Max Lucado Daily: God Loves Because He Chooses To
Scripture employs an artillery of terms for love, each one calibrated to reach a different target. Consider the one Moses used with his followers in Deuteronomy 10:15, "The LORD chose your ancestors as the objects of his love."
What the Hebrews heard in their language was this: The LORD binds himself to his people. Binds is the word hasaq-it speaks of a tethered love, a love attached to something or someone. Harnessed. The strap serves two functions, yanking and claiming. Like yanking your child out of trouble and in doing so to proclaim, Yes, he is as wild as a banshee, but he's mine.
In this case, God chained himself to Israel. Because they were lovable? No. God loves Israel and the rest of us because he chooses to do so. God's love…is the love that won't let go of the object of his love!
From: 3:16
Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, April 11, 2016
Read: Ecclesiastes 4:4-16
Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
5 “Fools fold their idle hands,
leading them to ruin.”
6 And yet,
“Better to have one handful with quietness
than two handfuls with hard work
and chasing the wind.”
The Advantages of Companionship
7 I observed yet another example of something meaningless under the sun. 8 This is the case of a man who is all alone, without a child or a brother, yet who works hard to gain as much wealth as he can. But then he asks himself, “Who am I working for? Why am I giving up so much pleasure now?” It is all so meaningless and depressing.
9 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. 11 Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? 12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
The Futility of Political Power
13 It is better to be a poor but wise youth than an old and foolish king who refuses all advice. 14 Such a youth could rise from poverty and succeed. He might even become king, though he has been in prison. 15 But then everyone rushes to the side of yet another youth[a] who replaces him. 16 Endless crowds stand around him,[b] but then another generation grows up and rejects him, too. So it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.
Footnotes:
4:15 Hebrew the second youth.
4:16 Hebrew There is no end to all the people, to all those who are before them.
INSIGHT:
The book of Ecclesiastes laments the vanity of life when God is not taken into account. In regard to our work, Solomon calls us to seek moderation and contentment (4:6–8) and to find meaning, satisfaction, and enjoyment in cooperation with others (vv. 9–12). Sim Kay Tee
Who Am I Working For?
By Poh Fang Chia
“For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” Ecclesiastes 4:8
Henry worked 70 hours a week. He loved his job and brought home a sizeable paycheck to provide good things for his family. He always had plans to slow down but he never did. One evening he came home with great news—he had been promoted to the highest position in his company. But no one was home. Over the years, his children had grown up and moved out, his wife had found a career of her own, and now the house was empty. There was no one to share the good news with.
Solomon talked about the need to keep a balance in life with our work. He wrote, “Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves” (Eccl. 4:5). We don’t want to go to the extreme of being lazy, but neither do we want to fall into the trap of being a workaholic. “Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind” (v. 6). In other words, it is better to have less and enjoy it more. Sacrificing relationships at the altar of success is unwise. Achievement is fleeting, while relationships are what make our life meaningful, rewarding, and enjoyable (vv. 7-12).
The Lord can give us this wisdom as we seek Him and trust Him to be our Provider.
We can learn to work to live and not live to work by choosing to apportion our time wisely. The Lord can give us this wisdom as we seek Him and trust Him to be our Provider.
Lord, show me if my priorities are skewed and where I need to make changes. Thank You for the gift of family and friends.
To spend time wisely, invest it in eternity.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, April 11, 2016
Complete and Effective Divinity
If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection… —Romans 6:5
Co-Resurrection. The proof that I have experienced crucifixion with Jesus is that I have a definite likeness to Him. The Spirit of Jesus entering me rearranges my personal life before God. The resurrection of Jesus has given Him the authority to give the life of God to me, and the experiences of my life must now be built on the foundation of His life. I can have the resurrection life of Jesus here and now, and it will exhibit itself through holiness.
The idea all through the apostle Paul’s writings is that after the decision to be identified with Jesus in His death has been made, the resurrection life of Jesus penetrates every bit of my human nature. It takes the omnipotence of God— His complete and effective divinity— to live the life of the Son of God in human flesh. The Holy Spirit cannot be accepted as a guest in merely one room of the house— He invades all of it. And once I decide that my “old man” (that is, my heredity of sin) should be identified with the death of Jesus, the Holy Spirit invades me. He takes charge of everything. My part is to walk in the light and to obey all that He reveals to me. Once I have made that important decision about sin, it is easy to “reckon” that I am actually “dead indeed to sin,” because I find the life of Jesus in me all the time (Romans 6:11). Just as there is only one kind of humanity, there is only one kind of holiness— the holiness of Jesus. And it is His holiness that has been given to me. God puts the holiness of His Son into me, and I belong to a new spiritual order.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves. The Place of Help, 1051 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, April 11, 2016
The Surprising End of Your Lifetime Search - #7631
It's always a good idea to lock your luggage when you're flying commercially. It's especially a good idea if you're going out of the country. It's an even better idea if you know where the keys for your suitcase locks are before you try to lock them! I was packing in a rush for my flight to Mexico. I had my padlocks ready to go. I couldn't find the keys. Now with only minutes left before I had to leave, we launched this all out desperate search. We checked drawers – no keys. We looked in creative places – no keys! So I was resigned to leaving with unlocked suitcases and a garment bag, when I zipped this garment bag shut and I found the keys. Someone had been wise enough to attach them to the zipper that we use to lock...right there! What I had been looking for everywhere, it had been right in front of me all along!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Surprising End of Your Lifetime Search."
In a sense, our whole life is a search for a key. A key that will answer some of life's bottom line questions, "Why am I on this planet? How can I find love that I won't lose? How can I find a relationship I can totally trust? How can I get some lasting peace? What happens after I die?" Well, like this guy with a lock that had no key, we look a lot of places for answers. It might be that your inner search is taking you through a series of relationships, some good, some bad, or down a variety of spiritual roads trying various approaches to God, or maybe through some successes that were supposed to quiet your heart. But they never did. May I suggest that maybe the key you've been looking for has been right in front of you all along on a road so familiar, so accessible you've missed it.
Our word for today from the Word of God will take you right there. Now you'll have to climb a hill with me, it's called skull hill. It's outside the city of Jerusalem, and there you will find the one and only Son of God battered and bleeding on a Roman cross. We're going to take our place next to a Roman officer; in fact he's the man personally in charge of the execution of Jesus Christ. He's a tough, hardened executioner. He's about to speak. You need to hear what he is saying. Mark 15:39, "And then the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, and he said, 'Surely this was the Son of God!'"
Now, this is the man who is in charge of the execution of the Son of God! He didn't believe that when he came there that day, but he leaves there believing it. What changed his heart? Well, it says, "he saw how He died." See, the centurion heard Jesus say, "Father, forgive them." and he knew he was forgiving those who were responsible for his death. The centurion said, "That's me he's forgiving."
Well, I know it was me too. Because the Bible says He carried our sins in His own body on the tree. The One you and I have sinned against stands ready to forgive every sin we've ever committed. He died to do that. And then this officer heard Jesus say, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise." He said that to a thief on the cross next to Him.
See, this Jesus has the power to take us to Heaven with Him. It is the ultimate peace to know that on the day your heart beats the last time, Jesus is going to say to you, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise." Your search ends at the cross of Jesus. That cross where God's Son died for you is the place where you will finally find God, peace, and unloseable love. You'll finally find eternal life.
This could be your day to stand at His cross and know you belong to Him. Are you ready for that? Are you ready to make your peace with God and get this done? Then say, "Jesus, I believe when You were dying on that cross it was my sins you were paying for. I believe you're alive, you want to come into my life, and you will today because I open my life to you and put all my trust in you."
Please go to our website and follow there the road that I've laid out as simply as I can to know you've begun your relationship with Him. Go to ANewStory.com. It's been a long search hasn't it? It doesn't have to be any longer. When the Savior on that cross becomes your personal Savior, you have found the key that unlocks it all.