Max Lucado Daily: Enough of This Frenzy
Attempts at "self-salvation" guarantee nothing but exhaustion. We scamper and scurry, trying to please God, collecting merit badges and brownie points, scowling at anyone who questions our accomplishments. The result? The weariest people on earth. We so fear failure that we create the image of perfection. Call us the church of hound-dog faces and slumped shoulders. Stop it! Once and for all, enough of this frenzy!
Hebrews 13:9 says, "Your hearts should be strengthened by God's grace, not by obeying rules." In Matthew 11:28 Jesus promises, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."
There is no fine print. A second shoe isn't going to drop. God's promise has no hidden language. Let grace happen. You have His unending affection. Stretch yourself out in the hammock of grace. You can rest now!
From GRACE
Matthew 2
New International Version (NIV)
The Magi Visit the Messiah
2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
The Escape to Egypt
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[c]
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”[d]
The Return to Nazareth
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Footnotes:
Matthew 2:1 Traditionally wise men
Matthew 2:6 Micah 5:2,4
Matthew 2:15 Hosea 11:1
Matthew 2:18 Jer. 31:15
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 115
Not to us, Lord, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
2 Why do the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
4 But their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
6 They have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell.
7 They have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk,
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
8 Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.
9 All you Israelites, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
11 You who fear him, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us:
He will bless his people Israel,
he will bless the house of Aaron,
13 he will bless those who fear the Lord—
small and great alike.
14 May the Lord cause you to flourish,
both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
16 The highest heavens belong to the Lord,
but the earth he has given to mankind.
17 It is not the dead who praise the Lord,
those who go down to the place of silence;
18 it is we who extol the Lord,
both now and forevermore.
Praise the Lord.[a]
Footnotes:
Psalm 115:18 Hebrew Hallelu Yah
Misplaced Love
By Marvin Williams
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. —Psalm 115:4
Martin Lindstrom, an author and speaker, thinks that cellphones have become akin to a best friend for many owners. Lindstrom’s experiment using an MRI helped him discover why. When the subjects saw or heard their phone ringing, their brains fired off neurons in the area associated with feelings of love and compassion. Lindstrom said, “It was as if they were in the presence of a girlfriend, boyfriend, or family member.”
Many things vie for our affection and time and attention, and it seems we’re always needing to evaluate where we’re focusing our lives. Joshua told the people of Israel that they were to give their affection and worship to God alone (Josh. 24:14). This was significant in contrast to the idols worshiped by the nations around them. These idols were made of metal and were only the work of men’s hands (Ps. 115:4). They were totally powerless compared to the Lord. Therefore, God’s people were exhorted to find their security in Him and not in other gods (Judg. 10:13-16). Jesus reiterated this in His discussion of the commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37).
The Lord alone is our help and shield (Ps. 115:9). May we reserve our worship for Him.
For Further Thought
What do our actions in the last few months reveal
about our affections? Is there any indication that we
have placed someone or something above God?
God is most worthy of our affections.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Friendship with God
Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing . . . ? —Genesis 18:17
The Delights of His Friendship. Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship with God, as compared with simply feeling His presence occasionally in prayer. This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to show you His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy which confirms that you are nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are God’s will. And all of your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately.
The Difficulties of His Friendship. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He stopped because he still was lacking the level of intimacy in his relationship with God, which would enable him boldly to continue on with the Lord in prayer until his desire was granted. Whenever we stop short of our true desire in prayer and say, “Well, I don’t know, maybe this is not God’s will,” then we still have another level to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to be— “. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . .” (John 17:22). Think of the last thing you prayed about-were you devoted to your desire or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God? “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better. “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Ear Before the Mouth - #7094
Thursday, March 20, 2014
We have a family doctor I totally trust. I'm a very blessed guy. I mean, I've had one over the years wherever I've lived. But I can't say that I look for opportunities to go see him. If I do, I've got a lot of reasons to trust him. Not the least of which is, he asks me about my symptoms. So I give him all the clues I can. He's kind of like a medical Sherlock. I tell him where it hurts, I tell him when it started, and I tell him how I got desperate enough to finally come to the doctor's office.
He then investigates my temperature, my blood pressure and checks out my vital signs. And I'm glad. I mean, can you imagine? What if the doctor walked into the exam room and before I could even open up my mouth, he points at me and goes, "Penicillin!" What? Wait a minute! He's already headed for me with that needle, and I haven't even had a chance to tell him what's wrong! Do you think I would trust his diagnosis? Do you think I would want to go there the next time I need attention?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Ear Before the Mouth."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Proverbs 18:13. Here are the Lord's words, "To answer before listening - that is folly and shame." If you answer before you've listened, God says you should be ashamed of yourself. That certainly would be true if a doctor started answering before he listened, right? It's just as true of, say, parents who may be the number one disobeyers of this verse. Before we've even heard out our son or daughter, we're already talking. "Penicillin!" We haven't even heard what they're feeling; we haven't heard where they're hurting. Oh, but we've got the answer.
Is it any wonder that they may not accept our diagnosis? What about a husband with a wife? Or a wife with her husband? Do you thoroughly listen before you start speaking? Or do you jump right in; sure that you know the rest of what they're going to say. Sure, you know the answer. This answering before listening breakdown cripples so many relationships: a child who doesn't let mom or dad finish, employers and employees, friends, people you work with, or people you serve the Lord with.
Now, in James 1:19, God gives us His instructions for how our communication is supposed to be. Measure yours by this, "...be quick to listen..." Notice that comes first. Then it says, "...slow to speak." And then I would put this, "as a result." "...slow to become angry." If you're quick to listen and you're slow to speak, you're a lot less likely to become angry I think.
How are you doing on this? I know I've got some work to do. But I need to do that work to learn to listen more effectively. I suspect you do, too. Why? Being an active and patient listener is foundational to having a close relationship with anyone for two reasons. First, listening is the key to understanding a person. If you don't hear them out, you cannot understand. So you'll probably miss where they really are when you keep talking, or when you jump in or interrupt. And your response probably won't even really fit where they're really coming from. Just like a doctor who would diagnose before he heard out the patient.
Secondly, listening is a primary way to make the person you're with feel important. I wonder how people feel after they've been around you? If you want them to feel they're important, like God thinks they are, then focus on them like they're the only person on this planet at the moment you're with them.
Our children, our spouse, our coworkers, our friends are carrying around this invisible sign that says, "Is what I say important? Do I really matter?" And listening to them; really hearing them is a gigantic, "Yes, you are! Yes, what you say is important." My doctor listens before he starts answering me, and I'm glad he does. I can trust what he says. I just wonder if the people in your world can say the same about you?
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