Max Lucado Daily: Eternal Choices
God gives eternal choices, and these choices have eternal consequences. Isn't this the reminder of Calvary's trio? Ever wonder why there were two crosses next to Christ? Why not six or ten? Ever wonder why Jesus was in the center? Could it be the two crosses on the hill symbolize one of God's greatest gifts? The gift of choice. The two criminals were convicted by the same system. Condemned to death. Equally close to the same Jesus. But one changed and one did not.
You've made some bad choices in life, haven't you? You look back and you say, "If only I could make up for those bad choices." You can. When one thief on the cross prayed, Jesus loved him enough to save him. When the other mocked, Jesus loved him enough to let him. He allowed him the choice. And he does the same for you and me.
Then (the thief) said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus answered him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:42-43
from He Chose the Nails
Job 3
Job Speaks
After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 He said:
3 “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.
6 That night—may thick darkness seize it;
may it not be included among the days of the year
nor be entered in any of the months.
7 May that night be barren;
may no shout of joy be heard in it.
8 May those who curse days[a] curse that day,
those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
9 May its morning stars become dark;
may it wait for daylight in vain
and not see the first rays of dawn,
10 for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me
to hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why did I not perish at birth,
and die as I came from the womb?
12 Why were there knees to receive me
and breasts that I might be nursed?
13 For now I would be lying down in peace;
I would be asleep and at rest
14 with kings and rulers of the earth,
who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,
15 with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child,
like an infant who never saw the light of day?
17 There the wicked cease from turmoil,
and there the weary are at rest.
18 Captives also enjoy their ease;
they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.
19 The small and the great are there,
and the slaves are freed from their owners.
20 “Why is light given to those in misery,
and life to the bitter of soul,
21 to those who long for death that does not come,
who search for it more than for hidden treasure,
22 who are filled with gladness
and rejoice when they reach the grave?
23 Why is life given to a man
whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?
24 For sighing has become my daily food;
my groans pour out like water.
25 What I feared has come upon me;
what I dreaded has happened to me.
26 I have no peace, no quietness;
I have no rest, but only turmoil.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 19:7-14
The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
and all of them are righteous.
10 They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the honeycomb.
11 By them your servant is warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can discern their own errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Insight
Psalm 19 is a song of David that celebrates how God has revealed Himself to us—first in His creation and then in the Scriptures. While the psalm does not tell us at what point in David’s life this song was written, many scholars have suggested that it was in some way a product of David’s years as a shepherd over his father’s flocks. Constantly exposed to the wonders of God’s creation, David would have found ample material to celebrate how the Creator reveals Himself in what He has made (vv.1-6).
Spoonful Of Sugar
By Julie Ackerman Link
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. . . . Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. —Psalm 19:9-10
Where is Mary Poppins when you need her? I know this sounds as if I’m longing for the good old days when cheerfully unrealistic movies featured characters like this fictional nanny, but what I’m really longing for are people with a vision for the future that is realistically optimistic. I yearn for joyful, creative people who can show us the positive side of what we consider negative, who can remind us that “just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”
David wrote a song that expressed a similar truth. In his words, “the judgments of the Lord” are “sweeter also than . . . honey” (Ps. 19:9-10). Seldom do we hear that truth is sweet. More often we hear that it is bitter or hard to swallow. But truth is so much more than medicine to treat what’s wrong. It’s the diet that will prevent disease. It’s not an inoculation or an injection. It’s a gourmet meal that should be presented as a culinary delight, enticing the hungry to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (34:8).
We sing “Jesus is the sweetest name I know,” but some of us present Him as if He’s gone sour. Pure truth, untainted by pride, is the sweetest, most refreshing taste of all to those who hunger for spiritual sustenance. And we have the privilege of serving it to a starving world.
Jesus is the sweetest name I know,
And He’s just the same as His lovely name,
And that’s the reason why I love Him so;
Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know. —Long
The truth of the Lord endures forever. —Psalm 117:2
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
The Failure To Pay Close Attention
The high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days —2 Chronicles 15:17
Asa was not completely obedient in the outward, visible areas of his life. He was obedient in what he considered the most important areas, but he was not entirely right. Beware of ever thinking, “Oh, that thing in my life doesn’t matter much.” The fact that it doesn’t matter much to you may mean that it matters a great deal to God. Nothing should be considered a trivial matter by a child of God. How much longer are we going to prevent God from teaching us even one thing? But He keeps trying to teach us and He never loses patience. You say, “I know I am right with God”— yet the “high places” still remain in your life. There is still an area of disobedience. Do you protest that your heart is right with God, and yet there is something in your life He causes you to doubt? Whenever God causes a doubt about something, stop it immediately, no matter what it may be. Nothing in our lives is a mere insignificant detail to God.
Are there some things regarding your physical or intellectual life to which you have been paying no attention at all? If so, you may think you are all correct in the important areas, but you are careless— you are failing to concentrate or to focus properly. You no more need a day off from spiritual concentration on matters in your life than your heart needs a day off from beating. As you cannot take a day off morally and remain moral, neither can you take a day off spiritually and remain spiritual. God wants you to be entirely His, and it requires paying close attention to keep yourself fit. It also takes a tremendous amount of time. Yet some of us expect to rise above all of our problems, going from one mountaintop experience to another, with only a few minutes’ effort.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Golden Street's Matchmakers - #7112
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
I meet a lot of single people in their twenties and thirties, and of course, a lot of them would like to be married. Either they haven't found the right person yet, or they found someone with like commitment phobia who hears wedding bells and runs the other way. Our mate selection process, as you may know very personally, is a little uncertain and sometimes messed up, actually.
Maybe we should consider the Yenta idea. Yenta is the Hebrew matchmaker. She brings people together. It works! I mean, it was popularized in Fiddler on the Roof in that song that goes, "Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match" which I will not sing for you. That old Hebrew culture left nothing to chance when it came to getting people together. Yenta got in the middle and made sure it happened. Have I got a Yenta job for you!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Golden Street's Matchmakers."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 5. I'm reading verses 19 and 20. We're told, "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ...not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation." Well, what's reconciliation but bringing two people together, right? "We are therefore (it says) Christ's ambassadors as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." I describe this as the golden street's matchmakers; making sure that you get the message out so that someone you know can go to heaven with you.
I had the privilege at a major national youth convention to ask young people to stand to their feet; young people who were willing to claim one friend for Christ. Not the whole world, just to say, "This one friend, I will do whatever it takes to reach that person and to stand and pray aloud by name for that person." And across that auditorium in our nation's capitol, thousands of kids stood with the name God had laid on their heart.
If I asked you to do that - to say, "I will live my life to take this one person to heaven with me" who would yours be? There's no way that person can get to heaven unless he or she gets to Jesus, and there's probably no way he or she can get to Jesus unless they have a matchmaker.
And God says that's you and me; someone who holds Jesus in one hand and that person that you care about in the other and brings them together. This is not some laid back, "Well, I hope it works" process. No, notice the words in this passage as though God were asking you to. I'm going to ask you on God's behalf, He couldn't be here, so I'm going to ask you intensely, I implore you, I beg you be reconciled to God. Nothing passive about this.
Not long ago we were jolted in our community by three sudden deaths; a couple of them teenagers. Someone called it a wakeup call, and it was. That kind of thing reminds you that time is very short; heaven and hell are very eternal. And nothing, nothing is more important than letting the people you know hear about your Jesus. It's more than living your life in front of them. It's more than even loving them. You've got to tell them, pray daily for them, make a commitment to live your life to redeem theirs. Who do you want to take to heaven with you?
Will you step up to being God's matchmaker? A matchmaker makes sure that people get together, and God is asking you to do whatever it takes, whatever it costs, to bring two people together forever - a person you care about and the Christ who died for that person.