Max Lucado Daily: God Can Use You
If God chose only righteous people to change the world, you could count them all on one finger—Jesus! Instead he included others in his plan—sinners, the ungodly, the imperfect. God used and uses people to change the world. People! Crooks, creeps, lovers, and liars—he uses them all!
If you ever wonder how God can use you to make a difference in your world, just look at those he has already used, and take heart. No matter who you are or what you’ve done, God can use you. Because you’re imperfect, you can speak of making mistakes. Because you’re a sinner, you can speak of forgiveness. God restores the broken and the brittle, then parades them before the world as trophies of his love and strength. And when the world sees the ungodly turn godly, they know God must love them too.
God can use you, my friend!
From Max on Life
Deuteronomy 21
Cleansing for Unsolved Murder
“When you are in the land the Lord your God is giving you, someone may be found murdered in a field, and you don’t know who committed the murder. 2 In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns. 3 When the nearest town has been determined, that town’s elders must select from the herd a heifer that has never been trained or yoked to a plow. 4 They must lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and that has a stream running through it. There in the valley they must break the heifer’s neck. 5 Then the Levitical priests must step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in the Lord’s name. They are to decide all legal and criminal cases.
6 “The elders of the town must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken. 7 Then they must say, ‘Our hands did not shed this person’s blood, nor did we see it happen. 8 O Lord, forgive your people Israel whom you have redeemed. Do not charge your people with the guilt of murdering an innocent person.’ Then they will be absolved of the guilt of this person’s blood. 9 By following these instructions, you will do what is right in the Lord’s sight and will cleanse the guilt of murder from your community.
Marriage to a Captive Woman
10 “Suppose you go out to war against your enemies and the Lord your God hands them over to you, and you take some of them as captives. 11 And suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her and want to marry her. 12 If this happens, you may take her to your home, where she must shave her head, cut her nails, 13 and change the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. She will stay in your home, but let her mourn for her father and mother for a full month. Then you may marry her, and you will be her husband and she will be your wife. 14 But if you marry her and she does not please you, you must let her go free. You may not sell her or treat her as a slave, for you have humiliated her.
Rights of the Firstborn
15 “Suppose a man has two wives, but he loves one and not the other, and both have given him sons. And suppose the firstborn son is the son of the wife he does not love. 16 When the man divides his inheritance, he may not give the larger inheritance to his younger son, the son of the wife he loves, as if he were the firstborn son. 17 He must recognize the rights of his oldest son, the son of the wife he does not love, by giving him a double portion. He is the first son of his father’s virility, and the rights of the firstborn belong to him.
Dealing with a Rebellious Son
18 “Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him. 19 In such a case, the father and mother must take the son to the elders as they hold court at the town gate. 20 The parents must say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his town must stone him to death. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid.
Various Regulations
22 “If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree,[b] 23 the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung[c] is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, January 12, 2015
Read: Colossians 1:13-23
For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom[a] and forgave our sins.
Christ Is Supreme
15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,[b]
16 for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
18 Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.[c]
So he is first in everything.
19 For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.
Footnotes:
1:14 Some manuscripts add with his blood.
1:15 Or He is the firstborn of all creation.
1:18 Or the firstborn from the dead.
Insight
Paul mentions the believer’s past, present, and future in this passage. We “once were enemies,” but now in Christ “we have redemption” and are “reconciled” (vv.14,21). When Christ returns, He will “present [us] holy and blameless” if we “continue in the faith” (vv.22-23).
A Storyteller
By Randy Kilgore
You, who once were alienated . . . , yet now He has reconciled. —Colossians 1:21
In the years following the American Civil War (1861–1865), Union Major General Lew Wallace served as a governor of the New Mexico territories; New Mexico not yet having been admitted as a state. His work there put him in contact with many of the characters that make up the Wild West’s near-mythic history, including Billy the Kid and Sheriff Pat Garrett. It was here that Wallace wrote what has been called by some “the most influential Christian book” of the 19th century, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.
Wallace witnessed the worst impact of sin on humanity as he saw the violence of the Civil War and the Wild West. In life and in his best-selling book, Wallace understood that only the story of Jesus Christ has the power of redemption and reconciliation.
For the follower of Christ, the climax of our lives was the moment God “delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14). Now we have the privilege of being storytellers of God’s wonderful redemption.
Lord, please take control of my words today.
Fill me with Your words of love and grace.
Use them to turn some heart toward You.
I can do nothing without You.
The difference Christ makes in your life is a story worth telling.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, January 12, 2015
Have You Ever Been Alone with God? (1)
When they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples. —Mark 4:34
Our Solitude with Him. Jesus doesn’t take us aside and explain things to us all the time; He explains things to us as we are able to understand them. The lives of others are examples for us, but God requires us to examine our own souls. It is slow work— so slow that it takes God all of time and eternity to make a man or woman conform to His purpose. We can only be used by God after we allow Him to show us the deep, hidden areas of our own character. It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves! We don’t even recognize the envy, laziness, or pride within us when we see it. But Jesus will reveal to us everything we have held within ourselves before His grace began to work. How many of us have learned to look inwardly with courage?
We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves. That is always the last bit of pride to go. The only One who understands us is God. The greatest curse in our spiritual life is pride. If we have ever had a glimpse of what we are like in the sight of God, we will never say, “Oh, I’m so unworthy.” We will understand that this goes without saying. But as long as there is any doubt that we are unworthy, God will continue to close us in until He gets us alone. Whenever there is any element of pride or conceit remaining, Jesus can’t teach us anything. He will allow us to experience heartbreak or the disappointment we feel when our intellectual pride is wounded. He will reveal numerous misplaced affections or desires— things over which we never thought He would have to get us alone. Many things are shown to us, often without effect. But when God gets us alone over them, they will be clear.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, January 12, 2015
Where to Go Before the Explosion - #7306
The tragic shooting that killed four students (and the shooter) at Marysville High School in Washington shocked everybody. When it first appeared that 15-year-old Jaylen Fryberg was the shooter, it was all the more shocking.
Because he wasn't the typical loner, the bullying victim, the outsider. He was the Homecoming prince, a football player, the popular guy. But, as it turns out, there were hints of the anger and anguish in his soul. You could read about it on Facebook and Twitter.
Social media - the new confessional. That's where he spilled his romantically broken heart, his despair, his rage. Social networks have become the new place to dump the contents of your heart. All the contents of your heart, even the dark stuff. It's a catharsis, but it's not a cure.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where to go Before the Explosion".
The authorities and talking heads will be analyzing that shooting for a long time. Teenage angst. Gun violence. Warning signs.
For my account, I find myself asking what we can learn about handling life's shattering moments. Without making tragic choices. Well here's some lessons I think:
First, don't stuff it. Buried pain is a ticking time bomb. A lot of us were raised to believe that our pain and brokenness should be kept inside, hidden behind this "I'm fine" mask. And all the while, this volcano is building inside.
And there's grief, and there's anger, and desperation, and feeling alone - I'll tell you, if you stuff those things they just keep growing. They morph into an emotional monster. Until that emotional monster explodes, doing irreversible damage. Like the eruption at Mt. St. Helen's years ago. The explosion didn't last long. What was blown away is gone forever.
And then, don't store it. Treat the wound before the infection sets in. Talk about it when the wound is fresh. Before it submerges and starts to take over your heart.
And don't take it to someone who's in the same swamp. You say, "but they get me." Well when we're broken, we don't just need someone who gives us sympathy. We need the objectivity of someone who's completely outside our situation. Someone who can help us see the big picture. Because pain distorts reality, convincing us that this wound will never heal. That everything's dark.
But there's never been a winter without a spring. Or a sunset without a sunrise. We need someone with perspective.
And another lesson is: have your "go to" person before your storm hits. When you live in "Tornado Alley," they tell you to "know where your shelter is before there's an emergency." That's a good idea emotionally, too. Decide what wise, objective person you can trust with your deepest, darkest feelings. As soon as they hit.
I'm so grateful I have found my "911" person. He's the one I've been able to trust with feelings I didn't dare tell anyone. Who has calmed my frantic soul when nothing and no one else could. Who's pointed me to hope when it looked like there was no hope.
He actually said, "The Lord has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted." The Bible says, "He is close to the brokenhearted and He saves those who are crushed in spirit." That's Jesus. And the more broken I've been, the closer He has seemed.
And as far as having someone who understands? No one has ever been more wounded, more broken than He was. Abandoned. Attacked. Crucified.
Of course, I'm not alone in finding refuge in the open arms of Jesus. So many people have found that, for a very long time, they've accepted His invitation. And it's in our word for today from the Word of God - Matthew 11:28, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest." This man who loved you enough to die on a cross for you. This man who's powerful enough to walk out of His grave and conquer the biggest monster of all - death - stands ready to come into your life, at your invitation. If you have never had a moment when you began a personal relationship with the savior, I would ask you to tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm yours." Get to our website. Find there, we've just charted out Biblically, the path where you can be sure you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com
See we're all Humpty Dumpty at times. All the King's horses and all the King's men can't put us together again.
But the King can.
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