Max Lucado Daily:ABOUNDING GRACE
Scripture says in Romans 5:20 that “the more we see our sinfulness, the more we see God’s abounding grace.” To abound is to have a surplus, an abundance, an extravagant portion.
Should the fish in the Pacific worry that it will run out of ocean? No. Why? The ocean abounds with water. Need the lark be anxious about finding room in the sky to fly? No. The sky abounds with space.
Should the Christian worry that the cup of mercy will run empty? He may, for he may not be aware of God’s abounding grace. How about you? Are you aware that the cup God gives you overflows with mercy? Or are you afraid your cup will run dry? Or your mistakes are too great for God’s grace? God is not a miser with his grace. Your cup may be low on cash or clout, but it is overflowing with mercy!
From More to Your Story
1 Corinthians 10:1-18
Lessons from Israel’s Idolatry
10 I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters,[a] about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. 2 In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. 3 All of them ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, 7 or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”[b] 8 And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.
9 Nor should we put Christ[c] to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. 10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. 11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.
12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. 13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
14 So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols. 15 You are reasonable people. Decide for yourselves if what I am saying is true. 16 When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ? 17 And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. 18 Think about the people of Israel. Weren’t they united by eating the sacrifices at the altar?
Footnotes:
10:1 Greek brothers.
10:7 Exod 32:6.
10:9 Some manuscripts read the Lord.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Read: Mark 10:17-27
The Rich Man
17 As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. 19 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’[a]”
20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”
21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” 24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard[b] to enter the Kingdom of God. 25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
26 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”
Footnotes:
10:19 Exod 20:12-16; Deut 5:16-20.
10:24 Some manuscripts read very hard for those who trust in riches.
INSIGHT:
The rich young ruler (Matt. 19:20; Luke 18:18) believed he had earned his place in heaven (Mark 10:19–20). But Jesus revealed that the young man had put his trust in material things (vv. 21–22) and that salvation is obtained when we love God first and trust in Jesus only (v. 21).
Knowing and Doing
By Poh Fang Chia
With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God. Mark 10:27
Chinese philosopher Han Feizi made this observation about life: “Knowing the facts is easy. Knowing how to act based on the facts is difficult.”
A rich man with that problem once came to Jesus. He knew the law of Moses and believed he had kept the commandments since his youth (Mark 10:20). But he seems to be wondering what additional facts he might hear from Jesus. “ ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ” (v. 17).
All things are possible with God. (Mark 10:27)
Jesus’ answer disappointed the rich man. He told him to sell his possessions, give the money to the poor, and follow Him (v. 21). With these few words Jesus exposed a fact the man didn’t want to hear. He loved and relied on his wealth more than he trusted Jesus. Abandoning the security of his money to follow Jesus was too great a risk, and he went away sad (v. 22).
What was the Teacher thinking? His own disciples were alarmed and asked, “Who then can be saved?” He replied, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (v. 27). It takes courage and faith. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9).
God, thank You for the good news of Jesus. Give us the courage to act on what we know to be true, and to accept the salvation offered through Jesus. Thank You that You will give us the strength to act on the facts.
Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. Acts 16:31
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Put God First
Jesus did not commit Himself to them…for He knew what was in man. —John 2:24-25
Put Trust in God First. Our Lord never put His trust in any person. Yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, and never lost hope for anyone, because He put His trust in God first. He trusted absolutely in what God’s grace could do for others. If I put my trust in human beings first, the end result will be my despair and hopelessness toward everyone. I will become bitter because I have insisted that people be what no person can ever be— absolutely perfect and right. Never trust anything in yourself or in anyone else, except the grace of God.
Put God’s Will First. “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9).
A person’s obedience is to what he sees to be a need— our Lord’s obedience was to the will of His Father. The rallying cry today is, “We must get to work! The heathen are dying without God. We must go and tell them about Him.” But we must first make sure that God’s “needs” and His will in us personally are being met. Jesus said, “…tarry…until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The purpose of our Christian training is to get us into the right relationship to the “needs” of God and His will. Once God’s “needs” in us have been met, He will open the way for us to accomplish His will, meeting His “needs” elsewhere.
Put God’s Son First. “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” (Matthew 18:5).
God came as a baby, giving and entrusting Himself to me. He expects my personal life to be a “Bethlehem.” Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transformed by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God’s ultimate purpose is that His Son might be exhibited in me.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 558 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Ready Or Not, Here He Comes - #7667
The love of Mary Ann's life, Tom, was coming for a visit. He lived in another state, so those visits were really special. He was due to arrive Friday night or Saturday sometime, and Mary Ann's room had been declared a federal disaster area. Finally, on Thursday afternoon, she decided she'd better get busy trying to recover her room. It was really in an embarrassing condition. You know sometimes you have to make things messier, of course, in the process of getting them put away or thrown away.
Mary Ann's room was at that point on Friday morning when the phone rang. It was Tom. He was calling to say he loved her and that he was looking forward to seeing her soon. That was all the incentive she needed to finish the job. Unfortunately, she did not get that opportunity. Tom had called from downstairs. He had arrived earlier than Mary Ann expected. So in he walked and there she stood, dressed in her "grubbies", hair matted on her forehead, surrounded by an indescribable mess!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Ready Or Not, Here He Comes."
Poor girl! I mean, he came at a time when she did not expect him, and she was not ready. Not being ready might be okay when it's a boyfriend who's arriving unexpectedly. It's not okay when it's God who's arriving unexpectedly, which seems to be His modus operandi.
That's why Jesus provided this inside information for us in our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 24, beginning with verse 39, where He tells us what His coming will be like. "Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come...Be ready because the Son of God will come at an hour when you do not expect Him."
Jesus was speaking specifically here of that day when He will return to this earth to write the final chapter of human history – the Second Coming of Christ. And while He made clear that no one will be able to predict the exact time He will come, He did give us signs that would be evident in the world when heaven's two-minute warning has been sounded.
And many Bible scholars believe that the world has never looked more like the kind of world Jesus said He would return to than it does today. People seem to be able to sense that. Look at how they made years ago the "Left Behind" series that became huge bestsellers because it was about a scenario for what the Bible calls the "last days." One major network aired a major mini-series entitled "Revelations" – again imagining that world that Jesus will return to. You hear on the news more and more of the words like "apocalyptic" and biblical proportions.
But whether or not Jesus comes back physically in our generation, He is most certainly going to come for you in this generation. And when He does, will you be ready? The Bible describes us as being in a mess – the mess of a life where we've sinned against God, we've ignored God, we've marginalized God, we've rejected God's rule of our life.
But that same Bible says, "God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). You and I did the sinning; Jesus did the dying so He could forgive those sins that otherwise would condemn you forever. You're not ready to meet Him though until your sins have been erased from God's book. And that can only happen when you make the Savior your Savior, by turning over the life that He gave you to the One who gave His life for you. This could be your day to "get ready" if you'll tell Jesus, "I'm Yours."
In fact, right now where you are, why would you hesitate when there's so much at stake? And when today is the only guaranteed day you have? Tell Him this, "Jesus, I have run my own life. I am sorry. That's over. I believe You died for the very sins that I have committed in my life. No one loves me like You do. Jesus, I'm yours."
There's all the information you need to anchor a relationship with Jesus Christ at our website. That's what it's there for. I would ask you to come and meet me there so we can help you make sure you are ready for your appointment with Him. That website's ANewStory.com.
He'll be coming for you, one way or another, and then it's too late to get ready. The time to do that is now. Putting it off means risking your eternity. Opening your heart to Jesus means you are ready for eternity, whenever it comes.