Max Lucado Daily: WHAT WE KNOW
There are so many things we don’t know. We don’t know if the economy will dip or if our team will win. We don’t know what our spouse is thinking or how our kids will turn out. And scripture reminds us we don’t even know “what we ought to pray for” (Romans 8:26). But according to Paul’s words in Romans 8:38, we can be absolutely certain about four things. We know…
God works. He is ceaseless and tireless.
God works for our ultimate good.
God works for the good of those who love him.
God works in all things. Not a few things… in all things!
Puppet in the hands of fortune or fate? Not you. You are in the hands of a living, loving God. Your life is a crafted narrative written by a good God who’s working for your supreme good!
From More to Your Story
1 Corinthians 9
Paul Gives Up His Rights
Am I not as free as anyone else? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus our Lord with my own eyes? Isn’t it because of my work that you belong to the Lord? 2 Even if others think I am not an apostle, I certainly am to you. You yourselves are proof that I am the Lord’s apostle.
3 This is my answer to those who question my authority.[a] 4 Don’t we have the right to live in your homes and share your meals? 5 Don’t we have the right to bring a believing wife[b] with us as the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers do, and as Peter[c] does? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have to work to support ourselves?
7 What soldier has to pay his own expenses? What farmer plants a vineyard and doesn’t have the right to eat some of its fruit? What shepherd cares for a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk? 8 Am I expressing merely a human opinion, or does the law say the same thing? 9 For the law of Moses says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.”[d] Was God thinking only about oxen when he said this? 10 Wasn’t he actually speaking to us? Yes, it was written for us, so that the one who plows and the one who threshes the grain might both expect a share of the harvest.
11 Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink? 12 If you support others who preach to you, shouldn’t we have an even greater right to be supported? But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ.
13 Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple? And those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings. 14 In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it. 15 Yet I have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that I want to start now. In fact, I would rather die than lose my right to boast about preaching without charge. 16 Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News!
17 If I were doing this on my own initiative, I would deserve payment. But I have no choice, for God has given me this sacred trust. 18 What then is my pay? It is the opportunity to preach the Good News without charging anyone. That’s why I never demand my rights when I preach the Good News.
19 Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. 20 When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. 21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law,[e] I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.
22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. 23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.
24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
Footnotes:
9:3 Greek those who examine me.
9:5a Greek a sister a wife.
9:5b Greek Cephas.
9:9 Deut 25:4.
9:21 Greek those without the law.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Read: Mark 4:35–5:1
Jesus Calms the Storm
35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.
38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Man
5 So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes.[a]
Footnotes:
5:1 Other manuscripts read Gadarenes; still others read Gergesenes. See Matt 8:28; Luke 8:26.
INSIGHT:
Jesus’ calming of the storm is a remarkable witness to the power of our Creator over nature, for He spoke directly to the storm threatening the ship He and His disciples were in. He rebuked the wind and waves and said, “Quiet! Be still!” (4:39). The Greek word used here for "still" denotes the muzzling of a hostile animal. When we are overcome with worries and concerns, we can trust that our powerful Creator will still our fears.
No Worries
By C. P. Hia
Let us go over to the other side. Mark 4:35
A comfortable plane ride was about to get bumpy. The voice of the captain interrupted in-flight beverage service and asked passengers to make sure their seatbelts were fastened. Soon the plane began to roll and pitch like a ship on a wind-whipped ocean. While the rest of the passengers were doing their best to deal with the turbulence, a little girl sat through it all reading her book. After the plane landed, she was asked why she had been able to be so calm. She responded, “My daddy is the pilot and he’s taking me home.”
Though Jesus’ disciples were seasoned fishermen, they were terrified the day a storm threatened to swamp their boat. They were following Jesus’ instructions. Why was this happening? (Mark 4:35-38). He was with them but He was asleep at the stern of the craft. They learned that day that it is not true that when we do as our Lord says there will be no storms in our lives. Yet because He was with them, they also learned that storms don’t stop us from getting to where our Lord wants us to go (5:1).
Storms don’t stop us from getting to where our Lord wants us to go.
Whether the storm we encounter today is the result of a tragic accident, a loss of employment, or some other trial, we can be confident that all is not lost. Our Pilot can handle the storm. He will get us home.
What storms are you encountering today? Perhaps you have lost a loved one or are facing a serious illness. Perhaps you are having difficulty finding a job. Ask the Lord to strengthen your faith and take you safely through the storm to the other side.
We don't need to fear the storm with Jesus as our anchor.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
The Delight of Despair
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. —Revelation 1:17
It may be that, like the apostle John, you know Jesus Christ intimately. Yet when He suddenly appears to you with totally unfamiliar characteristics, the only thing you can do is fall “at His feet as dead.” There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awesomeness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair. You experience this joy in hopelessness, realizing that if you are ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God.
“He laid His right hand on me…” (Revelation 1:17). In the midst of the awesomeness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. You know it is not the hand of restraint, correction, nor chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it gives inexpressible peace and comfort, and the sense that “underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27), full of support, provision, comfort, and strength. And once His touch comes, nothing at all can throw you into fear again. In the midst of all His ascended glory, the Lord Jesus comes to speak to an insignificant disciple, saying, “Do not be afraid” (Revelation 1:17). His tenderness is inexpressibly sweet. Do I know Him like that?
Take a look at some of the things that cause despair. There is despair which has no delight, no limits whatsoever, and no hope of anything brighter. But the delight of despair comes when “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells…” (Romans 7:18). I delight in knowing that there is something in me which must fall prostrate before God when He reveals Himself to me, and also in knowing that if I am ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God. God can do nothing for me until I recognize the limits of what is humanly possible, allowing Him to do the impossible.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. Shade of His Hand, 1200 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
The Expensive Embrace - #7662
I don't think I've ever "teared up" during a President's State of the Union Address to Congress - until that unforgettable moment during President George W. Bush's State of the Union early in 2005. For me, it had absolutely nothing to do with politics. It was just an intensely human moment that almost transcended politics.
At one point in his speech, he paid tribute to the Iraqi people for their courage in going to the polls in the face of incredible danger. Then, the President introduced a guest that was sitting in the gallery next to the First Lady - a woman who has been an Iraqi freedom activist for eleven years at that time - since Saddam Hussein had her father executed. She stood with her index finger in the air, still tinted with that identifying purple dye of someone who had voted. She was very moved by the standing ovation from everyone in that chamber.
And then a few moments later, the President paid tribute to the soldiers who had died in Iraq and then to their grieving families. At that point, he introduced a couple seated behind the woman from Iraq - their Marine son had died in the Fallujah campaign. They stood as representatives of all those families who had lost a son or daughter in Iraq. And then that mother leaned over to the front row and embraced the martyr's daughter from Iraq. They remained there just crying together, buried in each other's arms as the elected national leadership of the United States stood to their feet in a long and thunderous ovation. That's when I lost it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Expensive Embrace."
What a picture! The one whose son died embracing one he died for. I think one reason I found that so moving is because I can see myself in that picture - embraced by the God whose Son died, and I'm the one that He died for, and so are you. The question is have you ever acknowledged the sacrifice that was made for you? Have you ever stepped into your Heavenly Father's waiting arms? He's got so much love He's been waiting to give you. He's got the love you may have spent a whole life looking for.
God's welcoming embrace cost Him the most precious thing He had - His one and only Son. Listen to these beautiful words from 1 John 4, beginning with verse 9, our word for today from the Word of God. "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him." Why don't you put your name in that verse? "He sent His one and only Son that (there's your name) might live through Him. He loved (there's your name) and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." Like that mother at the State of the Union Address, God's the One whose Son died. But God's Son chose to die, because it was the only way your sins could be paid for other than you paying for them forever in hell.
The cross was for you. To ignore that sacrifice will cost you heaven. To depend on the good things you try to do for God instead of the amazing thing God did for you means you will pay the death penalty for your sin that Jesus already died to pay.
And now the One whose Son died waits to embrace the one He died for. In fact, He's been waiting for you a long time. Let today be the day you finally experience His awesome love for yourself. Tell Him you know you've broken His laws and you've run your life your way, and that you want to change. Tell Him you're pinning all your hopes for eternity on the Savior who died for you. What an unforgettable day this could be for you.
I would love to help walk you through beginning that relationship at our website. That's what it's there for. Would you just check it out as soon as you can today? It's ANewStory.com. I want you to know when you go to bed tonight beyond any shadow of a doubt that you belong to Jesus Christ.
God gave His very best for you. Don't walk away from His waiting arms. Not after the price that He paid to love you.
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