Max Lucado Daily: A SHORT-TERM CONDITION
Perhaps you need the reminder that I need— Don’t put your trust in stuff! Paul told Timothy, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17 NIV).
The “rich in this. . .world.” That’s you. That’s me. If you have enough education to listen to this program, enough resources to own a book, you likely qualify as a prosperous person. And that’s okay. Prosperity is a common consequence of faithfulness. Paul didn’t tell the rich to feel guilty about being rich; he just urged caution. Money is just a short-term condition. The abundance or lack of it will only be felt for one life. So, if you have a lot, don’t put your trust in it. Put your trust in God.
From God is With You Every Day
Hebrews 2
1-4 It’s crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we’ve heard so that we don’t drift off. If the old message delivered by the angels was valid and nobody got away with anything, do you think we can risk neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation? First of all, it was delivered in person by the Master, then accurately passed on to us by those who heard it from him. All the while God was validating it with gifts through the Holy Spirit, all sorts of signs and miracles, as he saw fit.
The Salvation Pioneer
5-9 God didn’t put angels in charge of this business of salvation that we’re dealing with here. It says in Scripture,
What is man and woman that you bother with them;
why take a second look their way?
You made them not quite as high as angels,
bright with Eden’s dawn light;
Then you put them in charge
of your entire handcrafted world.
When God put them in charge of everything, nothing was excluded. But we don’t see it yet, don’t see everything under human jurisdiction. What we do see is Jesus, made “not quite as high as angels,” and then, through the experience of death, crowned so much higher than any angel, with a glory “bright with Eden’s dawn light.” In that death, by God’s grace, he fully experienced death in every person’s place.
10-13 It makes good sense that the God who got everything started and keeps everything going now completes the work by making the Salvation Pioneer perfect through suffering as he leads all these people to glory. Since the One who saves and those who are saved have a common origin, Jesus doesn’t hesitate to treat them as family, saying,
I’ll tell my good friends, my brothers and sisters, all I know about you;
I’ll join them in worship and praise to you.
Again, he puts himself in the same family circle when he says,
Even I live by placing my trust in God.
And yet again,
I’m here with the children God gave me.
14-15 Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.
16-18 It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, February 08, 2017
Read: 1 Samuel 20:35–42
In the morning, Jonathan went to the field for the appointment with David. He had his young servant with him. He told the servant, “Run and get the arrows I’m about to shoot.” The boy started running and Jonathan shot an arrow way beyond him. As the boy came to the area where the arrow had been shot, Jonathan yelled out, “Isn’t the arrow farther out?” He yelled again, “Hurry! Quickly! Don’t just stand there!” Jonathan’s servant then picked up the arrow and brought it to his master. The boy, of course, knew nothing of what was going on. Only Jonathan and David knew.
40-41 Jonathan gave his quiver and bow to the boy and sent him back to town. After the servant was gone, David got up from his hiding place beside the boulder, then fell on his face to the ground—three times prostrating himself! And then they kissed one another and wept, friend over friend, David weeping especially hard.
42 Jonathan said, “Go in peace! The two of us have vowed friendship in God’s name, saying, ‘God will be the bond between me and you, and between my children and your children forever!’”
INSIGHT:
Although Jonathan was the son of the king and in line for the throne, he was willing to sacrifice his own advancement and, instead, promote David. Throughout the years of their relationship, Jonathan showed the hallmarks of a true friend and brother, regarding David as more important than himself and seeking to put David’s interest ahead of his own. What are some characteristics of lasting, meaningful friendships (see Prov. 17:17)? What kinds of sacrifices are necessary in order to build a significant friendship (see Phil. 2:3–4)? How can our friendships represent the heart of Christ for us? (see John 15:15).
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
By Keila Ochoa
Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. Hebrews 13:5
A dear friend of mine sent me a text message that said, “I’m so glad we can tell each other the good, the bad, and the ugly!” We have been friends for many years, and we have learned to share our joys and our failures. We recognize we are far from perfect, so we share our struggles but we also rejoice in each other’s successes.
David and Jonathan had a solid friendship too, beginning with the good days of David’s victory over Goliath (1 Sam. 18:1–4). They shared their fears during the bad days of Jonathan’s father’s jealousy (18:6–11; 20:1–2). Finally, they suffered together during the ugly days of Saul’s plans to kill David (20:42).
Real friendships are a gift from God.
Good friends don’t abandon us when external circumstances change. They stay with us through the good and the bad days. Good friends also may point us to God in the ugly days, when we may feel tempted to walk away from our Lord.
Real friendships are a gift from God because they exemplify the perfect Friend, who remains loyal through the good, the bad, and the ugly days. As the Lord reminds us, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).
Dear Lord, I thank You for the good friends You have placed in my life, but above all, I thank You for Your friendship.
Read about living in the power of the Spirit and serving one another in love at discoveryseries.org/q0214.
A friend is the first person who comes in when the whole world has gone out.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, February 08, 2017
The Cost of Sanctification
May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely… —1 Thessalonians 5:23
When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? And after He has done His work, are we then prepared to separate ourselves to God just as Jesus did? “For their sakes I sanctify Myself…” (John 17:19). The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s perspective. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.
Are we prepared to be caught up into the full meaning of Paul’s prayer in this verse? Are we prepared to say, “Lord, make me, a sinner saved by grace, as holy as You can”? Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father (see John 17:21-23). The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him. Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit’s work in us?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1449 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, February 08, 2017
Takes a Lickin', Keeps On Tickin' - #7848
It's pretty funny how far some advertisers will go to convince you that you should buy their product. Years ago, I remember there were some Samsonite luggage commercials. They had a suitcase in the gorilla cage, taking every form of abuse a gorilla could give it. And then there was the one where they threw it out of a plane and it survived. But the pioneers of this kind of "hammer it to prove it" advertising were the makers of Timex watches. Their motto was really hard to forget, "takes a lickin', keeps on tickin'." I don't remember all the ways they beat up on their watches, but it seems to me that they attached one to a ski boat and one to the underside of a truck that was bouncing along a bumpy road. They gave it all kinds of hammering that proved the quality of their product.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Takes a Lickin', Keeps On Tickin'."
It may be that you are going through a time when you've been hit pretty hard, when everything is being shaken. And you're asking the question we all want answered in times like these, "Why?" Now you're never going to know the whole answer until you're with Jesus in heaven. But God does pull the curtain back to show you a little of the reason for the hammering you're experiencing.
That's in our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Peter 1:6-7. The people God is addressing through Peter are people whose entire world has been turned upside-down. They have paid for their faithfulness to Jesus Christ by being persecuted. They've been driven from their homes, their city, they're scattered all over the map and some of these folks have probably lost everything. Here's what God says, "for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith may be proved genuine."
Notice the word used to describe the hurting time, "trials." A trial is a test that reveals the quality of the product. Like those watches; like you right now. No doubt, you have had assignments from God that you've enjoyed more than this, but God has trusted you with this painful assignment every bit as much as He gave you those other assignments. Why? To show the quality of Jesus Christ and your faith in Him.
Every approach, every lifestyle works when things are going well. Anybody can be positive and joyful and unselfish in good times. That's no test. The test of what's real is the hammering times. People saw what those Timex watches could handle, and they wanted one. People will see what you and Jesus can handle, and they may very well want Him for themselves.
If you're struggling to make some sense of this upheaval, remember that God has sent or allowed it so your faith could be "proved genuine." So how are you doing with that? Would people who are watching you right now, and watching your actions and attitude, would they say, "What he has, what she has is really real?" If all you believe about Jesus' love and power and hope is for real, then this could be the greatest opportunity you've ever had in your life to prove it. Preaching won't convince a lot of people, Christian beliefs or activities might not, but who can deny the reality of a hope that is still there after the heavy blows when there seems to be no reason for hope?
If you can hang onto Jesus, if you could be like Jesus in this pain, you will prove your faith is genuine first to yourself. You will have the deepest confidence in Jesus you have ever had because you've experienced what He can do when no one else can help. You'll also prove your faith is genuine to the people who are watching you, whose own relationship with Jesus might depend on how you weather this beating. And you'll prove the reality of your faith to God whose waiting to bless you in extraordinary ways. That's what He does for those who are faithful to Him when there seems to be no reason to be.
So hang on, even if you're getting banged around right now. This is the test to see whether or not when you're "takin' a lickin", you will "keep on tickin'."
