Max Lucado: No Box Works
Boxes bring wonderful order to our life. They keep cereal from spilling and books from tumbling. When it comes to containing stuff, boxes are masterful. But when it comes to defining Christ, no box works.Oh, his contemporaries tried. They designed an assortment of boxes. But he never fit any of them. They labeled him a revolutionary; then he paid his taxes. They labeled him a country carpenter, but he confounded the scholars. He defied easy definitions.
We still try. I once reduced Christ to a handful of doctrines. He was a recipe, and I had the ingredients. Mix them correctly, and the Jesus-of-my-making would appear.
Jesus blew the sides out of all misconceptions.
Acts 10:24-48
New International Version (NIV)
24 The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26 But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”
27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. 28 He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?”
30 Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. 32 Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”
34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues[a] and praising God.
Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Colossians 3:1-12
Rules for Holy Living
1 You have been raised up with Christ. So think about things that are in heaven. That is where Christ is. He is sitting at God's right hand. 2 Think about things that are in heaven. Don't think about things that are on earth.
3 You died. Now your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 Christ is your life. When he appears again, you also will appear with him in heaven's glory.
5 So put to death anything that belongs to your earthly nature. Get rid of your sexual sins and unclean acts. Don't let your feelings get out of control. Remove from your life all evil longings. Stop always wanting more and more. You might as well be worshiping statues of gods. 6 God's anger is going to come because of those things. 7 That's the way you lived at one time in your life.
8 But now here are the kinds of things you must get rid of. You must put away anger, rage, hate and lies. Let no dirty words come out of your mouths. 9 Don't lie to each other.
You have gotten rid of your old way of life and its habits. 10 You have started living a new life. It is being made new so that what you know has the Creator's likeness.
11 Here there is no Greek or Jew. There is no difference between those who are circumcised and those who are not. There is no rude outsider, or even a Scythian. There is no slave or free person. But Christ is everything. And he is in everything.
12 You are God's chosen people. You are holy and dearly loved. So put on tender mercy and kindness as if they were your clothes. Don't be proud. Be gentle and patient.
Winning And Losing
June 1, 2012 — by David C. McCasland
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. —Colossians 3:2
The Masters Tournament is one of the most prestigious in professional golf. In 2009, Kenny Perry placed second after leading during the final round. Writing in The New York Times, Bill Pennington described Perry as “disappointed but not despondent” after the loss. “I’ll look back on it occasionally and wonder what I might have done differently, but I won’t dwell on it,” Perry said. “If this is the worst thing that happens in my life, I’ve got it pretty good. I won’t let it dog me. There are so many other things in life that matter more . . . . I’ll go home tonight with my family and we’ll have fun.”
The ability to look beyond our disappointments is essential for followers of Christ. Our focus determines how we face the victories and defeats in life. “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3:1-2). This way of thinking looks to Christ, rather than our achievements, for significance and validation. We seek Him, not success.
When we strive for excellence and give our best effort, losing hurts, but it doesn’t have to harm us. The key is where we set our minds and hearts.
Lord, thank You that You are the one who measures
how we’ve done in life and determines
whether we’ve been successful. Help us to keep that
focus even in disappointments.
When Christ is the center of your focus, everything else comes into proper perspective.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 1, 2012
The Staggering Question
He said to me, ’Son of man, can these bones live?’ —Ezekiel 37:3
Can a sinner be turned into a saint? Can a twisted life be made right? There is only one appropriate answer— “O Lord God, You know” (Ezekiel 37:3). Never forge ahead with your religious common sense and say, “Oh, yes, with just a little more Bible reading, devotional time, and prayer, I see how it can be done.”
It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for God. We would much rather work for God than believe in Him. Do I really believe that God will do in me what I cannot do? The degree of hopelessness I have for others comes from never realizing that God has done anything for me. Is my own personal experience such a wonderful realization of God’s power and might that I can never have a sense of hopelessness for anyone else I see? Has any spiritual work been accomplished in me at all? The degree of panic activity in my life is equal to the degree of my lack of personal spiritual experience.
“Behold, O My people, I will open your graves . . .” (Ezekiel 37:12). When God wants to show you what human nature is like separated from Himself, He shows it to you in yourself. If the Spirit of God has ever given you a vision of what you are apart from the grace of God (and He will only do this when His Spirit is at work in you), then you know that in reality there is no criminal half as bad as you yourself could be without His grace. My “grave” has been opened by God and “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” (Romans 7:18). God’s Spirit continually reveals to His children what human nature is like apart from His grace.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Long Wait for a New Heart - #6625
Friday, June 1, 2012
The folks at the hospital asked my father-in-law if he'd like to donate his organs. He smiled and said, "Depends on how soon you want them." Great answer.
Someone somewhere decided to donate their heart if something happened to them. Today, that heart is beating in the former Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney. Doctors of course, had done everything else science can do to save and extend his life since his first heart attack at the age of 37 - stents, bypasses, an implanted defibrillator. But now, at age 71, his life probably depended on the ultimate solution - not a heart repair but a totally new heart.
Right now, there are probably 3,000 Americans whose lives depend on getting a new heart. Their average wait for one to become available is somewhere between six months and a year. Dick Cheney had to wait 20 months for his.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about a "Long Wait for a New Heart."
Every day - somewhere in the world - people are getting a new heart. Made possible by a donor who died. And the miracle-working skill of a master heart surgeon. I know Him. He performed that miracle on me - and on many of the people I love.
The Surgeon is God Himself. The donor? Well, that's Jesus. It took His dying for me to have the spiritual heart transplant that changed everything.
In our word today from the Word of God, Ezekiel 36 beginning in verse 25, God made a promise to all of us who know all too well the darkness that lives in our heart. He said, "I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols (all those things that push God to the edge). I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh...you will be My people, and I will be your God."
Just this weekend, a lady told me how her heart toward her husband had turned hard over the years of a difficult marriage. But then her face just lit up as she told me how Jesus had given her a "heart transplant" with a new love for her man - and a new marriage. Only the Master Heart Surgeon can do that.
One of God's prophets provided a revealing "spiritual EKG" of the heart behind all of our actions: "The heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9 - NLT). Out of our spiritually diseased hearts come words that scar people for life...betrayal of the person we committed our life to...unthinking selfishness...cancerous anger and bitterness...and all kinds of darkness that poison our relationships, our reputation and our future.
Oh, we try a lot of things to get better - just like they did with Dick Cheney's heart. But all our resolutions and religion are temporary and unsuccessful fixes. Because we need Dr. Jesus. But He had to die to make possible the new heart that's our only hope of living right - and dying right. God tells us that "the blood of Jesus His Son purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). And that happens, not through being reformed, but by being transformed. From the inside out.
That's the miracle that takes place when you recognize that Jesus - the Man who died for your sin and then birthed eternal life by walking out of His grave - is your only hope. And you tell Him that. When you put yourself in the hands of Dr. Jesus, He, in essence, implants a new spiritual heart. With a love you never had before. A power to be the kind of person you've always wanted to be - and those you love need you to be. An ability to forgive, to break bondages, to heal broken relationships.
When you have Jesus in you, He produces a new life you could never do on your own. And because He removes the guilt and penalty of every sin you've ever committed, He changes your destiny from hell to heaven.
Jesus' new heart miracle can save a marriage, a family, a future, a soul. He did the dying so we would never have to. And there's no wait for your new heart. He's been waiting for you to call.
If you want to experience for yourself what a personal relationship with Jesus can do, tell Him you want to begin that today, and would you go check out how to get started with Him at our website, YoursForLife.net. And let the new heart miracle begin for you, today.
