Max Lucado Daily: Grace Happened
We are incarcerated by our past. We have been found guilty! Our executioner's footsteps echo against the stone walls. We sit on the floor of the dusty cell, awaiting our final moment. We don't look up as he opens the door. We know what he's going to say. "Time to pay for your sins." But we hear something else! "You're free to go. They took Jesus instead of you!"
The door swings open, the guard barks, "Get out!" And we find ourselves shackles gone, crimes pardoned, wondering, what just happened? Grace just happened! Christ took away your sins.
Romans 3 says that God, in his gracious kindness, declares us not guilty. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.
What happened? Grace happened!
From GRACE
Genesis 4
Cain and Abel
4 Adam[a] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.[b] She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth[c] a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so[e]; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod,[f] east of Eden.
17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.
19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of[g] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.”
25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth,[h] saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.
At that time people began to call on[i] the name of the Lord.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Job 3:3-5; 42:5-6
“May the day of my birth perish,
and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’
4 That day—may it turn to darkness;
may God above not care about it;
may no light shine on it.
5 May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more;
may a cloud settle over it;
may blackness overwhelm it.
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Insight
In Job 3:3-5, we have what many Bible scholars call Job’s soliloquy. After a time of quiet agony, the great Old Testament saint breaks his silence and lets out his anguish. He calls for darkness and then destruction to overwhelm him. Instead of seeing God’s light-filled and good creation, Job feels he is living in a world of darkness. But in Job 42:5-6, we see the resolution to Job’s conflict. Out of the whirlwind, God challenges Job and points to creation as a witness to His reality. Although he is never told that his sufferings are the result of spiritual warfare from the devil, Job submits to the sovereignty of God and experiences restoration.
Perspective From The Clouds
By Dennis Fisher
I have heard of You . . . but now my eye sees You. —Job 42:5
In 1927 the silent film Wings, a World War I film about two American aviators, won the first Academy Award for Best Picture. When it was being filmed, production stopped for several days. Frustrated producers asked the director why. He responded: “All we have is blue sky. The conflict in the air will not be as visible without clouds. Clouds bring perspective.” He was right. Only by seeing aerial combat with clouds as a backdrop could the viewer see what was really going on.
We often wish for blue skies instead of storm clouds. But cloudy skies may reveal God’s faithfulness. We gain perspective on how God has been faithful in our trials as we look back on the clouds.
At the beginning of his terrible suffering, Job lamented: “May the day perish on which I was born . . . . May a cloud settle on it” (Job 3:3-5). His experience of despair continued for a long time until God spoke. Then Job exclaimed, “I have heard of You . . . but now my eye sees You” (42:5). Job had encountered the sovereign Creator, and that changed his perspective on God’s purposes.
Do clouds of trouble fill your skies today? Sooner than you think, God may use these clouds to help you gain perspective on His faithfulness.
God, give us wings to rise above
The clouds of trial that block the sun,
To soar above gray skies and see
The love and goodness of Your Son. —Sper
Often the clouds of sorrow reveal the sunshine of His face. —Jasper
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 17, 2014
The Servant’s Primary Goal
We make it our aim . . . to be well pleasing to Him —2 Corinthians 5:9
We make it our aim. . . .” It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only “to be well pleasing to Him.” It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to the standard He has for you. Paul was like a musician who gives no thought to audience approval, if he can only catch a look of approval from his Conductor.
Any goal we have that diverts us even to the slightest degree from the central goal of being “approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15) may result in our rejection from further service for Him. When you discern where the goal leads, you will understand why it is so necessary to keep “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). Paul spoke of the importance of controlling his own body so that it would not take him in the wrong direction. He said, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest . . . I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).
I must learn to relate everything to the primary goal, maintaining it without interruption. My worth to God publicly is measured by what I really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how lofty it may sound?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Treasure in the Trash - #7091
Monday, March 17, 2014
My wife and I were driving through a nearby town with some of our friends, and all of a sudden my wife says, "Stop!" She saw something, but what was it? Well, there was a gas station, there was a trash dumpster; you know, the sights that we would always want to stop and tour with our friends. She saw the top leaves of a plant sticking out of this dumpster. So we stopped and my friend who was driving got out with her. My wife said, "Hey! That would be great for our office." I said, "The dumpster?" She said, "No, the plant."
The next thing you know, my friend is pulling this enormous plant out; pot and all. And they came back to the car with it. I couldn't get out of there fast enough; I was so embarrassed. And to announce my embarrassment, I put my handkerchief over my head. But today, I have to tell you, once that plant was all cleaned up, it nicely decorated our office lunch area, and it made an otherwise drab corner pretty nice.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Treasure in the Trash."
Our word for today from the Word of God is in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, beginning at verse 7. Actually, what led me to it was this ability that my wife has; where others see trash, she sees treasure. It's happened many times in our neighborhood as we've driven past things that others have thrown away. Here's the difference that kind of perspective can make when you're going through the garbage in your life.
Paul says, "...to keep me from becoming conceited, because of these surpassingly great revelations, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Well, one thing is clear about the thorn in the flesh, Paul didn't like it. It was garbage. Paul said, "If I didn't have it, I would have become conceited. I would have never tasted God's power like this, because I never would have needed Him so much." See, those who touch God's power most deeply are those who have needed Him most desperately.
Paul shows us how to look for God in life's garbage; for good in life's garbage. Though we don't get to choose whether we go through this painful time, we do get to choose what we focus on. If you belong to God through faith in Jesus Christ, there's always something beautiful in the ugly stuff or He would not allow you to go through it.
Maybe this is a time for you to learn God's patience, or God's peace, or God's power. Maybe it's a time to let other people have the joy of serving you as you have served them. Maybe it's time to find out how much people love you; how much God loves you. Or to develop a new inner strength that you have never touched before. Maybe there are people who have never listened to what you have to say about your Jesus, but this might just get their attention. This hard time? This might be the best opportunity, the best platform, you have ever had to show what a real difference Jesus makes, because He recycles garbage into something useful and beautiful.
You know, because of what you're going through you have what I call "crudentials." You've got the credentials that come from just the ugly stuff of life. And if they see that Jesus gives you a peace and a power and an endurance and a joy in the midst of that, you may never have a better opportunity to prove the reality of your Savior.
My wife's amazing! I mean, I look at trash; I see dirty, I see useless. She looks at that same garbage and sees the valuable things that could come from it. When it comes to life's garbage, that's what Jesus does. Maybe Satan sent it, maybe God allowed it, and you probably don't like it. But God can use it for something beautiful if you will just ask Him to show you the treasure in the garbage.