Max Lucado Daily: WE HAVE A CHOICE
In so many areas of life we have no choice. “It’s not fair,” we say. But the scales of life were forever tipped on the side of fairness when God planted a tree in the Garden of Eden. All complaints were silenced when Adam and his descendants were given free will, the freedom to make whatever eternal choice we desire.
Any injustice in this life is offset by the honor of choosing our destiny in the next. Wouldn’t you agree? It would have been nice if God had let us order life like we order a meal. It would’ve been nice, but it didn’t happen. When it came to many details of your life on earth, you weren’t given a choice, a voice, or a vote. But when it comes to life after death, you were! In my book that seems like a good deal. Wouldn’t you agree?
From He Chose the Nails
Daniel 12
The Worst Trouble the World Has Ever Seen
1-2 “‘That’s when Michael, the great angel-prince, champion of your people, will step in. It will be a time of trouble, the worst trouble the world has ever seen. But your people will be saved from the trouble, every last one found written in the Book. Many who have been long dead and buried will wake up, some to eternal life, others to eternal shame.
3 “‘Men and women who have lived wisely and well will shine brilliantly, like the cloudless, star-strewn night skies. And those who put others on the right path to life will glow like stars forever.
4 “‘This is a confidential report, Daniel, for your eyes and ears only. Keep it secret. Put the book under lock and key until the end. In the interim there is going to be a lot of frantic running around, trying to figure out what’s going on.’
5-6 “As I, Daniel, took all this in, two figures appeared, one standing on this bank of the river and one on the other bank. One of them asked a third man who was dressed in linen and who straddled the river, ‘How long is this astonishing story to go on?’
7 “The man dressed in linen, who straddled the river, raised both hands to the skies. I heard him solemnly swear by the Eternal One that it would be a time, two times, and half a time, that when the oppressor of the holy people was brought down the story would be complete.
8 “I heard all this plainly enough, but I didn’t understand it. So I asked, ‘Master, can you explain this to me?’
9-10 “‘Go on about your business, Daniel,’ he said. ‘The message is confidential and under lock and key until the end, until things are about to be wrapped up. The populace will be washed clean and made like new. But the wicked will just keep on being wicked, without a clue about what is happening. Those who live wisely and well will understand what’s going on.’
11 “From the time that the daily worship is banished from the Temple and the obscene desecration is set up in its place, there will be 1,290 days.
12 “Blessed are those who patiently make it through the 1,335 days.
13 “And you? Go about your business without fretting or worrying. Relax. When it’s all over, you will be on your feet to receive your reward.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, April 10, 2017
Read: Hebrews 10:19–23
Don’t Throw It All Away
19-21 So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is his body.
22-25 So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.
INSIGHT:
Do you ever wonder whether Jesus knows too much about you to stand up for you the way your best friend would? If such a question gives us pause, could the problem be that we know ourselves too well?
The letter to the Hebrews was an open letter to first-century Jewish readers raised under a system of law and sacrifice that taught them to know their own heart—and to acknowledge their personal wrongs. This letter reminded them that God knew their hearts well enough to see their inclination to slide back into their old religious ways of trying to resolve their sense of sin, shame, and guilty conscience.
So over and over this letter reminds its first readers, and us, of what the Son of God suffered once and for all for all of our sin. Showing His willingness to bear the worst we could do to Him, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Then to a repentant criminal dying at His side, He said, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (v. 43).
It was one intervention and one sacrifice—for all of us—and for all of our sin.
Our Best Friend
By James Banks
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
When I was twelve years old our family moved to a town in the desert. After gym classes in the hot air at my new school, we rushed for the drinking fountain. Being skinny and young for my grade, I sometimes got pushed out of the way while waiting in line. One day my friend Jose, who was big and strong for his age, saw this happening. He stepped in and stuck out a strong arm to clear my way. “Hey!” he exclaimed, “You let Banks get a drink first!” I never had trouble at the drinking fountain again.
Jesus understood what it was like to face the ultimate unkindness of others. The Bible tells us, “He was despised and rejected by mankind” (Isa. 53:3). But Jesus was not just a victim of suffering, He also became our advocate. By giving His life, Jesus opened a “new and living way” for us to enter into a relationship with God (Heb. 10:20). He did for us what we could never do for ourselves, offering us the free gift of salvation when we repent of our sins and trust in Him.
God’s free gift to us cost Him dearly.
Jesus is the best friend we could ever have. He said, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37). Others may hold us at arm’s length or even push us away, but God has opened His arms to us through the cross. How strong is our Savior!
Love’s redeeming work is done, fought the fight, the battle won. Death in vain forbids him rise; Christ has opened paradise. Charles Wesley
God’s free gift to us cost Him dearly.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, April 10, 2017
Complete and Effective Decision About Sin
…our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. —Romans 6:6
Co-Crucifixion. Have you made the following decision about sin—that it must be completely killed in you? It takes a long time to come to the point of making this complete and effective decision about sin. It is, however, the greatest moment in your life once you decide that sin must die in you– not simply be restrained, suppressed, or counteracted, but crucified— just as Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world. No one can bring anyone else to this decision. We may be mentally and spiritually convinced, but what we need to do is actually make the decision that Paul urged us to do in this passage.
Pull yourself up, take some time alone with God, and make this important decision, saying, “Lord, identify me with Your death until I know that sin is dead in me.” Make the moral decision that sin in you must be put to death.
This was not some divine future expectation on the part of Paul, but was a very radical and definite experience in his life. Are you prepared to let the Spirit of God search you until you know what the level and nature of sin is in your life— to see the very things that struggle against God’s Spirit in you? If so, will you then agree with God’s verdict on the nature of sin— that it should be identified with the death of Jesus? You cannot “reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin” (Romans 6:11) unless you have radically dealt with the issue of your will before God.
Have you entered into the glorious privilege of being crucified with Christ, until all that remains in your flesh and blood is His life? “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…” (Galatians 2:20).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark—the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our heart; the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight. The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 669 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, April 10, 2017
Wherever He Goes - #7891
It was another crazy day in my life of crazy days. I was speaking in downtown Philadelphia early in the morning and then out in the suburbs later in the morning. The Billy Graham team members had organized all this and they arranged for the committee chairman to lead us from one meeting to another. The only way we could make both meetings was to race out of Meeting 1 and take the fastest possible route to Meeting 2. Well, we got behind the chairman and began what turned out to be a modern version of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. This guy really knew how to get around that city! There was only one hope of getting to our goal, believe me. We just had to stay really close to the guy who was leading us.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Wherever He Goes."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Chronicles 23. There's a sentence here that just reached out of my Bible and grabbed my heart. It's buried in the story of young King Joash coming to power in ancient Judah. His father the king had died, and the king's mother made her move to get the throne. She destroyed the entire royal family of Judah - except for one. Another family member had rescued the baby of the family, Joash, and hid him away for years.
A godly high priest organized a revolt against the queen, because the wrong person was on the throne. And he gathered a force to surround Joash until they could eliminate the queen and put the rightful ruler on the throne. That's the context for this order to the men who were surrounding the rightful king. And, in a way, it's an order for all of us who call ourselves followers of King Jesus...the rightful King.. Second Chronicles 23:7 says, "Stay close to the King wherever He goes."
We live in a world where an evil pretender is running things. But we serve the rightful King, Jesus Christ, King of all kings. And our King will prevail. And what are our orders as His followers? To go wherever He goes. Not to go where we want to go just to ask the King to go there with us. No.
It's like that day when we were following our leader to our destination across the city. We didn't pick the route that looked best to us. In fact, we were totally open to whatever our leader wanted to do; to go wherever he went. Our plans and our preferences didn't matter. We were totally neutral about what route we took. Our job was to see where our leader was going, get behind him, and go there.
That is exactly what it means to be a follower of Jesus. His fundamental command is, "Follow Me." If you tend to be a rigid person, an independent person, a person with a mind of your own, or a control freak, well, you'll tend to have a strong agenda of your own. And you'll have a hard time submitting to Jesus' leadership, relaxing in His leadership. You need to begin each new day saying, "Lord, show me where You're going, and I'll get behind You and go there."
You need to know where the King is going with your career, with your business, with your son or daughter, with your husband or wife. Where's the King going with your ministry, with your future, with each decision you make? This is the great adventure of following Jesus. Yes, you make plans, always seeking where He is going. Yes, you organize. But you stand ready to change direction at any time because your King doesn't stand still. His leadership is like that man we were following through Philadelphia - it's dynamic, not static. Often surprising and often not predictable.
But our only hope of reaching our destination that day was to stay real close to the one who knew where we were going. And that's your hope of living as you were born to live. You cannot afford a day away from your King, a glance away from your Leader. What matters most in your life as a Jesus-follower is staying close to Him.
You serve the rightful King. And your mission is clear. Stay close to the King wherever He goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment