Max Lucado Daily: Goodness and Mercy
Our moods may shift, but God’s doesn’t. Our minds may change, but God’s doesn’t. Our devotion may falter, but God’s never does. God is faithful, for He cannot betray Himself. He is a sure God. And because He is, we can state confidently what David exclaimed in his 23rd Psalm: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”
What are those words that follow the word surely? “Goodness and mercy.” If the Lord is the shepherd who leads the flock, goodness and mercy are the two sheepdogs that guard the rear of the flock! Goodness AND mercy. Not goodness alone, for we are sinners in need of mercy. Not mercy alone, for we are fragile, in need of goodness. We need them both. Goodness and mercy—the celestial escort of God’s flock. If that duo doesn’t reinforce your faith, try this phrase: “all the days of my life!”
from Traveling Light
Colossians 1
New International Version (NIV)
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters[a] in Christ:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.[b]
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,[c] who is a faithful minister of Christ on our[d] behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[e] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Supremacy of the Son of God
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[g] your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Paul’s Labor for the Church
24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Colossians 1:19-27
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[a] your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Paul’s Labor for the Church
24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Stand Firm
July 10, 2013 — by Julie Ackerman Link
Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. —1 Corinthians 15:58
As our final project for a high school earth science class, a friend and I built a stream table. With extensive help from my father, we built a long plywood box with a hinge in the middle. Then we lined it with plastic and filled it with sand. At one end we attached a hose. At the other end was a drainage hole. After assembling all of it, we raised one end of the stream table, turned on the water, and watched as it created a path directly to the hole at the other end. The next part of the experiment was to place a rock in the stream and watch how it changed the path of the water.
This project taught me as much about life as it did about science. I learned that I can’t change the direction things are going if I’m on the bank of the river. I have to step into the stream of life and stand there to divert the flow. That’s what Jesus did. The Bible refers to salvation as a rock (2 Sam. 22:47; Ps. 62:2,6-7), and the apostle Paul clarifies that Christ is that Rock (1 Cor. 10:4). God placed Jesus in the stream of history to change its course.
When we remain steadfast in Christ, abounding in the work of the Lord, God uses us to change the course of history through acts of obedience that turn others to Him.
The Master is seeking a harvest
In lives He’s redeemed by His blood;
He seeks for the fruit of the Spirit
And works that will glorify God.
—H.S. Lehman. © 1924 H. S. Lehman
Be sure to put your feet in the right place, then stand firm. —Abraham Lincoln
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
July 10, 2013
The Spiritually Lazy Saint
Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together . . . —Hebrews 10:24-25
We are all capable of being spiritually lazy saints. We want to stay off the rough roads of life, and our primary objective is to secure a peaceful retreat from the world. The ideas put forth in these verses from Hebrews 10 are those of stirring up one another and of keeping ourselves together. Both of these require initiative— our willingness to take the first step toward Christ-realization, not the initiative toward self-realization. To live a distant, withdrawn, and secluded life is diametrically opposed to spirituality as Jesus Christ taught it.
The true test of our spirituality occurs when we come up against injustice, degradation, ingratitude, and turmoil, all of which have the tendency to make us spiritually lazy. While being tested, we want to use prayer and Bible reading for the purpose of finding a quiet retreat. We use God only for the sake of getting peace and joy. We seek only our enjoyment of Jesus Christ, not a true realization of Him. This is the first step in the wrong direction. All these things we are seeking are simply effects, and yet we try to make them causes.
“Yes, I think it is right,” Peter said, “. . . to stir you up by reminding you . . .” (2 Peter 1:13). It is a most disturbing thing to be hit squarely in the stomach by someone being used of God to stir us up— someone who is full of spiritual activity. Simple active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. Active work can actually be the counterfeit of spiritual activity. The real danger in spiritual laziness is that we do not want to be stirred up— all we want to hear about is a spiritual retirement from the world. Yet Jesus Christ never encourages the idea of retirement— He says, “Go and tell My brethren . . .” (Matthew 28:10).
, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Colossians 1
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Black and White and Jackie - #6913
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
I was 12 years old. I was on a Southern vacation with my folks. I've never forgotten those signs I saw on the bathrooms: "Colored" "White".
See, we didn't have those signs in the racially mixed neighborhood where I grew up, so I didn't have a file folder for "colored" and "white". Jackie Robinson did. As America's first black baseball player in the Major Leagues, the baseball field was a battlefield. Before President Truman integrated the military, before Rosa Parks, and before Dr. King, Jackie faced a firestorm of brutal insults, racial taunts, and death threats. But he passed the test, and he helped open a door that helped change a nation.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Black and White and Jackie."
America has been talking a lot in recent months about Jackie Robinson. Thanks to the movie titled after his number – "42." We're discovering the powerful human drama behind a decisive victory in America's long journey to racial equality and two brands of courage that are in short supply these days. Courage that is still game-changing in a family, an office, a church, a school, on a team, a neighborhood.
Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers' General Manager in the mid 1940s, had the courage to sign Jackie Robinson. And in so doing, he shattered baseball's color barrier. His was the courage to defy a culture that's just plain got it wrong. A status quo that many have accepted as "Hey, that's just the way it is."
And, man, do we need that courage today to defy a messed-up "normal". Like letting our children do and see and listen to what's popular but poisonous. Joining in – or just condoning by our silence – the gossip and the backstabbing. Compromising the divinely established fence around sex called marriage.
Accepting that a certain amount of deceit and surrendered integrity is "just the way it's done these days." Right? Or even today's more subtle – but just as destructive – versions of prejudice. Branch Rickey displayed the courage to defy the ugliness around us. Jackie Robinson displayed the courage to deny the ugliness inside us.
In a fateful three-hour meeting in the Dodgers' front office, Rickey told Jackie Robinson, "I'm looking for a man with guts enough not to fight back." And he showed him the words of Jesus: "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn to him the other also" (Matthew 5:38 , 39).
That's what Jackie Robinson did time and time again, and he opened a door no one could shut. In the face of endless provocation, he refused to succumb to the anger and the retaliating that was boiling inside. One man had the courage to defy a widely-accepted wrong. The other had the courage to deny his right to fight back, lash out, and hurt those who hurt him. That doesn't come naturally. It comes supernaturally.
Branch Rickey made it plain to everyone that the Bible was his playbook and Jesus was his Manager. Jackie had a history of doing damage to white people who insulted him, until a black pastor showed him a Jesus whose love really changes a man; a Jesus who didn't just talk about forgiving. He did it all the way to the cross where He died so we could conquer our inner ugliness called sin. That's who Jackie downloaded when he got on his knees every night to find the strength to do another day; a very personal, personal Savior.
He's the One of whom the Bible says in our word for today from the Word of God in Philippians 4:13 , "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." See, He changes a man from the inside out so that man can change his world.
When you open your life to Jesus, you start to act like Jesus. He changes you in ways you could never change yourself. If you would like to experience for yourself the difference Jesus can make, would you join me at our website, ANewStory.com. It's a new beginning place.