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Max Lucado Daily: God Loves Humility
God loves humility! Could that be the reason He offers so many tips on cultivating it?
May I (ahem) humbly articulate a few? Do you want to be humble? Assess yourself honestly. Don’t take success too seriously. Celebrate the significance of others. Don’t demand your own parking place. Never announce your success before it occurs. Speak humbly. One last thought to foster humility. Live at the foot of the cross.
Paul said in Galatians 6:14: “The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is my only reason for bragging.” Do you feel a need for affirmation? Does your self-esteem need attention? You don’t need to drop names or show off. You need only to pause at the base of the cross and be reminded of this: The maker of the stars would rather die for you than live without you. And that’s a fact. So if you need to brag, brag about that!
From Traveling Light
Jeremiah 12
Jeremiah’s Complaint
12 You are always righteous, Lord,
when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the faithless live at ease?
2 You have planted them, and they have taken root;
they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
but far from their hearts.
3 Yet you know me, Lord;
you see me and test my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!
Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
4 How long will the land lie parched
and the grass in every field be withered?
Because those who live in it are wicked,
the animals and birds have perished.
Moreover, the people are saying,
“He will not see what happens to us.”
God’s Answer
5 “If you have raced with men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble[b] in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets by[c] the Jordan?
6 Your relatives, members of your own family—
even they have betrayed you;
they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not trust them,
though they speak well of you.
7 “I will forsake my house,
abandon my inheritance;
I will give the one I love
into the hands of her enemies.
8 My inheritance has become to me
like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;
therefore I hate her.
9 Has not my inheritance become to me
like a speckled bird of prey
that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
bring them to devour.
10 Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard
and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
into a desolate wasteland.
11 It will be made a wasteland,
parched and desolate before me;
the whole land will be laid waste
because there is no one who cares.
12 Over all the barren heights in the desert
destroyers will swarm,
for the sword of the Lord will devour
from one end of the land to the other;
no one will be safe.
13 They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.
They will bear the shame of their harvest
because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”
14 This is what the Lord says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. 15 But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. 16 And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. 17 But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 John 1:5–2:2
New International Version (NIV)
Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[a] sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Bouncing Back
July 1, 2013 — by David C. McCasland
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. —1 John 1:9
On January 18, 2012, the longest winning streak in US intercollegiate varsity sports history—252 consecutive victories—ended when Trinity College lost a squash match to Yale. The morning after the team’s first loss in 14 years, Trinity’s coach, Paul Assaiante, received an e-mail from a friend, a prominent professional football coach, who wrote, “Well, now you get to bounce back.” Ten days later, that football coach’s team lost in one of the most widely seen athletic events—the NFL Super Bowl. All of us must cope with defeat.
The feeling of failure after an athletic loss mirrors our greater self-condemnation following a spiritual collapse. How can we recover from grieving God and others, along with disappointing ourselves? The apostle John wrote, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9). God forgives us because Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins (2:2).
God’s pardon sets us free to begin again and focus on today’s opportunity rather than yesterday’s defeat. His faithful cleansing allows us to start over with a pure heart. Today, God invites and enables us to bounce back.
When you’ve trusted Jesus and walked His way,
When you’ve felt His hand lead you day by day,
But your steps now take you another way,
Start over. —Kroll
Instead of living in the shadows of yesterday, walk in the light of today and the hope of tomorrow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 1, 2013
The Inevitable Penalty
You will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny —Matthew 5:26
There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure, holy, and right, and He will not allow you to escape from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit for even one moment. He urged you to come to judgment immediately when He convicted you, but you did not obey. Then the inevitable process began to work, bringing its inevitable penalty. Now you have been “thrown into prison, [and] . . . you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny” (5:25-26). Yet you ask, “Is this a God of mercy and love?” When seen from God’s perspective, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure, spotless, and undefiled, but He wants you to recognize the nature you were exhibiting— the nature of demanding your right to yourself. The moment you are willing for God to change your nature, His recreating forces will begin to work. And the moment you realize that God’s purpose is to get you into the right relationship with Himself and then with others, He will reach to the very limits of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide to do it right now, saying, “Yes, Lord, I will write that letter,” or, “I will be reconciled to that person now.”
These sermons of Jesus Christ are meant for your will and your conscience, not for your head. If you dispute these verses from the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will dull the appeal to your heart.
If you find yourself asking, “I wonder why I’m not growing spiritually with God?”— then ask yourself if you are paying your debts from God’s standpoint. Do now what you will have to do someday. Every moral question or call comes with an “ought” behind it— the knowledge of knowing what we ought to do.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Boston - Running Again - #6906
Monday, July 1, 2013
Now, you know something huge has happened when my Yankees are playing the Red Sox fans' favorite song - at Yankee Stadium! Well, that's what happened when bombs suddenly rained death and destruction on the Boston Marathon. The shock waves, of course, reached around the world. And it brought back an all-too-familiar wave of sadness to my heart and a lot of others.
As always, of course, the images were seared into our memories; images of the blast, the victims and ultimately, the capture. Oh, yeah, and then there was Bill; the 78-year-old runner in the orange tank-top. He was almost to the finish line when that bomb went off, and he was the one that was blown to the pavement by the blast. With the help of a race assistant, Bill was up in a moment crossing the finish line. He finished second in his division.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Boston - Running Again."
The President of the United States talked about Bill when he spoke at the memorial service. He used him as an example of hope and resilience. Then he looked right into the camera and addressed those who were fighting to recover what the bombs had stolen. Twice he said, "You will run again." I'll tell you, I was very moved.
Since then, I've found myself mentally replaying Bill's fall and the President's words. Replaying Bill's race because of the race I run, and the times I've been knocked down. We've all had those sudden blasts that blew us over. They threatened us reaching the finish line: the medical bombshell, the marital explosion, that layoff, the accident, the injury, the breakup, the betrayal, or that that loved one you lost, or that shattered dream.
And then there are the painful outcomes of our own bad choices: falling for the temptation that looked so good but cost so much, failing to do what we knew was right, or letting down the people who were counting on us. But time and again, I have heard a voice saying, "Get up, Ron. You will run again." And I did. I am.
He's done the same for so many people I know. People hit with a blast that leveled them. People who might have stayed down or been carried off, but they rose again. Because He did, after He got hit with the most savage blast anyone has ever endured.
All the weight of all the wrong of all the world on Jesus' shoulders. All the selfishness and the pain it's caused. All the hell of all the sinning humans have ever done-that I have done.
When millions of Americans watched the bloody portrayal of Jesus' death on a recent miniseries, "The Bible," it literally lit up social media with viewers whose hearts were breaking over what He went through. But the reality is, it was awful beyond what Hollywood could ever show. As the Bible says, "It was our sorrows that weighed Him down...He was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten so that we might have peace. He was whipped so we could be healed..."The Lord laid on Him the guilt and sins of us all" (Isaiah 53:4-6). Knocked down, nailed to a cross, and buried behind a boulder.
But He came back. And He's been running ever since. He guarantees that all who run with Him will cross the finish line with Him. And He picks up fallen runners, telling them, "You will run again." Whatever you've lost. Whatever you've done. Whatever's been done to you. Our word for today from the Word of God, John 14:19 Jesus says, "Because I live, you will live also." He is the Hope the blast cannot touch. He's the death-beating Savior who says, "We will finish this race together."
However far you've fallen, however devastating the blow you've endured, this Jesus can forgive you, restore you, and carry you. I'd love to help you know Him personally. In fact, today you could just say "Jesus, I'm Yours. You died for me, You love me that much. You came back to life so You could come into my life. Come in and change me."
Listen, go to our website and you'll find there a lot of hope and a lot of answers for how to know you belong to Jesus. Go to ANewStory.com and listen to Jesus as He tells you how you can run again, and run with Him from here to His heaven.