Max Lucado Daily: Anything But a King
In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what He was doing, was a teenage girl in a smelly stable. As Mary looked into the face of the baby, her son, her Lord, His majesty—she couldn’t take her eyes off Him. Somehow Mary knew she was holding God. So this is He. And she remembered the words of the angel when he said, “His kingdom will never end!”
He looked like anything but a King. His cry, though strong and healthy, was still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter. God came near! Luke 1:33 says, “His kingdom will never end!” May you be a part of it.
From In the Manger
Deuteronomy 5
Ten Commandments for the Covenant Community
Moses called all the people of Israel together and said, “Listen carefully, Israel. Hear the decrees and regulations I am giving you today, so you may learn them and obey them!
2 “The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Mount Sinai.[a] 3 The Lord did not make this covenant with our ancestors, but with all of us who are alive today. 4 At the mountain the Lord spoke to you face to face from the heart of the fire. 5 I stood as an intermediary between you and the Lord, for you were afraid of the fire and did not want to approach the mountain. He spoke to me, and I passed his words on to you. This is what he said:
6 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
7 “You must not have any other god but me.
8 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind, or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 9 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 10 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those[b] who love me and obey my commands.
11 “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.
12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do. 15 Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day.
16 “Honor your father and mother, as the Lord your God commanded you. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
17 “You must not murder.
18 “You must not commit adultery.
19 “You must not steal.
20 “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.
21 “You must not covet your neighbor’s wife. You must not covet your neighbor’s house or land, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.
22 “The Lord spoke these words to all of you assembled there at the foot of the mountain. He spoke with a loud voice from the heart of the fire, surrounded by clouds and deep darkness. This was all he said at that time, and he wrote his words on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
23 “But when you heard the voice from the heart of the darkness, while the mountain was blazing with fire, all your tribal leaders and elders came to me. 24 They said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice from the heart of the fire. Today we have seen that God can speak to us humans, and yet we live! 25 But now, why should we risk death again? If the Lord our God speaks to us again, we will certainly die and be consumed by this awesome fire. 26 Can any living thing hear the voice of the living God from the heart of the fire as we did and yet survive? 27 Go yourself and listen to what the Lord our God says. Then come and tell us everything he tells you, and we will listen and obey.’
28 “The Lord heard the request you made to me. And he said, ‘I have heard what the people said to you, and they are right. 29 Oh, that they would always have hearts like this, that they might fear me and obey all my commands! If they did, they and their descendants would prosper forever. 30 Go and tell them, “Return to your tents.” 31 But you stand here with me so I can give you all my commands, decrees, and regulations. You must teach them to the people so they can obey them in the land I am giving them as their possession.’”
32 So Moses told the people, “You must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, following his instructions in every detail. 33 Stay on the path that the Lord your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, December 22, 2014
Read: Philippians 2:5-11
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,[a]
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];
he took the humble position of a slave[c]
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,[d]
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Footnotes:
2:6 Or Being in the form of God.
2:7a Greek he emptied himself.
2:7b Or the form of a slave.
2:7c Some English translations put this phrase in verse 8.
Insight
Philippians 2:5-11 is perhaps the greatest declaration of Christ’s deity and humanity in the Bible. In His incarnation, Jesus did not replace His deity with humanity, but added humanity to His deity; He did not cease to be God, but surrendered the independent use of His divine powers and the right to manifest His own glory as God. Before He went to the cross, Jesus prayed that the Father would restore to Him the glory He had with the Father “before the world was” (John 17:5). Jesus’ prayer was answered when the Father “highly exalted Him and [gave] Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11).
Remember The Wrapping
By Joe Stowell
[Jesus] made Himself of no reputation . . . coming in the likeness of men. —Philippians 2:7
At our house some Christmas events are the same each year. Among them is my wife Martie’s appeal to the kids and grandkids as they attack their gifts: “Save the paper, we can use it next year!” Martie loves to give nice gifts, but she also appreciates the wrapping. Presentation is part of the beauty of the gift.
It makes me think of the wrapping Christ chose when He came as a redemptive gift to rescue us from our sinful selves. Jesus could have wrapped Himself in a mind-boggling show of power, lighting up the sky with His presence in a celestial show of glory. Instead, in a beautiful reversal of Genesis 1:26, He chose to wrap Himself “in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7).
So why is this wrapping so important? Because, being like us, He is no stranger to our struggles. He experienced deep loneliness and the betrayal of a dear friend. He was publicly shamed, misunderstood, and falsely accused. In short, He feels our pain. As a result, the writer of Hebrews tells us that we can “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).
When you think of the gift of Jesus this Christmas, remember to keep the “wrapping” in mind!
Lord, thank You for wrapping Yourself in our
likeness! Remind us that You understand our
struggles and that we can confidently take advantage
of the mercy and grace You offer to make us victorious.
Don’t disregard the wrapping of the best Christmas gift of all.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, December 22, 2014
The Drawing of the Father
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him… —John 6:44
When God begins to draw me to Himself, the problem of my will comes in immediately. Will I react positively to the truth that God has revealed? Will I come to Him? To discuss or deliberate over spiritual matters when God calls is inappropriate and disrespectful to Him. When God speaks, never discuss it with anyone as if to decide what your response may be (see Galatians 1:15-16). Belief is not the result of an intellectual act, but the result of an act of my will whereby I deliberately commit myself. But will I commit, placing myself completely and absolutely on God, and be willing to act solely on what He says? If I will, I will find that I am grounded on reality as certain as God’s throne.
In preaching the gospel, always focus on the matter of the will. Belief must come from the will to believe. There must be a surrender of the will, not a surrender to a persuasive or powerful argument. I must deliberately step out, placing my faith in God and in His truth. And I must place no confidence in my own works, but only in God. Trusting in my own mental understanding becomes a hindrance to complete trust in God. I must be willing to ignore and leave my feelings behind. I must will to believe. But this can never be accomplished without my forceful, determined effort to separate myself from my old ways of looking at things. I must surrender myself completely to God.
Everyone has been created with the ability to reach out beyond his own grasp. But it is God who draws me, and my relationship to Him in the first place is an inner, personal one, not an intellectual one. I come into the relationship through the miracle of God and through my own will to believe. Then I begin to get an intelligent appreciation and understanding of the wonder of the transformation in my life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, December 22, 2014
The Loneliest Christmas - #7291
When my son was in college I think his favorite Christmas song was "I'll be Home for Christmas." That might be every college student's favorite song. He started counting the days, the hours, and the minutes until it was time to go home. But none of our kids have ever experienced anything like what my wife calls her loneliest Christmas.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Loneliest Christmas."
My wife was a college student in Chicago, and things were really hard for her family back home that year. Dad was a farmer, and the drought was really wiping him out financially. There was no money for her to go home that Christmas. You can imagine how she felt as her friends one by one said goodbye and headed out for their family Christmas at home. Eventually my wife was one of only about a dozen students left on the whole campus and none of them were people she really knew. Those were two very long weeks for a young woman who was used to mom and dad and grandma and grandpa, and sister and friends; all celebrating Christmas together. Actually, she still tears up when she thinks about it. It really hurts when it's Christmas and you're not home!
In a sense, many people have never really been home for Christmas-spiritually home that is. Oh we all have a homing instinct; this deep-down sense that there's something missing in our soul and we won't be home until we find it. The search for that missing piece of us takes us from relationship to relationship, from experience to experience, conquest after conquest, and that search inevitably leaves us still wondering where home is – for our heart.
Our word for today from the Word of God is from Colossians 1:16, one of my favorite verses in the Bible; six words that say it all. Speaking of Jesus Christ, it says: "All things were..." And here are the six words, "...created by Him and for Him." You and I were created by Jesus. We were created for Jesus. And we're going to have a hole in our heart until we have Jesus.
There was an article in Newsweek that said our lifestyle had "yielded only deeper hungers and lonelier nights." Wow! Well, God's Book reveals to us a startling fact that no person on earth can ever satisfy our sense of loneliness. It's cosmic loneliness. We're away from God, and He's the only One who has the lasting love that we were made for. We're like my wife that lonely Christmas at college. Our heart is aching for home! Can you feel it? And God didn't leave us; we left Him.
In the words of the Bible, "All of us have wandered away like sheep. Each of us has turned to his own way." That's maybe why the middle letter of sin is "I". We've basically said to God, "Hey, You run the universe. I'll run me, thank you." And that rebellion has cost us the one relationship that we can't live without and we dare not die without.
Then comes Christmas. There's nothing we can do to erase the sin that keeps us from God, to be able to one day be with Him forever in heaven. So God sent His own Son into the world to pay the death penalty that sin requires. And God explains His motive this way, "God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." You see, to believe in Him is to tell God you're pinning all your hopes on Jesus to forgive your sin and to give you eternal life. Because only the One who died for your sin can forgive it. And only the One who walked out of His grave can give you eternal life.
A little boy was lost on a street corner in New York, and this policeman said, "Can you tell me your address or your phone number?" And the boy couldn't remember. Finally the little boy said, "But, Sir, there's a big church next to my house, and there's a big cross on the top. And if you can get me to the cross, I can find my way home." So can you.
If you can get yourself this Christmas to the cross where Jesus died for you, you can finally be home in that relationship with the One you were made by and made for. I would love to help you make that discovery and secure your relationship with Jesus and a place in heaven this very day. Would you go to our website? That's what it's all there for – ANewStory.com. Let your new story begin this Christmas season.
Give yourself to Jesus, and you'll be home where your heart has wanted to be for so long-home for Christmas; home forever.