Most people keep a pot of anger on low boil! But you aren't most people. Look at your feet. They're wet, grace-soaked. Jesus has washed your feet…he has washed the grimiest parts of your life.
To accept grace is the vow to give it. You don't endorse the deeds of your offender when you forgive them. Jesus didn't endorse your sins by forgiving you. The grace-defined person still sends thieves to jail and expects the ex to pay child support. Grace sees the hurt full well. But it refuses to let hurts poison the heart. Where grace is lacking, bitterness abounds. Where grace abounds, forgiveness grows.
So, let the hands of God wipe away every dirty part of your life. Then look across the room and wash someone else's feet. Let grace begin and continue in you!
From GRACE
Genesis 10
The Table of Nations
This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.
The Japhethites
2 The sons[a] of Japheth:
Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer:
Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.
4 The sons of Javan:
Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites.[b] 5 (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)
The Hamites
6 The sons of Ham:
Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan.
7 The sons of Cush:
Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteka.
The sons of Raamah:
Sheba and Dedan.
8 Cush was the father[c] of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in[d] Shinar.[e] 11 From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir,[f] Calah 12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.
13 Egypt was the father of
the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14 Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.
15 Canaan was the father of
Sidon his firstborn,[g] and of the Hittites, 16 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18 Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.
Later the Canaanite clans scattered 19 and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, as far as Lasha.
20 These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.
The Semites
21 Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was[h] Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.
22 The sons of Shem:
Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.
23 The sons of Aram:
Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshek.[i]
24 Arphaxad was the father of[j] Shelah,
and Shelah the father of Eber.
25 Two sons were born to Eber:
One was named Peleg,[k] because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.
26 Joktan was the father of
Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
30 The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.
31 These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.
32 These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 33:6-19
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars[a];
he puts the deep into storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the people of the world revere him.
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The Lord foils the plans of the nations;
he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
11 But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose for his inheritance.
13 From heaven the Lord looks down
and sees all mankind;
14 from his dwelling place he watches
all who live on earth—
15 he who forms the hearts of all,
who considers everything they do.
16 No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
18 But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
19 to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.
Footnotes:
Psalm 33:7 Or sea as into a heap
Insight
In this song of praise, the psalmist calls the righteous to praise God for His Word and His work (vv.1-3). He celebrates God’s power in creation—“He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (vv.6-9)—and points to the special privilege and blessedness of being God’s chosen people (v.12).
Who’s At The Center?
By Poh Fang chia
The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. —Psalm 33:11
Recently, I had what for me was a “Copernican moment”: I am not at the center of the universe. The world doesn’t revolve around me. It doesn’t move at my pace, in my terms, nor in accord with my preferences.
Though we might wish it to be otherwise, life is not all about us. Everything revolves around the Lord. In Psalm 33, we read that all nature revolves around Him and His control (vv.6-9). He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the ocean in vast reservoirs. Everything in nature operates in accordance with the laws He has set.
The nations also revolve around the Lord (vv.10-12). No plan or scheme can stand up against God’s. Ultimately, it is the Lord’s plan that will stand forever. His intentions can never be shaken.
Finally, the lives of all humanity revolve around the Lord (vv.13-19). God sees the whole human race. He made our hearts, and He understands everything we do. And He has the power to intervene in our lives and deliver us from situations spinning out of control.
Our life is created to be centered on God, not self. How thankful we can be to serve such a powerful God, who has every aspect of our lives under His control.
Teach me, Lord, to live out the truth of Psalm 33.
May I revere You as I should. May I and all the
inhabitants of the world stand in awe of You,
for Your counsel and plans stand forever.
When we die to all about us, we live to God above us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Maintaining the Proper Relationship
. . . the friend of the bridegroom . . . —John 3:29
Goodness and purity should never be traits that draw attention to themselves, but should simply be magnets that draw people to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing others to Him, it is not the right kind of holiness; it is only an influence which awakens undue emotions and evil desires in people and diverts them from heading in the right direction. A person who is a beautiful saint can be a hindrance in leading people to the Lord by presenting only what Christ has done for him, instead of presenting Jesus Christ Himself. Others will be left with this thought— “What a fine person that man is!” That is not being a true “friend of the bridegroom”— I am increasing all the time; He is not.
To maintain this friendship and faithfulness to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful to have the moral and vital relationship to Him above everything else, including obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey and our only task is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, seeing that nothing interferes with it. Only occasionally is it a matter of obedience. At those times when a crisis arises, we have to find out what God’s will is. Yet most of our life is not spent in trying to be consciously obedient, but in maintaining this relationship— being the “friend of the bridegroom.” Christian work can actually be a means of diverting a person’s focus away from Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends “of the bridegroom,” we may become amateur providences of God to someone else, working against Him while we use His weapons.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Racing Past the Glory - #7097
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Three days before our vacation, my wife and I had no idea where we were going to be able to go! We'd been too busy to think about it and too broke to pay for it. And then some friends supplied a beautiful spot in the Rocky Mountains. You know, God's a great vacation planner.
We had the joy of looking out a window each morning at the majesty of Buffalo Mountain, all 12,000 plus feet of her. You'd have to stack four of New Jersey's highest mountains on top of each other to get that kind of altitude, and that's where we were living. One night the temperature dropped to some winter lows, even though it was just early fall. My wife had gotten up before sunrise that morning and she said, "Honey, get up! You've got to see this!" The mountain was covered with a beautiful covering of new-fallen snow. And then just above the mountain was this crown of puffy, white clouds. Directly over all that was a full moon that was just softly lighting the whole thing. It was great!
And then there were the two early risers in the parking lot. One guy came out on his way to work, saw that magical scene and just stood there frozen, gazing at it for a long time. He was awed by it as we were. Then guy number two came running out on his way to work. He's got his lunch box in his hand, his eyes were looking straight ahead, he hustles right to his car, hurriedly backed out of his parking space and speeds away. What a contrast between the two men. One stood amazed and one was too busy to even notice.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Racing Past the Glory."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews 2:3. God's got an unsettling question here: "How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" God is offering us a gift that cost Him a lot, and some people are running right past it. God's most glorious work is not a moonlit, snow-crest mountain or a sunset or even the amazing universe out there. No, it's what happened on a Roman cross, and three days later at a garden tomb. It's wrapped up in these seven words, "if we ignore such a great salvation."
Obviously salvation means someone's in trouble, right, and needs deliverance...needs a rescue. You and I are in big trouble with God according to the Bible. Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of our sin is death." And as good as we might be or religious, we like to think we're okay. But the judge before whom we must stand says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). We're all guilty of taking over the life that God gave us and doing what we want with it. Spiritually, we're on death row. That's where this salvation comes in. God sent His one and only Son to die our death penalty because of His awesome love for us.
Then three days later, Jesus wielded the knockout punch on death. He proved that He alone can deliver eternal life by rising from the dead. Who else did that? Jesus loves you enough to die in your place. He's powerful enough to blow the doors off of death; all that to give you a way to belong to God. Such a great salvation! But you might be missing it, like that man who raced past the glory of the scene on that mountain, maybe you've been running right past the glory of what happened on a hill called Skull Hill where Jesus died for you.
You've been busy working, building your kingdom, and caring for your family, and pursuing your pleasure, and running right past the one thing you cannot afford to miss. That's what you've been looking for your whole life. Isn't it time you stopped running and stand amazed at the cross of Jesus Christ? Isn't it time to say, "Lord, I've ignored the glory of what You've done for me, but no more. I'm Yours."
Are you ready to belong to Him? Are you ready to experience this love and this power that has changed lives for 2,000 years? This could be your day to begin with Him. And I want to encourage you to join me at our website. I will take just a very few minutes to explain to you exactly how you can know you belong to Jesus. Go to ANewStory.com.
See, a person is drowning, a rescuer throws him a rope and he ignores it, and he dies. Not because there was no salvation, but because he ignored it. Jesus has thrown you a rope that's anchored to His cross. Please don't ignore it any longer.
