gifts to serve one another so that together we can make a significant difference in our world.
Put your giftedness to work, joyfully cooperate with the giftedness of those around you, and let the wind of the Spirit use you for His glory!
Lord, teach us to use our strengths in cooperation with
the strengths of others. Help us to serve as one so that
we might know the joy of the power of our togetherness
for Your name’s sake and the advance of Your kingdom.
We can accomplish more together than we can alone.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 27, 2013
The Overshadowing of God’s Personal Deliverance
. . . I am with you to deliver you,’ says the Lord —Jeremiah 1:8
God promised Jeremiah that He would deliver him personally— “. . . your life shall be as a prize to you . . .” (Jeremiah 39:18). That is all God promises His children. Wherever God sends us, He will guard our lives. Our personal property and possessions are to be a matter of indifference to us, and our hold on these things should be very loose. If this is not the case, we will have panic, heartache, and distress. Having the proper outlook is evidence of the deeply rooted belief in the overshadowing of God’s personal deliverance.
The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on a mission for Jesus Christ, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, “Don’t worry about whether or not you are being treated justly.” Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice, we will only begin to complain and to indulge ourselves in the discontent of self-pity, as if to say, “Why should I be treated like this?” If we are devoted to Jesus Christ, we have nothing to do with what we encounter, whether it is just or unjust. In essence, Jesus says, “Continue steadily on with what I have told you to do, and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance.” Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard— we do not believe Him. We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God’s name to it. We do lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting God with all our hearts (see Proverbs 3:5-6).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Trumpet On the Wall - #6904
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Did you ever do the bumper cars at the carnival? Our family loves bumper cars! When you first get in the bumper car, you start at approximately the same place. But when you step on the pedal, you take off in about ten different directions and occasionally bump into each other. That was a description of our family when we were all still living under one roof. A description of yours maybe, too? You know, a bumper car family! See, you start out at the same place in the morning, you step on the gas pedal, and off we would go in five different directions, and every once in a while we would just happen to bump into each other.
In our world today it is so easy to let families just fly apart. And as the kids get older and mom and dad get busier and busier and we need to work more to keep up our standard of living, a lot of times there's less and less time spent together. Without even knowing it, sometimes your family - my family - becomes a group of strangers. And then later on we look back with regret and we say, "If only I could have those years back. Why didn't we spend more time together?" See, every family needs to be together, but it actually takes someone to blow the trumpet to make it happen.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Trumpet on the Wall."
Our word for today from the Word of God is found in the book of Nehemiah chapter 4. I'm going to be reading verses 19 and 20. If you remember a little of your Bible history, you may know that Nehemiah was God's man to lead the people in rebuilding the dilapidated and destroyed walls and gates of Jerusalem. It was a major task. It had pretty much been a mess for about 100 years. It took a lot of major organization, and he was able to mobilize all those people, each with a different assignment. And in 52 days, this small group of people literally rebuilt the walls and gates of the city of Jerusalem.
Listen to part of the plan here as he gives instructions to his work crew. "Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, 'The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall.'" Sounds a lot like the bumper cars syndrome; they all started out in the morning and they all went their separate directions. He says, "Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us."
He said, "In my family of workers we're going to need to get together. And so I'll sound the trumpet, and when I do, come together." Did you know that whenever there is a family that is spread out in their lifestyles like yours and ours, there's got to be one person in the family who plays Nehemiah; someone who insists that the family comes together. Families are pulled apart unless somebody is willing to work at them being together, communicating, hugging each other, touching each other, praying together, keeping in touch with each other's lives. It's like a football team that has to regularly have a huddle. You can't have a family without regular huddles.
So the person who sounds the trumpet is the person in the family who sets a time and a place and makes it happen to make sure that family comes together. If it doesn't, people leave home with dangerous, unmet needs. They don't have the closeness, the intimacy, the encouragement they need, and they'll go looking for it in places they never should.
Now, biblically, this should be dad. In a single-parent family it may have to be mom. But certainly everyone in the family should come when the trumpet is blown. Dinner together, pre-committed days together, family devotions, vacation, prayer time. Don't let your family be every man/every woman for himself or herself. Bring them together! Remember, every family needs that trumpet.
