Max Lucado Daily: He Canceled the Record
How would you feel if a list of your weaknesses were posted so that everyone, including Christ Himself, could see? Yes, Christ has chronicled your shortcomings. And, yes, that list has been made public. But you've never seen it. Neither have I.
Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as the soldiers shove the Carpenter to the ground and stretch His arms against the beams. One presses a knee against a forearm and a spike against a hand. Jesus turns His face toward the nail just as the soldier lifts the hammer to strike it. Couldn't Jesus have stopped Him?
Through the eyes of Scripture we see what others missed but what Jesus saw. Colossians 2:14 says, "He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross!"
From He Chose the Nails
Matthew 6:1-18
Giving to the Needy
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Fasting
16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Footnotes:
Matthew 6:13 The Greek for temptation can also mean testing.
Matthew 6:13 Or from evil; some late manuscripts one, / for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Philippians 4:1-5
Closing Appeal for Steadfastness and Unity
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Final Exhortations
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Insight
As Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi comes to an end, he provides his readers with a number of imperatives: “stand fast in the Lord” (v.1); “be of the same mind” (v.2); “help [those] who labored with me in the gospel” (v.3); “rejoice in the Lord always” (v.4); and “let your gentleness be known to all men” (v.5). Notice the varied kinds of imperatives given. Because unity, support, rejoicing, and gentleness are needed depending upon the situation, sensitivity to the Spirit’s leading helps us to tap into God’s resources so that we can respond appropriately to each circumstance.
Strawberry Mess
By Anne Cetas
Be of the same mind in the Lord. —Philippians 4:2
My husband and I had recently moved into our house when a man dropped off a large box of strawberries on our front sidewalk. He left a note saying he wanted us to share them with our neighbors. He meant well, but some children discovered the box before any adults did and had a strawberry-throwing party at our white house. When we returned home, we saw children we knew watching us from behind a fence. They had “returned to the scene of the crime” to see how we would react to the mess. We could have just cleaned it up ourselves, but to restore our relationship, we felt it was important to talk with them and require their help in cleaning our strawberry-stained house.
Life can get messy with relationship struggles. This was the case in the Philippian church. Two faithful servants, Euodia and Syntyche, were in sharp disagreement. The apostle Paul wrote to the church to encourage them to work through their problems (Phil. 4:2). He also wanted another person to come alongside them with a spirit of gentleness. He wrote, “I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel” (v.3).
Realizing we’ve all made messes in life, we can trust the Lord to help us deal gently with others.
Dear Lord, please give me discernment and
courage in my relationships. Help me by Your
power to be gentle and show the same love
to others that You have shown to me.
True love both confronts and restores.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, April 07, 2014
Why We Lack Understanding
He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead —Mark 9:9
As the disciples were commanded, you should also say nothing until the Son of Man has risen in you— until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you truly understand what He taught while here on earth. When you grow and develop the right condition inwardly, the words Jesus spoke become so clear that you are amazed you did not grasp them before. In fact, you were not able to understand them before because you had not yet developed the proper spiritual condition to deal with them.
Our Lord doesn’t hide these things from us, but we are not prepared to receive them until we are in the right condition in our spiritual life. Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). We must have a oneness with His risen life before we are prepared to bear any particular truth from Him. Do we really know anything about the indwelling of the risen life of Jesus? The evidence that we do is that His Word is becoming understandable to us. God cannot reveal anything to us if we don’t have His Spirit. And our own unyielding and headstrong opinions will effectively prevent God from revealing anything to us. But our insensible thinking will end immediately once His resurrection life has its way with us.
“. . . tell no one . . . .” But so many people do tell what they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration— their mountaintop experience. They have seen a vision and they testify to it, but there is no connection between what they say and how they live. Their lives don’t add up because the Son of Man has not yet risen in them. How long will it be before His resurrection life is formed and evident in you and in me?
The Winning Way to Handle Losing - #7106
Monday, April 7, 2014
Okay, I'm a typical American. I like football, baseball, basketball. Luge, bobsled, slopestyle, halfpipe - not so much. But, like millions of others, something about the winter Olympics drew me in to watch sports that I know little about. It's because of the drama; the human drama. The world's best on the world stage, with much of their life invested in what will be only minutes of their life, giving it all for the glory of winning or the agony of losing.
Now look, I don't skate on a world stage. I won't be winning even an aluminum medal. But I found some Olympic takeaways for you and me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Winning Way to Handle Losing."
That's part of what I saw in the Games at Sochi; stinging setbacks, bitter disappointments. But there were examples of how to handle it.
Number one, know the difference between what you do and who you are. No one was the face of Team USA more than snowboarder Shaun White. With two gold medals in the halfpipe, a third win and he'd have made history. He didn't win anything. No gold, no silver, no bronze. But in the midst of what had to be a crushing disappointment, he did have some helpful perspective for all of us who've watched a dream slip away. He said, "This is just one part of who I am - a big part - but I want to be more than just that."
There's all the difference in the world between, "I failed" and "I'm a failure." Yes, you may have fallen short athletically, academically, at work, or even more significantly, in a major life relationship. But "I've failed" doesn't mean "I'm a failure." You aren't what you do. You are your character, your God-given worth - which has nothing to do with your performance. No setback, no broken dream can rob you of you unless you let it.
Here's another lesson. Look for the lesson and move on. Skier Bode Miller knows the glory; I mean, a five-time Olympic medalist. But in Sochi, he finished eighth in the men's downhill. In the midst of that disappointment, one reporter said, "He painfully dissected what went wrong." Ecclesiastes 7:14 in the Bible says, "When times are good, be happy. But when things are bad, consider." Yeah, that's pretty good.
I'll tell you, when I've messed up, there were always lessons to learn. Those lessons can, if I'll man up to the responsibility, keep me from messing up again. Learn the lesson. Don't dwell on the failure. One woman's cross country star, who was expected to medal for the USA, said this after finishing as an also-ran: "So I'm just going to put today in a box and move on to the next one."
Number three lesson, look where you're going and not where you've been. Erin Hamlin just became the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in singles luge. She was a favorite to do that in Vancouver in 2010. She was out of medal contention after the first heat. About her most recent appearance in the Olympics she said, "I was really disappointed, and I knew that's not how I wanted to end my Olympic legacy. It was super-motivating." I like that. See, dwelling on the past is futile. It can't be changed. But the future is yet to be written.
And here is our word for today from the Word of God that nails that down as God wants us to look at life ourselves. Isaiah 43:18-19 says this: "Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I'm doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it?" You know that God is in the business of erasing the sins and the failures and the mistakes of our past. And He is the Lord of new beginnings.
We know that, because later in this same chapter He says, "I am He who blots out your transgressions and remembers your sins no more." That miracle of having your past erased so that you can focus on how your life will be from now on with Christ running it is a miracle only the man who died for you can do; only the man who walked out of His grave. And He offers to do that for you today; to begin that life-changing relationship which I would love to help you start. Would you visit us at our website ANewStory.com?
It's been a big deal whenever one of our grandchildren got to 20 pounds. Because that's when you get to turn your car seat around! No more looking at where you've already been. From now on, it's all eyes on where you're going! What a great way to live!