A small cathedral outside Bethlehem marks the supposed birthplace of Jesus. Behind the altar is a cave, a little cavern lit by silver lamps. You can enter the main edifice and admire the ancient church. You can also enter the quiet cave where a star embedded in the floor recognizes the birth of the King. There is one stipulation, however. You have to stoop. The door is so low you can't possibly go in standing up.
The same is true of the Christ. You can see the world standing tall, but to witness the Savior, you have to get on your knees. So while theologians consulted their commentaries, and the elite were looking around to see who was watching, the successful checking their calendars, the meek were kneeling. They were kneeling in front of Jesus. May God find you doing the same.
From The Applause of Heaven
Psalm 53
For the choir director: A meditation; a psalm[a] of David.
1 Only fools say in their hearts,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their actions are evil;
not one of them does good!
2 God looks down from heaven
on the entire human race;
he looks to see if anyone is truly wise,
if anyone seeks God.
3 But no, all have turned away;
all have become corrupt.[b]
No one does good,
not a single one!
4 Will those who do evil never learn?
They eat up my people like bread
and wouldn’t think of praying to God.
5 Terror will grip them,
terror like they have never known before.
God will scatter the bones of your enemies.
You will put them to shame, for God has rejected them.
6 Who will come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel?
When God restores his people,
Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice.
Footnotes:
53:Title Hebrew According to mahalath; a maskil. These may be literary or musical terms.
53:3 Greek version reads have become useless. Compare Rom 3:12.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, August 28, 2015
Read: Hebrews 3:1-6
Jesus Is Greater Than Moses
3 And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and[a] are partners with those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger[b] and High Priest. 2 For he was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses served faithfully when he was entrusted with God’s entire[c] house.
3 But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a house deserves more praise than the house itself. 4 For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God.
5 Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. 6 But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.[d]
Footnotes:
3:1a Greek And so, holy brothers who.
3:1b Greek God’s apostle.
3:2 Some manuscripts do not include entire.
3:6 Some manuscripts add faithful to the end.
INSIGHT:
The book of Hebrews was written to encourage Jewish Christians who were facing persecution and hardship for their faith and who were now in danger of drifting away and reverting back to Judaism. The writer warns them against abandoning Christ (2:1-3; 3:7-15; 6:4-6; 10:26-31) and presents the absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus as Savior. Jesus is superior to the angels (chs. 1–2), to Moses (chs. 3–4), and to the Aaronic priesthood (chs. 5–7), and He is the perfect High Priest (chs. 8–10). In today’s passage Moses is compared with Christ. While Moses was one of God’s most faithful servants, Jesus is far greater than Moses because Jesus is God’s Son (vv. 5-6). Sim Kay Tee
Disappointing Heroes
By Tim Gustafson
Think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger and High Priest. —Hebrews 3:1 nlt
A recent book that puts a fictional flavor on a slice of US history portrays Old West gunslingers Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday as shiftless bums. In an interview with National Public Radio, the author said of the real Earp, “He didn’t do anything remarkable his whole life, ever.” Through the years, in books and Hollywood movies, they’ve become heroes. Yet reputable historical accounts show that they were not.
In contrast, the Bible is full of flawed people who became real heroes. But don’t lose sight of the vital source of their heroic actions. The object of their faith was God, who chooses flawed human beings for His remarkable purposes.
As biblical heroes go, Moses stands tall. We tend to forget that he was a murderer and a reluctant leader who once directed a rant at God: “Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly?” he demanded. “What did I do to deserve the burden of all these people? Did I give birth to them?” (Num. 11:11-12 nlt).
How very human of Moses! And yet Hebrews reminds us: “Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later” (Heb. 3:5 nlt).
Real heroes point to the Hero who never disappoints. “Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses” (v. 3 nlt).
Lord, thank You for being the only Hero we can rely on without fail. Help us not to conceal our flaws and mistakes, but to give them to You. We trust You to use us for Your good purpose.
Looking for someone who won’t disappoint you? Look to Jesus.
The Purpose of Prayer
…one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray…" —Luke 11:1
Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person’s life will suffer if he doesn’t pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished. Our common ideas regarding prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.
“Ask, and you will receive…” (John 16:24). We complain before God, and sometimes we are apologetic or indifferent to Him, but we actually ask Him for very few things. Yet a child exhibits a magnificent boldness to ask! Our Lord said, “…unless you…become as little children…” (Matthew 18:3). Ask and God will do. Give Jesus Christ the opportunity and the room to work. The problem is that no one will ever do this until he is at his wits’ end. When a person is at his wits’ end, it no longer seems to be a cowardly thing to pray; in fact, it is the only way he can get in touch with the truth and the reality of God Himself. Be yourself before God and present Him with your problems— the very things that have brought you to your wits’ end. But as long as you think you are self-sufficient, you do not need to ask God for anything.
To say that “prayer changes things” is not as close to the truth as saying, “Prayer changes me and then I change things.” God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person’s inner nature.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, August 28, 2015
So Big, So Far, So Do-able - #7470
Each winter certain parts of America get hammered, of course, with monster snow storms. And when it's our turn, we all have stories about how we survived the winter of whatever year.
But no one has a story like a Norwegian explorer Børge Ousland. I never met him, so I hope I got it right. But for 64 days he saw little more than white. He was the first person to cross the continent of Antarctica alone and unaided. It took him 64 days to cover a frozen 1,675 miles. He actually harnessed Antarctica's fierce winds by strapping himself to a parachute-like sail. Get this! And with the winds in his favor, he could ski as much as 140 miles a day. All the while, he towed a sled carrying more than 300 pounds of supplies; enduring monotony and temperatures that dipped under 40 below.
After his incredible journey, Ousland talked about the huge mental challenge of facing seemingly endless fields of snow. You know how he did it? In his own words, "It's so big and so far, you have to keep concentrating on the near future and make every day a victory." Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "So Big, So Far, So Do-able."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 6:25 and following. "Do not worry about your life" Jesus said, "Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Do not worry saying, 'What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear?' Your Heavenly Father knows you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Jesus' orders here are pretty clear; He says them three times. Did you get them? "Do not worry." What makes us worry? Things that are, I guess in the words of that Antarctica explorer, "So big, so far." In fact right now you might be facing a situation like that, maybe several of them. They look as huge as the vast expanse of Antarctica must have looked to that explorer.
You're looking at and maybe worrying about an overwhelming challenge in your finances, or your family, it could be your health, or huge responsibilities you have right now, or a relationship. But your anxiety is contributing absolutely nothing to managing the situation. If anything, worry is actually paralyzing you or distorting your judgment or robbing you of the energy that you need for this challenge.
Listen to the teaching of your Master, "Don't keep dragging your tomorrows into today." Worry is trying to live your tomorrow before you get there; before you have the grace for that day that God only issues in 24-hour increments. Jesus is saying, "Just do today."
Now, that's how one man handled the seemingly endless winter of his Antarctic journey. He said, "You have to keep concentrating on the near future" - like today. He said, "Make every day a victory." That's how you deal with parenting when it's taking everything you've got. It's how you beat a sin that has beaten you for a long time. It's how you dig your way out of a mountain of debt. It's how you manage the unmanageable. Make every day a victory.
And on those days that don't exactly turn out to be victorious, put that day behind you and start fresh on that next new day. Remember, the Bible says, "His mercies are new every morning." When you stop worrying about tomorrow and you focus on today, and you focus on your Heavenly Father who knows everything you need, what seems so big and so far becomes so do-able.
