Max Lucado Daily: Judging Others
It is one thing to have a conviction; it's another to convict the person. Paul said in Romans 2:1, "If you think you can judge others" here is a stern reminder for you, "God judges those who do wrong things, and we know that his judging is right."
It is our job to hate the sin. But it is God's job to deal with the sinner. God has called us to despise evil, but he has never called us to despise the evildoer. But oh, how we would like to! Is there any act more delightful than judging others? There's something smug and self-satisfying about slamming down the gavel…"Guilty!" Judging others is a quick and easy way to feel good about ourselves. But that's the problem. God doesn't compare us to them. They are not the standard. God is. And compared to him, Paul argues in Romans 3:12, "There is no one who does anything good."
From In the Grip of Grace
Mark 4:1-20
New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Sower
4 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,
“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’[a]”
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
Footnotes:
Mark 4:12 Isaiah 6:9,10
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Read: Psalm 119:9-16
How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, Lord;
teach me your decrees.
13 With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
14 I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
15 I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
16 I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.
Insight
Psalm 119 is the longest psalm and chapter in the Bible. The focus of its 176 verses is God and His Word. God is mentioned in every verse of this psalm, and the entire psalm speaks of the primacy, authority, sufficiency, and efficacy of God’s Word in the life of the believer. It is a personal prayer for help. Oppressed and persecuted by powerful enemies who scorned and ridiculed his beliefs in God (vv.23,157,161), the unnamed psalmist found great strength and much comfort by trusting, keeping, and meditating on the Word of God. In this passage (vv.9-16), we see that victory over sin comes about only when we hide, meditate, contemplate, and delight in God’s Word.
One Amazing Letter
By Dave Branon
I will not forget Your word. —Psalm 119:16
Once in a while my wife and I open the mail to find a letter with no words on it. When we take the “letter” out of the envelope, we see a piece of paper with nothing more on it than a colorful mark made with a felt pen. Those “letters” warm our hearts because they’re from our preschool granddaughter Katie, who lives in another state. Even without words, these letters tell us that she loves us and is thinking about us.
We all cherish letters from those we love and those who love us. That’s why there is so much encouragement in the fact that our heavenly Father has given us a letter called the Bible. The value of Scripture goes beyond its words of power, challenge, and wisdom. Amid all of the stories, teaching, and guidance this Book provides, the overriding idea is that God loves us and has planned our rescue. It tells us of His love in overseeing our existence (Ps. 139), meeting our needs (Matt. 6:31-34), comforting us (2 Cor. 1:3-4), and saving us through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus (Rom. 1:16-17).
You are loved beyond imagination. God says so in His inspired and inspiring message to you. No wonder the psalmist wrote, “I will not forget Your word” (Ps. 119:16). It is one amazing letter!
Lord, help me to examine the Bible’s pages,
understand its truths, and apply its teachings to my
life. May I be as excited about Your letter to me as I
am about a letter, email, or Facebook posting by a friend.
The love of God for us is revealed in His letter to us—the Bible.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Missionary Weapons (1)
When you were under the fig tree, I saw you —John 1:48
Worshiping in Everyday Occasions. We presume that we would be ready for battle if confronted with a great crisis, but it is not the crisis that builds something within us— it simply reveals what we are made of already. Do you find yourself saying, “If God calls me to battle, of course I will rise to the occasion”? Yet you won’t rise to the occasion unless you have done so on God’s training ground. If you are not doing the task that is closest to you now, which God has engineered into your life, when the crisis comes, instead of being fit for battle, you will be revealed as being unfit. Crises always reveal a person’s true character.
A private relationship of worshiping God is the greatest essential element of spiritual fitness. The time will come, as Nathanael experienced in this passage, that a private “fig-tree” life will no longer be possible. Everything will be out in the open, and you will find yourself to be of no value there if you have not been worshiping in everyday occasions in your own home. If your worship is right in your private relationship with God, then when He sets you free, you will be ready. It is in the unseen life, which only God saw, that you have become perfectly fit. And when the strain of the crisis comes, you can be relied upon by God.
Are you saying, “But I can’t be expected to live a sanctified life in my present circumstances; I have no time for prayer or Bible study right now; besides, my opportunity for battle hasn’t come yet, but when it does, of course I will be ready”? No, you will not. If you have not been worshiping in everyday occasions, when you get involved in God’s work, you will not only be useless yourself but also a hindrance to those around you.
God’s training ground, where the missionary weapons are found, is the hidden, personal, worshiping life of the saint.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Not Enough Time to Win - #7218
There was a stretch in the life of the Buffalo Bills football team where they had to live down three straight losses in the Super Bowl. Now, there were some memorable victories, but people tend to forget the victories. In fact, they did have this one amazing victory. It was January 3, 1993. It was one of the most amazing games I can remember! It was the wild card game against the team known then as the Houston Oilers. Now, the winner of that game would be in the playoffs, and as things turned out, ultimately in the Super Bowl.
For a while it looked as if the Bills should have stayed in bed that morning. By early in the third quarter, Houston was leading them 35 to 3. It's over, right? I mean, they don't have time to make it up. And their star quarterback was injured on top of everything else. They've got their backup quarterback in. Virtually every commentator and every viewer had given up any hope of the Bills winning. It was a done deal. There just wasn't enough time to come back from that far down. Wrong! Touchdown! Bills, touchdown! Bills, touchdown! And then a thrilling tie finish to the game. They went into overtime. Final score: 41 to 38 - a Bills victory!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Not Enough Time to Win."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Mark 5, and we're beginning at verse 24. "A large crowd followed Jesus and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors, had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak. Because she thought, 'If I could just touch His clothes I will be healed.' Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering."
This is Jesus, the Lord of the hopeless situation, and maybe that's exactly the kind of Christ you need right now. This lady has had 12 years. She's seen every doctor, exhausted every possibility. Spent every dollar and she's got nothing to show for all of that. But she recognized one fact, and she acted on it in faith. Jesus can do in a moment what man cannot do in 12 years, or 20 years or 50 years. It says here that "immediately her problem stopped" after she touched Jesus.
See, sometimes we look at the game clock and we look at how far down we are. And we think there just isn't enough time to win this one. It's over! Well that's what Mary and Martha thought when their brother, Lazarus, got sick and Jesus didn't come in time to heal him. And then he died, and they said, "It's over!" They had no idea Jesus purposely waited until things got worse so He could do an even greater miracle. He raised the dead.
Maybe you're tempted right now to panic or give up or take matters into your own hands. I mean, if God was going to do something, He would have done it by now, right? That's probably what the ancient Jews thought. They were supposed to be getting out of the centuries of slavery in Egypt, but there had been plagues and Pharaoh refused to let them go over and over again. And then he softened, and then he hardened his heart again and they thought, "We'll never win this one."
But the night God delivered the Jews from slavery He told them to sleep in their clothes and not to bother putting yeast in their bread. There wouldn't be time for it to rise. And in one night He took an entire nation out with the Egyptians basically chasing them saying, "Please, take my money, take my jewels. Get out of here!" Incredible!
The point? When God is ready to move, stand back. He pours it on in the last minute and scores more points in less time than we could ever imagine. He gets the solution ready for us. He gets us ready for the solution. And then He moves so fast you can hardly keep up with Him.
The score might look hopeless right now. You may not even want to show up for the fourth quarter. And God may wait until there's less than a minute left. But do not give up. You keep trusting this God who doesn't need much time at all to win a miraculous victory.