Max Lucado Daily: A Simple Exercise
Do a simple exercise with me. Measure your life against just these four standards from the Ten Commandments:
You must not steal. Have you ever stolen anything? A paper clip? A parking space? …you, thief.
You must not lie. Those who say they haven't- just did.
You must not commit adultery. Jesus said, "If you look at a woman with lust, you've committed adultery in your heart" (Matthew 5:28).
You must not murder. Before you claim innocence, Jesus said "Anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder" (Matthew 5:22).
Jesus made his position clear: "Anyone whose life is not holy will never see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). So where does that leave us? It leaves us drawing hope from 1 Corinthians 15:3. Christ died for our sins-in place of-on behalf of! So, don't measure yourself by keeping commandments. Measure yourself by the cross.
From: 3:16
Psalm 125
A song of ascents.
1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people
both now and forevermore.
3 The scepter of the wicked will not remain
over the land allotted to the righteous,
for then the righteous might use
their hands to do evil.
4 Lord, do good to those who are good,
to those who are upright in heart.
5 But those who turn to crooked ways
the Lord will banish with the evildoers.
Peace be on Israel.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, April 15, 2016
Read: Hebrews 10:5-18
That is why, when Christ[a] came into the world, he said to God,
“You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings.
But you have given me a body to offer.
6 You were not pleased with burnt offerings
or other offerings for sin.
7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God—
as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”[b]
8 First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). 9 Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. 10 For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
11 Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. 12 But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 13 There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. 14 For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,
16 “This is the new covenant I will make
with my people on that day,[c] says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”[d]
17 Then he says,
“I will never again remember
their sins and lawless deeds.”[e]
18 And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.
Footnotes:
10:5 Greek he; also in 10:8.
10:5-7 Ps 40:6-8 (Greek version).
10:16a Greek after those days.
10:16b Jer 31:33a.
10:17 Jer 31:34b.
INSIGHT:
Hebrews 10:5–7 is a quotation from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. This third-century bc translation was used by many Jews in the first century ad. About 90 percent of the Old Testament quotations in the New Testament are from the Septuagint. Dennis Moles
Great Sacrifice
By Bill Crowder
The Lord Jesus Christ . . . gave himself for our sins to rescue us. Galatians 1:3-4
W. T. Stead, an innovative English journalist at the turn of the 20th century, was known for writing about controversial social issues. Two of the articles he published addressed the danger of ships operating with an insufficient ratio of lifeboats to passengers. Ironically, Stead was aboard the Titanic when it struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912. According to one report, after helping women and children into lifeboats, Stead sacrificed his own life by giving up his life vest and a place in the lifeboats so others could be rescued.
There is something very stirring about self-sacrifice. No greater example of that can be found than in Christ Himself. The writer of Hebrews says, “This Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God . . . . For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Heb. 10:12,14 nkjv). In his letter to the Galatians, Paul opened with words describing this great sacrifice: “The Lord Jesus Christ . . . gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age” (Gal. 1:3-4).
Jesus’ offering of Himself on our behalf is the measure of His love for us.
Jesus’ offering of Himself on our behalf is the measure of His love for us. That willing sacrifice continues to rescue men and women and offer assurance of eternity with Him.
God of love and grace, words can never capture the wonder of the sacrifice that Christ offered on our behalf. May our love respond to You with faith and worship—for Your Son who was slain is worthy of our praise.
Read more about the sacrifice of Jesus in the Discovery Series booklet The Power of the Cross.
Jesus laid down His life to show His love for us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, April 15, 2016
The Failure To Pay Close Attention
The high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days. —2 Chronicles 15:17
Asa was not completely obedient in the outward, visible areas of his life. He was obedient in what he considered the most important areas, but he was not entirely right. Beware of ever thinking, “Oh, that thing in my life doesn’t matter much.” The fact that it doesn’t matter much to you may mean that it matters a great deal to God. Nothing should be considered a trivial matter by a child of God. How much longer are we going to prevent God from teaching us even one thing? But He keeps trying to teach us and He never loses patience. You say, “I know I am right with God”— yet the “high places” still remain in your life. There is still an area of disobedience. Do you protest that your heart is right with God, and yet there is something in your life He causes you to doubt? Whenever God causes a doubt about something, stop it immediately, no matter what it may be. Nothing in our lives is a mere insignificant detail to God.
Are there some things regarding your physical or intellectual life to which you have been paying no attention at all? If so, you may think you are all correct in the important areas, but you are careless— you are failing to concentrate or to focus properly. You no more need a day off from spiritual concentration on matters in your life than your heart needs a day off from beating. As you cannot take a day off morally and remain moral, neither can you take a day off spiritually and remain spiritual. God wants you to be entirely His, and it requires paying close attention to keep yourself fit. It also takes a tremendous amount of time. Yet some of us expect to rise above all of our problems, going from one mountaintop experience to another, with only a few minutes’ effort.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed. So Send I You, 1330 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, April 15, 2016
Every Day's The First Day - #7635
You remember the first day of school when you were little? New crayons, new pencils with sharp points, a new notebook with nothing written in it, maybe even some clothes you'd never worn before. Then as you got older, that first day of school meant there were no grades in the teacher's book yet, no absences, no tardies. It's a nice feeling. You know what? You have a lifetime of those first days!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Every Day's The First Day."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Lamentations, where we catch the great prophet Jeremiah on an emotional downer. It's Lamentations 3:19-22. "I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me." Now Jeremiah's remembering yesterdays with a lot of garbage and a lot of failure in them. "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: (Whoa! The mood is changing here.) Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." I love those words - "His compassions...new every morning."
Now, what's so positive about that first day of school is that it's a brand new beginning – no marks on your record, a lot of opportunities that are untouched so far – a fresh start. But when God is your Father, every day is supposed to be like that – a new beginning. That's the way you were meant to live, waking up each morning and saying, in the words of Scripture, "This is the day the Lord has made." Not the weather, not your boss, not your medical condition, not your mood, not your finances. "This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it." Yesterday's over, and it can't be changed. Tomorrow's not here yet, so there's no point in trying to live tomorrow's challenges today. You don't have tomorrow's grace, tomorrow's strength yet.
God has made this wonderful promise in Deuteronomy 33:25. "Your strength will equal your days." Now, you'll never have a day for which God will not provide matching strength. If you're facing let's say a 50-pound day, God's going to give you 50 pounds of strength. If tomorrow is going to be a 100-pound day, He'll make sure you have 100 pounds of strength. But if you try to worry about tomorrow with today's strength, you're going to sink. God's emotional, spiritual, and physical resources are measured out in 24-hour injections. So don't try to handle more than today with today's strength.
Now if you will sincerely confess the sins of yesterday to the Lord, you can start this new day with no marks on your record – a fresh start – because you invite Christ to be the Lord of that part of you where you have failed in the past. You can wake up looking for a new mission for this day, new matchups between you and people God wants you to influence. And there'll be new resources for this new day, like those new crayons and the unused pencils of the first day of school. It's what Jesus called "our daily bread."
Maybe you've been overwhelmed lately because you've forgotten the "dailyness" that you were created to live in. You've been letting too much of yesterday and tomorrow become part of your today. We have this tendency to deal with this huge blob called "my life." Why don't you try just dealing with "my day" instead of "my life"? When you wake up in the morning, remember that this 24 hours is a unique, never before, never again gift from God. There's never been a day like it before; there'll never will be another day just like it again. Every day is that first day of school – clean paper, new crayons, sharp pencils, no marks.
Let God make each day a fresh new beginning!