Max Lucado Daily: Jesus Builds the Bridge
People came to Jesus. My, how they came to Him! They touched Him as He walked down the street; they followed Him around the sea; they invited Him into their homes and placed their children at His feet. Why? Because He refused to be a statue in a cathedral or a priest in an elevated pulpit. He chose instead to be-Jesus.
There's not a hint of one person who was afraid to draw near Him. There were those who mocked Him. Those who were envious of Him. There were those who misunderstood Him. There was not one person who was reluctant to approach Him for fear of being rejected.
Remember that. Remember that the next time you find yourself amazed at your own failures. Or the next time acidic accusations burn holes in your soul.
Remember. It's man who creates the distance. It is Jesus who builds the bridge!
From The Lucado Inspirational Reader
2 Peter 1
New International Version (NIV)
1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Confirming One’s Calling and Election
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters,[a] make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Prophecy of Scripture
12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”[b] 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Footnotes:
2 Peter 1:10 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family.
2 Peter 1:17 Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 39
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
1 I said, “I will watch my ways
and keep my tongue from sin;
I will put a muzzle on my mouth
while in the presence of the wicked.”
2 So I remained utterly silent,
not even saying anything good.
But my anguish increased;
3 my heart grew hot within me.
While I meditated, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.
5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,
even those who seem secure.[b]
6 “Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom;
in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth
without knowing whose it will finally be.
7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for?
My hope is in you.
8 Save me from all my transgressions;
do not make me the scorn of fools.
9 I was silent; I would not open my mouth,
for you are the one who has done this.
10 Remove your scourge from me;
I am overcome by the blow of your hand.
11 When you rebuke and discipline anyone for their sin,
you consume their wealth like a moth—
surely everyone is but a breath.
12 “Hear my prayer, Lord,
listen to my cry for help;
do not be deaf to my weeping.
I dwell with you as a foreigner,
a stranger, as all my ancestors were.
13 Look away from me, that I may enjoy life again
before I depart and am no more.”
Footnotes:
Psalm 39:1 In Hebrew texts 39:1-13 is numbered 39:2-14.
Psalm 39:5 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 11.
Traveling Companion
November 19, 2013 — by David H. Roper
For I am a stranger with You, a sojourner, as all my fathers were. —Psalm 39:12
I looked up the members of my seminary graduating class recently and discovered that many of my friends are now deceased. It was a sober reminder of the brevity of life. Three score and ten, give or take a few years, and we’re gone (Ps. 90:10). Israel’s poet was right: We’re but strangers here and sojourners (39:12).
The brevity of life makes us think about our “end”—the measure of our days and how fleeting they are (v.4), a feeling that grows more certain as we draw closer to the end of our lives. This world is not our home; we’re but strangers and sojourners here.
Yet we are not alone on the journey. We are strangers and sojourners with God (39:12), a thought that makes the journey less troubling, less frightening, less worrisome. We pass through this world and into the next with a loving Father as our constant companion and guide. We’re strangers here on earth, but we are never alone on the journey (73:23-24). We have One who says, “I am with you always” (Matt. 28:20).
We may lose sight of father, mother, spouse, and friends, but we always know that God is walking beside us. An old saying puts it like this: “Good company on the road makes the way to seem lighter.”
My times are in my Father’s hand;
How could I wish or ask for more?
For He who has my pathway planned
Will guide me till my journey’s o’er. —Fraser
As you travel life’s weary road, let Jesus lift your heavy load.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
November 19, 2013
“When He Has Come”
When He has come, He will convict the world of sin . . . —John 16:8
Very few of us know anything about conviction of sin. We know the experience of being disturbed because we have done wrong things. But conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit blots out every relationship on earth and makes us aware of only one— “Against You, You only, have I sinned . . .” (Psalm 51:4). When a person is convicted of sin in this way, he knows with every bit of his conscience that God would not dare to forgive him. If God did forgive him, then this person would have a stronger sense of justice than God. God does forgive, but it cost the breaking of His heart with grief in the death of Christ to enable Him to do so. The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. Once we have been convicted of sin, we will never say this again. The love of God means Calvary— nothing less! The love of God is spelled out on the Cross and nowhere else. The only basis for which God can forgive me is the Cross of Christ. It is there that His conscience is satisfied.
Forgiveness doesn’t merely mean that I am saved from hell and have been made ready for heaven (no one would accept forgiveness on that level). Forgiveness means that I am forgiven into a newly created relationship which identifies me with God in Christ. The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the Holy One. He does this by putting into me a new nature, the nature of Jesus Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
No Sweaters - #7007
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Well, it's time to get out the old winter wardrobe again, and a lot of us don't mind. You see, there's something very special about winter clothes - they're big, they're bulky. In other words, those sweaters cover a multitude of bulges and figure-faults unlike those summer clothes. Remember them? They reveal entirely too much, and I'm not even talking about modesty here. I'm talking honesty about all the figure problems. You know? Winter covers the bulges; summer exposes them. And in that sense, summer is coming for each of us.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Sweaters."
Well, you've got an appointment, and there is no way to cancel it; no way to reschedule it. It's defined for us in 2 Corinthians 5:10, our word for today from the Word of God. "For we must all..." Okay, this is speaking to Christians now, "We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body whether good or bad." Actually the Greek word for "bad" there means worthless, useless - whether it's good or whether it's worthless.
Now, this is sort of a good news/bad news statement. This appointment we have to keep before the Judgment Seat of Christ is not to determine whether we go to heaven or hell. That's settled on the basis of whether you've given your life to Christ or not and accepted the forgiveness that He bought for you on the cross. No, this is Christ's evaluation of how you spent the one life He gave you. Did you spend the days of your life on things that He considers good or things He considers worthless?
See, people are making their evaluation of your life right now. And you may have impressed people very favorably with your Christian commitment, your busyness for the Lord, your spiritual talk. But you can wear spiritual sweaters when you're with people, because they can't see all the bulges that are underneath. They can't see who you are when you're alone; how you treat your family; what you do when no one else is looking. They can't see your motive, whether it's to impress men that you're doing this spiritual thing, or whether it's to please your Lord.
See, this word "appear," "We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ." It's an interesting word in the original Greek. It means to be laid bare - to be turned inside out. Everything can be seen; nothing hidden. The Judgment Seat is a place of no secrets. Your image won't matter there, your reputation, your pedigree, the impressions men have had of you. None of that is going to matter. Our eternal rewards will be based on who we really are.
One of the early church fathers responded to this passage this way. He said, "Let us then imagine Christ's judgment seat to be present now, and account the Judge to be already present and everything to be revealed." I agree with that. Why wait till the Judgment Seat to see the me that nobody knows? Right now, go to work on the dark corners; the spiritual bulges...that sinful secret that maybe only you know about - those twisted motives.
Then the summer unveiling at Christ's Judgment Seat will be a celebration of God's transforming grace in your life, and of rich rewards for an authentic faith. It's time to get in shape! Remember, when you stand before the gaze of our Lord Jesus Christ, there are no sweaters.