Max Lucado Daily: CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT JESUS
My dad, a man of few words, told my brother and me, “Boys, Christmas is about Jesus!” In one of those bedtime, book-time moments, somewhere between the fairy tales and the monkey with the lunch pail, I thought about what he had said. I began asking the Christmas questions, and I’ve been asking them ever since!
God knows what it’s like to be a human. When we talk to him about deadlines or tough times, he understands. He’s been there. He’s been here. Because of Bethlehem, we have a friend in Jesus. Christmas begins what Easter celebrates. The child in the cradle became the King on the cross. He doesn’t tell us, “Clean up before you come in.” He offers, “Come in and I’ll clean you up.” It’s not our grip on him that matters, but his grip on us! And his grip is sure!
From Because of Bethlehem
Romans 15:14-33
Personally, I’ve been completely satisfied with who you are and what you are doing. You seem to me to be well-motivated and well-instructed, quite capable of guiding and advising one another. So, my dear friends, don’t take my rather bold and blunt language as criticism. It’s not criticism. I’m simply underlining how very much I need your help in carrying out this highly focused assignment God gave me, this priestly and gospel work of serving the spiritual needs of the non-Jewish outsiders so they can be presented as an acceptable offering to God, made whole and holy by God’s Holy Spirit.
17-21 Looking back over what has been accomplished and what I have observed, I must say I am most pleased—in the context of Jesus, I’d even say proud, but only in that context. I have no interest in giving you a chatty account of my adventures, only the wondrously powerful and transformingly present words and deeds of Christ in me that triggered a believing response among the outsiders. In such ways I have trailblazed a preaching of the Message of Jesus all the way from Jerusalem far into northwestern Greece. This has all been pioneer work, bringing the Message only into those places where Jesus was not yet known and worshiped. My text has been,
Those who were never told of him—
they’ll see him!
Those who’ve never heard of him—
they’ll get the message!
22-24 And that’s why it has taken me so long to finally get around to coming to you. But now that there is no more pioneering work to be done in these parts, and since I have looked forward to seeing you for many years, I’m planning my visit. I’m headed for Spain, and expect to stop off on the way to enjoy a good visit with you, and eventually have you send me off with God’s blessing.
25-29 First, though, I’m going to Jerusalem to deliver a relief offering to the followers of Jesus there. The Greeks—all the way from the Macedonians in the north to the Achaians in the south—decided they wanted to take up a collection for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. They were happy to do this, but it was also their duty. Seeing that they got in on all the spiritual gifts that flowed out of the Jerusalem community so generously, it is only right that they do what they can to relieve their poverty. As soon as I have done this—personally handed over this “fruit basket”—I’m off to Spain, with a stopover with you in Rome. My hope is that my visit with you is going to be one of Christ’s more extravagant blessings.
30-33 I have one request, dear friends: Pray for me. Pray strenuously with and for me—to God the Father, through the power of our Master Jesus, through the love of the Spirit—that I will be delivered from the lions’ den of unbelievers in Judea. Pray also that my relief offering to the Jerusalem believers will be accepted in the spirit in which it is given. Then, God willing, I’ll be on my way to you with a light and eager heart, looking forward to being refreshed by your company. God’s peace be with all of you. Oh, yes!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, December 02, 2016
I love God because he listened to me,
listened as I begged for mercy.
He listened so intently
as I laid out my case before him.
Death stared me in the face,
hell was hard on my heels.
Up against it, I didn’t know which way to turn;
then I called out to God for help:
“Please, God!” I cried out.
“Save my life!”
God is gracious—it is he who makes things right,
our most compassionate God.
God takes the side of the helpless;
when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me.
7-8 I said to myself, “Relax and rest.
God has showered you with blessings.
Soul, you’ve been rescued from death;
Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears;
And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.”
9-11 I’m striding in the presence of God,
alive in the land of the living!
I stayed faithful, though bedeviled,
and despite a ton of bad luck,
Despite giving up on the human race,
saying, “They’re all liars and cheats.”
INSIGHT:
From this marvelous passage of Scripture, we can see the truth that bringing the God of the Bible into our daily experience alters our perspective. His grace and truth is available in our ever-changing circumstances. Even in our most difficult life circumstances, He is present and available to deliver us. Although our heart may endure trauma, it can still find a place to rest through looking at the past faithfulness of God. Fear of death, emotional anguish, and the struggle for daily direction all find their remedy in the faithful care of the living God who made us. Life for God’s children should be spelled with a capital L since He energizes, directs, and protects us.
Quiet Conversations
By James Banks
Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Psalm 103:2
Do you ever talk to yourself? Sometimes when I’m working on a project—usually under the hood of a car—I find it helpful to think aloud, working through my options on the best way to make the repair. If someone catches me in my “conversation” it can be a little embarrassing—even though talking to ourselves is something most of us do every day.
The psalmists often talked to themselves in the Psalms. The author of Psalm 116 is no exception. In verse 7 he writes, “Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.” Reminding himself of God’s kindness and faithfulness in the past is a practical comfort and help to him in the present. We see “conversations” like this frequently in the Psalms. In Psalm 103:1 David tells himself, “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.” And in Psalm 62:5 he affirms, “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.”
Reminding ourselves about God's goodness can keep us filled with His peace.
It’s good to remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness and the hope we have in Him. We can follow the example of the psalmist and spend some time naming the many ways God has been good to us. As we do, we’ll be encouraged. The same God who has been faithful in the past will continue His love for us in the future.
Dear Lord, please help me to stay in touch with Your heart today by reminding myself of Your faithfulness and love.
Reminding ourselves about God's goodness can keep us filled with His peace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, December 02, 2016
Christian Perfection
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect… —Philippians 3:12
It is a trap to presume that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do— God’s purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements tends to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you accept this concept of personal holiness, your life’s determined purpose will not be for God, but for what you call the evidence of God in your life. How can we say, “It could never be God’s will for me to be sick”? If it was God’s will to bruise His own Son (Isaiah 53:10), why shouldn’t He bruise you? What shines forth and reveals God in your life is not your relative consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your genuine, living relationship with Jesus Christ, and your unrestrained devotion to Him whether you are well or sick.
Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship with God that shows itself to be true even amid the seemingly unimportant aspects of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that hits you is the pointlessness of the things you have to do. The next thought that strikes you is that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. Such lives may leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary— that through your own human effort and devotion you can attain God’s standard for your life. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in such a perfect relationship with God that my life produces a yearning for God in the lives of others, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God’s purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He wants.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand. Not Knowing Whither, 888 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, December 02, 2016
Your Internal Guidance System - #7800
I remember seeing it first in the news from the first Gulf War, and then in Afghanistan. Well, you continue to see it as we have conflicts around the world; those amazing high-tech weapons that hit their target with this pinpoint accuracy. Oh, yeah, they say that there are "targeting errors", but for the most part, those weapons go right to their intended target – weapons like Cruise missiles or what they call "smart bombs". I still remember back in that first Gulf War, a correspondent was in Baghdad, and he described this Tomahawk missile roaring in over the city. It paused, and then it literally made a sharp turn to the left and went straight down into this military facility. Apparently, its tracking system determined that it was slightly off course, so it corrected it, and "boom!" it went right to the target. That's amazing stuff!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Internal Guidance System."
The secret of hitting the target is, of course, an internal guidance system for a missile and for you and me. And the Bible clearly describes what that guidance system should be for those of us who belong to Jesus Christ.
One place it's described is in Proverbs 11, beginning in verse 3. It's our word for today from the Word of God. The Lord says, "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity...the righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness."
So, your integrity is supposed to be the guidance system in you that always determines where you'll go and how you'll do things. When you make up your mind that you're always going to do the honest thing, the right thing, what has integrity, then you'll be making a "straight way" for yourself. In other words, you won't be one way one time and another way another time. You won't live by one set of principles with one group and then in another setting you've got a whole other set of rules you play by. You'll be the same in all your dealings and everybody will know it, no matter where, no matter with whom and no matter what it costs. You're always fair, you always tell the truth, you always keep your promises to the best of your ability, and you do what you said you'd do. That's integrity.
When integrity is your internal guidance system, you've actually pre-made a thousand decisions that will come up along the way you don't even know you'll have. It really simplifies decision-making, because doing what's right will usually rule out most of your other options. The motto of any person, any business, any ministry that's committed to integrity and wants God's blessing is going to be, "Always take the high road."
Paul actually modeled that for us in 2 Corinthians 8. He was assigned to deliver this large offering to needy believers in Jerusalem. He said, "We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men." That's interesting, "Taking pains to do what is right". That's the kind of integrity that God blesses mightily. Frankly, sometimes doing what's right is a pain. It's taking pains to do it, but it is so worth it.
There's a great guideline in Psalm 4:5 that says, "Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord." The Bible also guarantees us that, "He that honors Me, I will honor." You stake everything on the promise of God."
So, as you're facing the choices ahead of you right now, remember it is the "integrity of the upright" that "guides them", that makes a "straight way for them". If you follow your culture, if you follow the way other people do things, or your emotions, you will go off course and you'll miss where you're supposed to be. But the man or woman who makes integrity their deciding factor will always end up hitting the target.
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