Max Lucado Daily: Linger Near the Manger
Christianity was born in one big heavenly interruption! Just ask the Bethlehem shepherds! They had no expectations of excitement. These are sheep they're watching. We count sheep to go to sleep! Shepherds treasured the predictable. This was the night shift. Any excitement was bad excitement-wolves, lions, poachers. Just because they wanted a calm night, didn't mean they would get it.
Luke 2 says, "Then an angel of the Lord stood before them. The glory of the Lord shining around them, and they became very frightened" (v 9). We always assume the worst before we look for the best. It's a good thing the shepherds lingered; otherwise, they might have missed the second message. "Today your Savior was born in the town of David. He is Christ the Lord" (v 11).
I hope you'll do what the shepherds did-linger near the manger!
From In the Manger
Luke 1:39-56
Mary Visits Elizabeth
A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town 40 where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”
The Magnificat: Mary’s Song of Praise
46 Mary responded,
“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.
47 How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
48 For he took notice of his lowly servant girl,
and from now on all generations will call me blessed.
49 For the Mighty One is holy,
and he has done great things for me.
50 He shows mercy from generation to generation
to all who fear him.
51 His mighty arm has done tremendous things!
He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.
52 He has brought down princes from their thrones
and exalted the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away with empty hands.
54 He has helped his servant Israel
and remembered to be merciful.
55 For he made this promise to our ancestors,
to Abraham and his children forever.”
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back to her own home.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Read: Isaiah 11:1-9
A Branch from David’s Line
Out of the stump of David’s family[a] will grow a shoot—
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 He will delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by appearance
nor make a decision based on hearsay.
4 He will give justice to the poor
and make fair decisions for the exploited.
The earth will shake at the force of his word,
and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
5 He will wear righteousness like a belt
and truth like an undergarment.
6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together;
the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.
The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion,
and a little child will lead them all.
7 The cow will graze near the bear.
The cub and the calf will lie down together.
The lion will eat hay like a cow.
8 The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra.
Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.
9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
for as the waters fill the sea,
so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.
Footnotes:
11:1 Hebrew the stump of the line of Jesse. Jesse was King David’s father.
Insight
The future and everlasting kingdom of God will be one of peace and harmony. Many of the prophets looked forward to this day with great anticipation. In today’s passage, Isaiah describes this kingdom by picturing animals that would normally prey on each other at peace together. This will be a time of peace because the Messiah will rule (v.9).
Snake In A Box
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. —Isaiah 11:9
At a nature center, I watched my friend’s rosy-cheeked toddler pat the side of a large glass box. Inside the box, a bull snake named Billy slithered slowly, eyeing the little girl. Billy’s body was as thick as my forearm and he sported brown and yellow markings. Although I knew Billy could not escape from his container, seeing a menacing-looking creature so close to a small child made me shudder.
The Bible speaks of a time in the future when fierce animals will fail to threaten each other or human beings. “The wolf . . . shall dwell with the lamb” and “the nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole” (Isa. 11:6,8). All the inhabitants of the world will experience total harmony and peace.
The Lord will establish this safe environment when He restores the world with His wisdom, might, and knowledge. At that time, He will judge the world with righteousness and justice (11:4). And everyone will acknowledge His greatness: “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord” (11:9).
We live in a broken world. Unfairness and discord, fear and pain are a very real part of our daily lives. But one day God will change everything, and “the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings” (Mal. 4:2). Then Jesus will rule the world in righteousness.
Be still, my soul: the hour is hast’ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. —von Schlegel
Leave final justice in the hands of a just God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Individuality
Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…" —Matthew 16:24
Individuality is the hard outer layer surrounding the inner spiritual life. Individuality shoves others aside, separating and isolating people. We see it as the primary characteristic of a child, and rightly so. When we confuse individuality with the spiritual life, we remain isolated. This shell of individuality is God’s created natural covering designed to protect the spiritual life. But our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for Himself, but individuality corrupts that human nature for its own purposes.
The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will. We hinder our spiritual growth more than any other way by continually asserting our individuality. If you say, “I can’t believe,” it is because your individuality is blocking the way; individuality can never believe. But our spirit cannot help believing. Watch yourself closely when the Spirit of God is at work in you. He pushes you to the limits of your individuality where a choice must be made. The choice is either to say, “I will not surrender,” or to surrender, breaking the hard shell of individuality, which allows the spiritual life to emerge. The Holy Spirit narrows it down every time to one thing (see Matthew 5:23-24). It is your individuality that refuses to “be reconciled to your brother” (Matthew 5:24). God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot. “…let him deny himself…”— deny his independent right to himself. Then the real life-the spiritual life-is allowed the opportunity to grow.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, December 11, 2014
The Top of Life's Puzzle Box - #7284
We were trying to teach some young leaders the importance of teamwork. One of the exercises I used was to have them put together a puzzle. (I thought it was a bright idea.) You tear off a page of a magazine, tear it into pieces, dump it into the middle of each small group, and see who could put their pictures together first. It didn't work too well. See, I forgot one little thing. I forgot to give them a copy of the complete picture so they could see what it should look like when it was all together. Duh! Now, I've tried to work on one of those big, many-pieces puzzles myself, and I've had the same frustration because I didn't know where the top of the puzzle box top was. It was really hard to put the pieces together when the complete picture wasn't there.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Top of Life's Puzzle Box."
Now, I'm not the first person to describe life being like a puzzle. There are so many pieces; family pieces, friend pieces, children pieces, career pieces; the pieces of school, work, success, failure. The nagging questions like, "Who am I?" "Where am I going?" "What do all these pieces mean?" "What are they supposed to make?"
Well, I found the top of the box. It's in God's book, the Bible, found in Colossians 1:16, "All things were created by Him and for Him." Now, that's speaking of Jesus Christ. And there are six powerful words there; words that can finally pull all those pieces together, "Created by Him and for Him."
You can begin to put the pieces together when you put your name in that verse. I'll leave a blank. "______ was created by Jesus and for Jesus." So you want to find out how all those pieces make sense? There's going to be a terrible hole in your heart until you have Jesus, because He's the one our heart was created for. No earth thing, no earth person, no earth achievement can fill it.
You may have some great pieces in your life, or some pretty scared and fading pieces. But life is still powerless and disconnected; with often meaningless pieces in front of you. You need the whole picture, and our Creator has told us in that statement from the Bible what that is. He gave His only Son, Jesus, because that relationship that we were made by and for is missing in our lives because we've built a wall between us and our Creator by doing life our way instead of His way; pushed Him to the edge.
You know why our life seems so disconnected and confused? We're created to live for Him and we chose to live for us. We've run our own lives when our Creator was supposed to. And according to the Bible, "Your sins have separated you from your God." He's the only one who knows why you're here. He put you here. The only One who has the love you're looking for your whole life is on the other side of a wall. That wall's got a name. It's called sin. No wonder things aren't adding up. We're stuck with the pieces, but we're cut off from the whole picture.
But this statement out of the Bible "created by Him and for Him" tells us where the hope is for things to finally come together. "He forgave us all our sin" it says. He nailed our sins... my sins to His cross. It was our sin and its death penalty that has kept us from our Creator. And it was all our sins that God sent His Son to die for on that cross.
The pieces of your life finally start to fit together when you come to that cross and say, "Jesus, for me." In simple faith you say, "Lord, it's for me, and I want you and your forgiveness for me." If you've never done that; if you're ready to meet the One that you were made by and made for, I invite you to visit our website; ANewStory.com and find out there how to be sure you belong to Him.
It's like seeing the top of life's puzzle box and the pieces finally come together. You're very, very close to finding the reason you were born, and finding the person you were born for.