A woman battles with depression. What's the solution suggested by some well-meaning friend? Buy yourself a new outfit! A husband is in an affair that brings him as much guilt as it does adventure. The solution? Hang out with people who don't make you feel guilty. Change your style. Get a new haircut. Case after case of treating the outside while ignoring the inside.
And the result? The woman gets a new outfit, and the depression disappears…for a day, maybe. The husband finds a bunch of buddies who sanction his adultery. The result…peace, until the crowd's gone. Then the guilt is back. The exterior polished, the interior corroding. The outside altered, the inside faltering. One thing is clear. Cosmetic changes are only skin deep!
Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart" (Matthew 5:8). And the message of the Beatitude is a clear one. You change your life by changing your heart!
From The Applause of Heaven
Psalm 126
A song of ascents.
1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of[a] Zion,
we were like those who dreamed.[b]
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
4 Restore our fortunes,[c] Lord,
like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.
Footnotes:
Psalm 126:1 Or Lord brought back the captives to
Psalm 126:1 Or those restored to health
Psalm 126:4 Or Bring back our captives
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Peter 5:5-9
In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”[a]
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Footnotes:
1 Peter 5:5 Prov. 3:34
Insight
Peter wrote from his own experience when he warned that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (v.5). When foretold that he would deny Jesus (Matt. 26:34; Luke 22:31-34), Peter boasted that he would never betray Him (Matt. 26:35). In his pride, Peter underestimated the severity of his trial and overestimated his ability to deal with the pressure (vv.69-75). Thirty years later, he exhorted his readers to be humble (1 Peter 5:5). Because God resists the proud (v.5), Scripture repeatedly warns of the danger of pride (Prov. 11:2; 29:23; Isa. 2:11-12; Obad. 1:3-4; James 4:6-7).
Load Line
January 23, 2014 — by Bill Crowder
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. —1 Peter 5:6-7
In the 19th century, ships were often recklessly overloaded, resulting in those ships going down and the crews being lost at sea. In 1875, to remedy this negligent practice, British politician Samuel Plimsoll led the charge for legislation to create a line on the side of a ship to show if it was carrying too much cargo. That “load line” became known as the Plimsoll Line, and it continues to mark the hulls of ships today.
Sometimes, like those ships, our lives can seem overloaded with fears, struggles, and heartaches. We can even feel that we are in danger of going under. In those times, however, it is reassuring to remember that we have a remarkable resource. We have a heavenly Father who stands ready to help us carry that load. The apostle Peter said, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7). He is capable of handling the cares that overwhelm us.
Though the testings of life may feel like a burden too heavy to bear, we can have full assurance that our heavenly Father loves us deeply and knows our load limits. Whatever we face, He will help us to bear it.
Heavenly Father, I sometimes feel as if I can’t go
on. I am tired, I am weak, and I am worn. Thank You
that You know my limits better than I do. And that, in
Your strength, I can find the enablement to endure.
God may lead us into troubled waters to deepen our trust in Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 23, 2014
Transformed by Beholding
We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image . . . —2 Corinthians 3:18
The greatest characteristic a Christian can exhibit is this completely unveiled openness before God, which allows that person’s life to become a mirror for others. When the Spirit fills us, we are transformed, and by beholding God we become mirrors. You can always tell when someone has been beholding the glory of the Lord, because your inner spirit senses that he mirrors the Lord’s own character. Beware of anything that would spot or tarnish that mirror in you. It is almost always something good that will stain it— something good, but not what is best.
The most important rule for us is to concentrate on keeping our lives open to God. Let everything else including work, clothes, and food be set aside. The busyness of things obscures our concentration on God. We must maintain a position of beholding Him, keeping our lives completely spiritual through and through. Let other things come and go as they will; let other people criticize us as they will; but never allow anything to obscure the life that “is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Never let a hurried lifestyle disturb the relationship of abiding in Him. This is an easy thing to allow, but we must guard against it. The most difficult lesson of the Christian life is learning how to continue “beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord . . . .”
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A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Broken Shells - #7054
Thursday, January 23, 2014
My wife I were enjoying a wonderful few days of rest on the Gulf Coast of Florida. And one of our favorite things to do is to walk the beach, although we can't seem to agree on how fast to walk. See, I'm Mr. Aerobics and she's Mrs. Aesthetics. She loves to walk slowly enough to appreciate the beautiful sea shells that the tide has deposited on the beach. Well, she finally slowed me down long enough to enjoy some of the color and the design that God has put into those shells. I'm glad she did.
Of course we weren't the only ones collecting them. Many people were walking along looking for those shell treasures. And my wife made an interesting observation. She said, "You know, no one picks up the broken ones." Well she does. She reached into her bag of treasures and produced this pink and white cone-shaped shell. Now the hard exterior had been broken away by the pounding surf, but there exposed was the interior which you wouldn't usually see; a beautiful, expressive pattern of twists and curls, and this intricate network of the inner chambers of a shell. I was seeing beauty I never could have seen if the shell wasn't broken.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Broken Shells."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 12. Paul is telling about his thorn in the flesh, and it was so painful and so frustrating it had to break him. And though the breaking was ugly, the result was really something beautiful. Three times he'd asked for this to be removed; whatever this agony was for him. But he says, "The Lord has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, he says, 'I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ' power may rest on me. That is why for Christ's sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
The brokenness of Paul's life exposed the beauty and the grace of God, the strength of God, the power of God. My wife said, "No one picks up the broken ones." Actually Jesus does. Maybe He's done that with you. He uses the pain first to create a beauty in you that you could not develop any other way. He may be trying to do that right now.
When we're at the end of our answers and our resources, we finally throw ourselves on God in this total desperate dependency. And that humility gets us out of the way and allows us to experience God's power and God's love on a level we may have never touched before. There's nothing left of us so it's all Him, and that produces a beautiful new spirit; one that could never be there if we hadn't been broken.
God also uses our pain to give us a deep, new compassion; a new sensitivity for hurting people. And that compassion enables us to really make a difference for other people in a struggling world. After Christ creates that beauty inside of us, He displays it to a world that desperately needs to know the difference Jesus can make. The pounding breaks open our hard shell and lets the world see Jesus working inside.
If you're going through a hurting time right now, all eyes are upon you to see how you handle it. You have a unique opportunity to show them Jesus through your brokenness in a way you never could when you were whole. You know, Jesus was a broken person. He handed at that first communion to His disciples broken bread and said, "This is My body which is broken for you." He was broken so we could be healed.
You know, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again. But I like to say, "The King can." He puts Humpty Dumpty people together again. I don't know if you've ever met this Jesus. I don't know if you've ever personally experienced Him for yourself. But I would love to introduce you to Him. Would you meet us at our website? It's ANewStory.com, and let Him move into the broken places in you and heal what only He can.
You know, brokenness is beautiful if the love and power of Jesus are exposed to people who might not see that beauty any other way.