My last name has created some awkward moments. A woman said, “Max Lu-KAH-do—I’ve been wanting to meet you.” I let it go thinking that was the end of it. But then a man said to me, “My wife and I’ve been trying to figure out how you say your name. Is it Lu-KAY-doh or Lu-KAH-doh! I felt trapped…as I looked at my new friend who had been mispronouncing my name.
On an infinitely grander scale, God faces with humankind a similar issue I faced with the woman. How can He be both just and kind? How can He redeem the sinner without endorsing the sin? From our perspective there are only two equally unappealing solutions. From God’s perspective, however, there is a third. It’s called the Cross of Christ! And that’s one phrase you want to say correctly!
From He Chose the Nails
Matthew 9:1-17
New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
9 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”
4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7 Then the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.
The Calling of Matthew
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
14 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”
15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Footnotes:
Matthew 9:13 Hosea 6:6
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 1:6-14
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Insight
As the “messenger” (Isa. 40:3; Mal. 3:1; Mark 1:2-3), John the Baptist’s ministry was to introduce Jesus to the world and “to bear witness of the Light” (John 1:7). John presented Jesus as the Logos, the self-existent, preexistent, omnipotent, eternal, Creator God who spoke everything into existence, giving light and life to His creation (vv.4-5). He also presented Jesus as God incarnate (vv.9-14). Jesus added humanity to His deity, becoming one Person with two natures—perfectly human and yet perfectly divine (Phil. 2:6-8). He came to give “light to every man” so that we don’t need to live in sin’s darkness (John 1:9) and to give new life to those who believe so that we can live as God’s children (vv.12-13).
Fearful Fish
By Philip Yancey
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. —John 1:14
Managing a saltwater aquarium, I discovered, is no easy task. I had to run a portable chemical laboratory to monitor nitrate levels and ammonia content. I pumped in vitamins and antibiotics and sulfa drugs and enzymes. I filtered the water through glass fibers and charcoal.
You would think my fish would be grateful. Not so. When my shadow loomed above the tank to feed them, they dove for cover into the nearest shell. I was too large for them; my actions incomprehensible. They did not know that my acts were merciful. To change their perceptions would require a form of incarnation. I would have to become a fish and “speak” to them in a language they could understand, which was impossible for me to do.
According to the Scriptures, God, the Creator of the universe, did something that seems impossible. He came to earth in human form as a baby. “The world was made through Him,” says John, “and the world did not know Him” (John 1:10). So God, who created matter, took shape within it, as a playwright might become a character within his own play. God wrote a story, using real characters, on the pages of real history. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (v.14).
All praise to Thee, eternal Lord,
Clothed in a garb of flesh and blood;
Choosing a manger for a throne,
While worlds on worlds are Thine alone. —Luther
God entered human history to offer us the gift of eternal life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, April 25, 2014
“Ready in Season”
Be ready in season and out of season —2 Timothy 4:2
Many of us suffer from the unbalanced tendency to “be ready” only “out of season.” The season does not refer to time; it refers to us. This verse says, “Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season.” In other words, we should “be ready” whether we feel like it or not. If we do only what we feel inclined to do, some of us would never do anything. There are some people who are totally unemployable in the spiritual realm. They are spiritually feeble and weak, and they refuse to do anything unless they are supernaturally inspired. The proof that our relationship is right with God is that we do our best whether we feel inspired or not.
One of the worst traps a Christian worker can fall into is to become obsessed with his own exceptional moments of inspiration. When the Spirit of God gives you a time of inspiration and insight, you tend to say, “Now that I’ve experienced this moment, I will always be like this for God.” No, you will not, and God will make sure of that. Those times are entirely the gift of God. You cannot give them to yourself when you choose. If you say you will only be at your best for God, as during those exceptional times, you actually become an intolerable burden on Him. You will never do anything unless God keeps you consciously aware of His inspiration to you at all times. If you make a god out of your best moments, you will find that God will fade out of your life, never to return until you are obedient in the work He has placed closest to you, and until you have learned not to be obsessed with those exceptional moments He has given you.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Replaying the Falls - #7120
Friday, April 25, 2014
There's reality TV. And then there are the Olympics - the real reality TV - and we got to see them a couple of months ago. I mean, you've got drama, you've got the triple axles on the ice, the amazing jumps on the ski slopes, those gravity-defying flights of the snowboarders. Oh, yeah, and the falls, the bad starts, and crashes.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Replaying the Falls."
I'm fine with showing the good stuff again and again. It's the replays of what they did wrong that bother me. Probably because I've been working with young people and their families for so long. And, over and over, I've seen the damage that's done when parents keep replaying their children's mistakes. Sometimes too seldom replaying what their son or daughter did right.
Consequently, there are lots of young people who know very well what's wrong with them. But they have a hard time thinking what's right with them, so they don't feel like they're worth much. So they act like they're not worth much. You can see it in the friends they choose, the music they listen to, the way they retreat into themselves. The things they'll do for attention. For love. For just a few minutes of feeling better about themselves.
Oh, there's a lot that goes into our feelings of value or worthlessness. And the lack of a parent's affirmation is only part of it. But we moms and dads have life-shaping power like no one else. Our son or daughter's perception of how much we think they're worth is a huge factor in how much they think they're worth.
I read somewhere that we humans need seven positive strokes for every negative we get. Which years ago made me ask, "What's the ratio at our house?" Too often, we use the replays of our kids' shortcomings to somehow get them to change, to do better just to vent our frustrations maybe.
And yet, how many of us still carry in our head those critical, negative words that our parents said over and over to us? They still hurt. They're still part of our adult struggle to feel right about ourselves. What was constantly replayed by our parents has shaped our life. And so it is with our children. It's part of the legacy we leave them, and one it's never too late to change.
That's why this one statement from the Bible went deep into my soul as a parent. It says in Ephesians 4:29, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,..." That's words that tear them down. "...but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs." You've got construction; you've got demolition. My words to my children have been one or the other. As I look in the mirror, I see a guy who has no right to keep replaying anyone's mistakes. Not after the way God has treated me.
I don't need much help seeing where I've blown it. I'm painfully aware of how I've failed; who I've failed even in the past few days. What saves me, literally, is that my Father does not replay all the dark episodes of my life. Of all the people who could nail me for my many sins, God has that undisputed right. He gave me this life. So often, I've simply dissed the One who made me and done what I want to do. And I have defied a sinless, totally holy God.
I would run from Him, except for one thing. What the Bible tells me about Him. And it's our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 130:3, "If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness." What a word! Forgiveness. What an expensive word. Not for me, but for the God I've sinned against, because of what His Son did so I would never meet my sins on Judgment Day.
The Bible says, "He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5-6). My sins removed, never again to be replayed, by a God who loved me so much He would do whatever it took not to lose me. And it took His very best - His Son.
This full pardon from an all-perfect God is within anyone's reach. It's within your reach if you'll take for yourself what His Son, Jesus, died to give you. That's what our website, ANewStory.com, is about. I hope you'll join me there and realize the joy and the freedom of a new beginning in knowing what it is that you will never meet your sins when you stand before God because Jesus paid it all on the cross.
No comments:
Post a Comment