Max Lucado Daily: The Choice is Yours
It would've been nice if God had let us order life like we order a meal. I'll take good health and a high IQ. I'll pass on the music skills, but give me a fast metabolism! It would've been nice-but it didn't happen. When it came to your life on earth, you weren't given a voice or a vote.
But when it comes to life after death, you were. In my book that seems like a good deal. Wouldn't you agree? Have we been given any greater privilege than that of choice? You've made some bad choices in life, haven't you? You've chosen the wrong friends, maybe the wrong career; even the wrong spouse.
You look back and say, "If only…if only I could make up for those bad choices. You can. One good choice for eternity offsets a thousand bad ones on earth. The choice is yours.
From He Chose the Nails
Genesis 21
The Birth of Isaac
Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac[b] to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[c] will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she[d] began to sob.
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
The Treaty at Beersheba
22 At that time Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. 23 Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.”
24 Abraham said, “I swear it.”
25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek’s servants had seized. 26 But Abimelek said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.”
27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty. 28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, 29 and Abimelek asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?”
30 He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.”
31 So that place was called Beersheba,[e] because the two men swore an oath there.
32 After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
Genesis 21:3 Isaac means he laughs.
Genesis 21:12 Or seed
Genesis 21:16 Hebrew; Septuagint the child
Genesis 21:31 Beersheba can mean well of seven and well of the oath
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 10:12-22
Fear the Lord
12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
14 To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. 20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. 22 Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Insight
It is interesting to note that when our Lord faced His temptations in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11), all of the verses He quoted are from Deuteronomy (8:3; 6:16,13).
Loved To Love
By Randy Kilgore
Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. —Deuteronomy 10:19
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life was at risk every day he stayed in Hitler’s Germany, but he stayed nonetheless. I imagine he shared the apostle Paul’s view that being in heaven was his heart’s desire, but staying where he was needed was God’s present purpose (Phil. 1:21). So stay he did; as a pastor he offered clandestine worship services and resisted the evil regime under Hitler.
Despite the daily danger, Bonhoeffer penned Life Together—a book on hospitality as ministry. He put this principle to the test when he lived and worked in a monastic community and when he was imprisoned. Every meal, every task, and every conversation, Bonhoeffer taught, was an opportunity to show Christ to others, even under great stress or strain.
We read in Deuteronomy that just as God ministered to the Israelites who were leaving Egypt, He instructed them to imitate Him by loving and hosting strangers and widows (10:18-19; Ex. 22:21-22). We too are loved by God and empowered by His Spirit to serve Him by serving others in countless ways each day through kind words and actions.
Who on our daily journey seems lonely or lost? We can trust the Lord to enable us to bring them hope and compassion as we live and labor together for Him.
That I may serve Him with a full surrender,
My life a crucible, His eye the test,
Each hour a gift from Him, the gracious Sender,
Each day a pledge to give to Christ my best. —Anon.
The more we understand God’s love for us the more love we’ll show to others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, April 09, 2014
Have You Seen Jesus?
After that, He appeared in another form to two of them . . . —Mark 16:12
Being saved and seeing Jesus are not the same thing. Many people who have never seen Jesus have received and share in God’s grace. But once you have seen Him, you can never be the same. Other things will not have the appeal they did before.
You should always recognize the difference between what you see Jesus to be and what He has done for you. If you see only what He has done for you, your God is not big enough. But if you have had a vision, seeing Jesus as He really is, experiences can come and go, yet you will endure “as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). The man who was blind from birth did not know who Jesus was until Christ appeared and revealed Himself to him (see John 9). Jesus appears to those for whom He has done something, but we cannot order or predict when He will come. He may appear suddenly, at any turn. Then you can exclaim, “Now I see Him!” (see John 9:25).
Jesus must appear to you and to your friend individually; no one can see Jesus with your eyes. And division takes place when one has seen Him and the other has not. You cannot bring your friend to the point of seeing; God must do it. Have you seen Jesus? If so, you will want others to see Him too. “And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either” (Mark 16:13). When you see Him, you must tell, even if they don’t believe.
O could I tell, you surely would believe it!
O could I only say what I have seen!
How should I tell or how can you receive it,
How, till He bringeth you where I have been?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Eye Transplants for Lovers - #7108
Jim was a partner with us in some of our radio outreach to young people, and he's a man who refused to be stopped with his limitations. He was blind. In fact, he launched a pioneer program in his area that was planned and hosted by young people. We talked to Jim and we got some incredible news. He had just come through surgery with his very own medical miracle. He woke up from that operation with some of the sight restored that he had lost years before. And he told us how beautiful the mountains were, and especially how beautiful his wife was. He said, "I finally see my wife for the first time in 16 years!" What a breakthrough!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Eye Transplants for Lovers."
My friend, Jim, finally has eyes to see his wife. It's a breakthrough that many more men need to experience. One of the great love stories of the Bible is the story of Isaac and Rebecca. The credit for a lot of that goes to the man of the house. Listen to some of the verbs that describe Isaac's relationship with his wife.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Genesis chapters 24, 25 and 26. Verse 67 in chapter 24 it says, "She became his wife and he loved her." Then in chapter 26, "The king looked out the window and 'saw Isaac caressing his wife, Rebecca'." But the greatest insight of all is in this word from Genesis 25:21, "Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer and his wife became pregnant."
Isaac was a husband that prayed for his wife, and things began to happen in her life that seemed impossible. If you're a husband, maybe you can think of things in your wife's life that just seem to be humanly impossible. But praying for her might bring about a miracle in you as a husband, too; the same kind of miracle that happened to my blind friend, Jim. God could give you eyes to see your wife as you've never seen her before or you haven't seen her for a long time. There's a lot of power in being a praying husband.
Most of all, when you spend time with God praying for the woman you love, you begin to see her with new eyes. You begin to see what God sees when He sees your wife, and that's the starting point for being the kind of sensitive, caring guy that God made you to be; for being the haven for which the heart of a woman truly longs.
Things may be great between you and your bride right now, or maybe they're tense. Maybe you're struggling. Maybe things are breaking down or drifting apart. Whatever the situation, your love will grow on your knees asking for God's perspective on your wife. Ask Him to help you see, not just her deeds, but the deep needs that are behind her deeds, the affection deficit, the attention deficit, the stress of having to handle too much without you, the frustration of not really being listened to.
You can also ask God to help you hear her heart, not just her words; to show you what might be hurting her, or crushing her, or causing resentment in her. Also ask God to show you your wife's language of love. What things could you do that would make her feel really loved? Don't be surprised if it involves some sacrifice, like Jesus' life-giving love for us.
You can tell a woman who is being loved by a man who spends time with God on her behalf, and on his own behalf as a husband. Because that woman is radiant, she's positive, she's at peace because a man - a man like you maybe - asked God to give him what sometimes only God can give - eyes to see who this woman really is; how beautiful she really is or maybe could be with more of your love.