My wife has a heart for single moms. She loves to include them at the table when we go to a restaurant. Through the years I've noticed a common appreciation from them. They love it when I pull out their chair. More than once they've specifically thanked me. One mom in particular comes to mind. "My," she said, brushing the sudden moisture from her eye, "it's been a while since anyone did that."
Has it been a while for you as well? People can be so rude. We snatch parking places. We forget names. Could you use some courtesy? Has it been a while since someone pulled out your chair? Then let Jesus! Don't hurry through this thought. Receive the courtesy of Christ. He's your groom. Let Christ do what he longs to do. For as you receive his love, you'll find it easier to give yours away!
From A Love Worth Giving
Galatians 5
Freedom in Christ
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. 11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
Life by the Spirit
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Footnotes:
Galatians 5:13 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 16, 17, 19 and 24; and in 6:8.
Galatians 5:14 Lev. 19:18
Galatians 5:17 Or you do not do what
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, February 15, 2016
Read: Psalm 34:15-22
The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right;
his ears are open to their cries for help.
16 But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil;
he will erase their memory from the earth.
17 The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
He rescues them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
19 The righteous person faces many troubles,
but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.
20 For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous;
not one of them is broken!
21 Calamity will surely destroy the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be punished.
22 But the Lord will redeem those who serve him.
No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
INSIGHT:
In the superscription of Psalm 34, a song of David, we are told that it was written “when he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.” That event is recorded in 1 Samuel 21:13. In fleeing from Saul, David sought refuge in the city of Gath—the hometown of the warrior Goliath who David had killed in battle. When the people of Gath protested David’s presence in their city, he pretended to be insane in order to escape. It may seem that David escaped by his own cleverness, but he clearly gives God the credit for his rescue.
A Widow’s Choice
By Dave Branon
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Psalm 34:18
When a good friend suddenly lost her husband to a heart attack, we grieved with her. As a counselor, she had comforted many others. Now, after 40 years of marriage, she faced the unwelcome prospect of returning to an empty house at the end of each day.
In the midst of her grief, our friend leaned on the One who “is close to the brokenhearted.” As God walked with her through her pain, she told us she would choose to “wear the label widow proudly,” because she felt it was the label God had given her.
God is always close to broken hearts.
All grief is personal, and others may grieve differently than she does. Her response doesn’t diminish her grief or make her home less empty. Yet it reminds us that even in the midst of our worst sorrows, our sovereign and loving God can be trusted.
Our heavenly Father suffered a profound separation of His own. As Jesus hung on the cross He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). Yet He endured the pain and separation of crucifixion for our sins out of love for us!
He understands! And because “the Lord is close to the brokenhearted” (Ps. 34:18), we find the comfort we need. He is near.
Dear heavenly Father, as we think about the sadness that comes from the death of a loved one, help us to cling to You and trust Your love and goodness. Thank You for being close to our broken hearts.
Know anyone who is hurting? Share this devotional from our Facebook page: Facebook.com/ourdailybread
God shares in our sorrow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, February 15, 2016
“Am I My Brother’s Keeper?”
None of us lives to himself… —Romans 14:7
Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible spiritually to God for other people? For instance, if I allow any turning away from God in my private life, everyone around me suffers. We “sit together in the heavenly places…” (Ephesians 2:6). “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it…” (1 Corinthians 12:26). If you allow physical selfishness, mental carelessness, moral insensitivity, or spiritual weakness, everyone in contact with you will suffer. But you ask, “Who is sufficient to be able to live up to such a lofty standard?” “Our sufficiency is from God…” and God alone (2 Corinthians 3:5).
“You shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8). How many of us are willing to spend every bit of our nervous, mental, moral, and spiritual energy for Jesus Christ? That is what God means when He uses the word witness. But it takes time, so be patient with yourself. Why has God left us on the earth? Is it simply to be saved and sanctified? No, it is to be at work in service to Him. Am I willing to be broken bread and poured-out wine for Him? Am I willing to be of no value to this age or this life except for one purpose and one alone— to be used to disciple men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ. My life of service to God is the way I say “thank you” to Him for His inexpressibly wonderful salvation. Remember, it is quite possible for God to set any of us aside if we refuse to be of service to Him— “…lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ reveals, not an embarrassed God, not a confused God, not a God who stands apart from the problems, but One who stands in the thick of the whole thing with man. Disciples Indeed, 388 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, February 15, 2016
Return to Sender - #7591
Our sons really enjoyed being uncles for the first time. Their sister was kind enough to give them two boys to call them uncle. The youngest grandson at the time was four years old and he really enjoyed how his uncles played with him. They kept finding quarters in his nose or his ear. (The old magic trick.) Now, before I receive emails about this, rest assured that he had been carefully taught not to put anything in his nose or ear. The grandson that is, not my sons. But he loved it when his uncles pretended they found money there.
I remember the time that one of the uncles told the four year old that he was having a particularly hard time getting that shiny thing out of his nephew's nose. So he turned him upside down and gently shook him. Four quarters fell on the carpet! Bingo!!! But much to uncle's surprise, the little guy picked up the dollar in change and he put it in his uncle's hand. Our son objected and he said, "No, no, no this money is yours now." To which our grandson answered, "No, I want you to have it." See, his uncle was in a ministry with Native American young people. Our grandson said, "Use it to tell more kids about Jesus." Now, that was the best trick of the day.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Return to Sender."
Without being told, our little guy understood that some of what he has isn't for him – it's for helping other people hear about Jesus. The secret here is that he was only giving back to the person who gave it to him in the first place. Right? Just like us when we give to the work of God on earth. We're just giving it back to the one who gave it to us in the first place.
1 Corinthians 4:2 is our word for today from the Word of God, and it clearly spells out this "circle of giving". It says, "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust (or "who are stewards" in the King James Version) must prove faithful." See, what you have is a trust from God which He expects you to use faithfully, especially when it comes to it being available for the work that His Son gave His life for.
Imagine trusting $10,000 of your money to the local bank. A few months later, you go to the bank and ask for your money for a need you have. The banker says, "Oh, I'm sorry. I spent your money." He has betrayed your trust. But no more than we do when we hold onto money that God's expecting back for the work He wants to do.
Sadly, the greatest factor limiting the work of Christ in the world today is the lack of funds. Is God withholding money from His work? Probably not. He's entrusted it into the hands of His people. And research shows consistently that the more believers make the smaller percentage of their income they give to the Lord.
Malachi actually calls that "robbing God" (Malachi 3:9). In the prophet Haggai's day, the rebuilding of God's temple was at a standstill. Here's how God described what was happening: "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin? My house remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house" (Haggai 1:4, 9). That could have been written today.
There is a world of people God so loves, whose only hope is to know about Jesus. A hundred and fifty thousand of our fellow humans every day go into eternity ready or not. You know, there are servants of Christ poised around the world and across the country to lay down the rest of their lives to tell those people about Jesus. All they need is the money to send them and it isn't there.
Satan hasn't been able to stop the workers from stepping up, so he tries to stop the bullets from getting to the army. But you and I have the power to stop him, to participate in the life-saving work Christ spent His life on if we'll open up our hand and give back what God gave us and just tell Him, "Use this to tell more people about Jesus."