Remember when you sought a night's rest and got a colicky baby? Remember when you sought to catch up at the office and got even further behind? And you can add to the list of interruptions sorrow, excitement, and bedlam. Sound familiar?
Take comfort-it happened to Jesus too. You may have trouble believing that. You probably believe Jesus knows what it means to endure heavy-duty tragedies. You're no doubt convinced Jesus is acquainted with sorrow and has wrestled with fear. Most people accept that. But can God relate to the hassles and headaches of my life? Of your life?
For some reason this is harder to believe. But Jesus knows how you feel. His eyes have grown weary. His heart has grown heavy. He has had to climb out of bed with a sore throat. He has been kept awake late and has gotten up early.
Jesus knows how you feel!
from Lucado Inspirational Reader
1 Peter 2
New International Version (NIV)
2 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
The Living Stone and a Chosen People
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”[b]
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”[c]
8 and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”[d]
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
22 “He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”[e]
23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,”[f] but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Footnotes:
1 Peter 2:5 Or into a temple of the Spirit
1 Peter 2:6 Isaiah 28:16
1 Peter 2:7 Psalm 118:22
1 Peter 2:8 Isaiah 8:14
1 Peter 2:22 Isaiah 53:9
1 Peter 2:25 Isaiah 53:4,5,6 (see Septuagint)
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Corinthians 5:1-11
Awaiting the New Body
5 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
The Ministry of Reconciliation
11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.
Good-Behavior Rewards
November 5, 2013 — by Anne Cetas
We make it our aim . . . to be well pleasing to [God]. —2 Corinthians 5:9
In a children’s ministry in my church, we hand out cards to the kids when we notice their good behavior. They collect the cards and receive prizes for the good choices they’ve made. We are trying to reinforce good behavior rather than focusing on bad behavior.
When one leader handed a card to 11-year-old Tyree, he responded, “No, thanks. I don’t need one; I want to behave well, and I don’t need a reward for that.” For him, doing the right thing was its own reward. He definitely has good values ingrained in him, and he wants to live them out—prize or not.
As believers in Jesus, we will receive rewards one day. Second Corinthians 5:10 says that everyone will “receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” But to get a reward should not be our motivation for right living. Neither is it to earn salvation. Living out of love for God and pleasing Him should be our heart’s desire.
When we love God, we make it our aim to please Him who first loved us (1 John 4:19) and to serve Him with pure motives (Prov. 16:2; 1 Cor. 4:5). The best reward will be to be with Him!
In all I think and say and do,
I long, O God, to honor You;
But may my highest motive be
To love the Christ who died for me. —D. DeHaan
Our desire to please God is our highest motive for obeying Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
November 5, 2013
Partakers of His Suffering
. . . but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings . . . —1 Peter 4:13
If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. Because of this process, you will never be surprised by what comes your way. You say, “Oh, I can’t deal with that person.” Why can’t you? God gave you sufficient opportunities to learn from Him about that problem; but you turned away, not heeding the lesson, because it seemed foolish to spend your time that way.
The sufferings of Christ were not those of ordinary people. He suffered “according to the will of God” (1 Peter 4:19), having a different point of view of suffering from ours. It is only through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we can understand what God is after in His dealings with us. When it comes to suffering, it is part of our Christian culture to want to know God’s purpose beforehand. In the history of the Christian church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with the sufferings of Jesus Christ. People have sought to carry out God’s orders through a shortcut of their own. God’s way is always the way of suffering— the way of the “long road home.”
Are we partakers of Christ’s sufferings? Are we prepared for God to stamp out our personal ambitions? Are we prepared for God to destroy our individual decisions by supernaturally transforming them? It will mean not knowing why God is taking us that way, because knowing would make us spiritually proud. We never realize at the time what God is putting us through— we go through it more or less without understanding. Then suddenly we come to a place of enlightenment, and realize— “God has strengthened me and I didn’t even know it!”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Miley, Hannah, and Our Kids
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
"She let us down." That's what one ten-year-old said about Miley Cyrus' more-than-suggestive performance at the MTV Awards. And that little girl nailed it.
Miley's romp - looking all "little girl" - actually became an obscene public display of stripper moves and sexual suggestion. Unfortunately, it popped up on many newscasts. She was once the innocent Disney girl, Hannah Montana. Somehow I guess she felt that shedding clothes would shed that image.
She was important to a lot of young girls, who she really did let down. Twitter and social networks erupted in a tsunami of comments - most fairly outraged. "She crossed a line" was a prevailing sentiment. Apparently, our jaded culture still believes there's a line.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Miley, Hannah and Our Kids."
You know, I'm most concerned about what that incident represented in terms of what this culture can do to any of our kids or grandkids; starting out innocent. Quickly poisoned and corrupted by a bombardment of sexual images. Flesh everywhere. Worth that comes from romance. Love and sex portrayed almost as synonyms. Little girls pushed to be big girls way too soon. Music that makes kids know about what they don't need to know about and want what they shouldn't be wanting.
And standing between this onrushing, innocence-robbing culture and our kids? A mom. A dad. Maybe a grandma or grandpa who will need courage to say "no" to what other parents are letting in. To the deafening drumbeat that seems to say, "Come on, everybody's doing it." Yes, that requires playing big-time defense against influences that are poison wrapped in beautiful packages.
God has no greater trust He can give a human than a life to shape. And, yes, you've got to play defense against the lies our culture buys. But, in the modern parent playbook, playing offense is at least as important as playing defense, which means teaching and showing our children what's really important. Like childhood. Let them be eight when they're eight, 10 when they're 10, 14 when they're 14. Have a childhood. You'll never be a kid again. You'll have the rest of your life to be grown up. Don't waste the years when you don't have to worry about mascara and image and who-likes-who.
Playing offense means showing them sex is created to be the special language of a love that lasts a lifetime. That your body is not bait. That clean is cool, not dirty. We prepare them for the minefield when we let them know that it matters what you watch, what you listen to, what you laugh at. As the Bible says, "Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life" (Proverbs 4:23).
And we fortify them by loving them so obviously and unconditionally they don't have to go looking for love in all the wrong places. Letting them know that they are, as the Bible says, "God's workmanship" (Ephesians 2:10). That they get their worth from their Creator, not from a guy or girl. That - like collectibles - they're the most valuable when they keep themselves in "mint condition." They need to feel free to tell us anything without fear of shock or condemnation. So they can debrief the experiences - and honestly sometimes the garbage - of their day.
My wife and I have been so thankful that our kids - and now our grandkids - have never left home alone. Because they left with Somebody who loves them more than we ever could. The One the little children sing about in church - "Jesus loves me, this I know."
He died for them. And for us. So we know He'll keep His promise as it tells us in our word for today from the Word of God, Isaiah 40:11: "He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young."
If I hadn't put my life in Jesus' hands before, having kids in this kind of world would have driven me to Jesus. Yes, for my sake. But - maybe even more - for their sake. He's the Great Shepherd who never takes His eyes off His sheep.
A personal relationship with Jesus is within the reach of anyone who puts their life in His hands. If you'll go to ANewStory.com, I'd love to show you how you can get started with this Great Shepherd.