Max Lucado Daily: LOVE EACH OTHER
“Love each other!” we pastors tell our churches. “Be patient, kind, and forgiving,” we urge. But instructing people to love without telling them they are loved is like telling them to write a check without our making a deposit in their accounts. No wonder so many relationships are overdrawn. Hearts have insufficient love.
The key to loving is living loved. Remember Paul’s prayer? “May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love” (Ephesians 3:17 NLT). Does bumping into certain people leave you brittle, breakable, and fruitless? Do you easily fall apart? If so, your love may be grounded in the wrong soil. It may be rooted in their love (which is fickle) or in your resolve to love (which is frail). John urges us to rely on the love God has for us (1 John 4:16 NIV).
Many people tell us to love. Only God gives us the power to do so!
From A Love Worth Giving
Ezekiel 15
Used as Fuel for the Fire
1-3 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, how would you compare the wood of a vine with the branches of any tree you’d find in the forest? Is vine wood ever used to make anything? Is it used to make pegs to hang things from?
4 “I don’t think so. At best it’s good for fuel. Look at it: A flimsy piece of vine, thrown in the fire and then rescued—the ends burned off and the middle charred. Now is it good for anything?
5 “Hardly. When it was whole it wasn’t good for anything. Half-burned is no improvement. What’s it good for?
6-8 “So here’s the Message of God, the Master: Like the wood of the vine I selected from among the trees of the forest and used as fuel for the fire, just so I’ll treat those who live in Jerusalem. I am dead set against them. Even though at one time they got out of the fire charred, the fire’s going to burn them up. When I take my stand against them, you’ll realize that I am God. I’ll turn this country into a wilderness because they’ve been faithless.” Decree of God, the Master.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 02, 2017
Read: Matthew 8:1–4
He Carried Our Diseases
1-2 Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, “Master, if you want to, you can heal my body.”
3-4 Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone. Jesus said, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest, along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.”
INSIGHT:
Do you wonder what it would feel like to be an “untouchable”? Or do you know all too well what it means to be avoided like the plague, either from your own experience or through the pain of someone you love? If you’ve felt the sting of exclusion, then you probably can feel empathy for the leper who reached out to Jesus. Until that day, this man would have had to live on the outside of normal relationships and society. According to ancient ceremonial rules, “Those who suffer from a serious skin disease must . . . cover their mouth and call out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as the serious disease lasts, they . . . must live in isolation in their place outside the camp” (Lev. 13:45–46 nlt).
Such social isolation, however, wasn’t the worst part. In first-century Israel, lepers were regarded as rejected by God. So imagine what it must have meant when Jesus reached out to a desperate person who probably hadn’t felt a human touch for years. Every time Jesus performed a miracle of healing, He gave credibility to His words and showed hopeless, suffering, and even untouchable people that God knew and loved them. Mart DeHaan
Just a Touch
By Tim Gustafson
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. Matthew 8:3
Kiley leaped at the chance to go to a remote area of East Africa to assist a medical mission, yet she felt uneasy. She didn’t have any medical experience. Still, she could provide basic care.
While there, she met a woman with a horrible but treatable disease. The woman’s distorted leg repulsed her, but Kiley knew she had to do something. As she cleaned and bandaged the leg, her patient began crying. Concerned, Kiley asked if she was hurting her. “No,” she replied. “It’s the first time anyone has touched me in nine years.”
Lord, we want to show the fearless love You showed when You walked this earth.
Leprosy is another disease that can render its victims repulsive to others, and ancient Jewish culture had strict guidelines to prevent its spread: “They must live alone,” the law declared. “They must live outside the camp” (Lev. 13:46).
That’s why it’s so remarkable that a leper approached Jesus to say, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean” (Matt. 8:2). “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ ” (v. 3).
In touching a lonely woman’s diseased leg, Kiley began to show the fearless, bridge-building love of Jesus. A single touch made a difference.
Lord, we want to show the fearless love You showed when You walked this earth.
What difference might we make if we overcome our fears and trust God to use us?
Share with other readers at Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 02, 2017
The Patience To Wait for the Vision
Though it tarries, wait for it… —Habakkuk 2:3
Patience is not the same as indifference; patience conveys the idea of someone who is tremendously strong and able to withstand all assaults. Having the vision of God is the source of patience because it gives us God’s true and proper inspiration. Moses endured, not because of his devotion to his principles of what was right, nor because of his sense of duty to God, but because he had a vision of God. “…he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). A person who has the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue— he is devoted to God Himself. You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it. Things come to you with greatness and add vitality to your life because everything is energized by God. He may give you a time spiritually, with no word from Himself at all, just as His Son experienced during His time of temptation in the wilderness. When God does that, simply endure, and the power to endure will be there because you see God.
“Though it tarries, wait for it….” The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have already grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. The psalmist said, “What shall I render to the Lord…? I will take up the cup of salvation…” (Psalm 116:12-13). We are apt to look for satisfaction within ourselves and say, “Now I’ve got it! Now I am completely sanctified. Now I can endure.” Instantly we are on the road to ruin. Our reach must exceed our grasp. Paul said, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on…” (Philippians 3:12). If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing. But if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience. Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. The Place of Help, 1032 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 02, 2017
Cherish Them...While You Can - #7907
It was my first Valentine's Day without the love of my life since I was 18. I found the Valentine card that I sent her a couple of years ago. In it, I wrote: "I have never loved you more. You never cease to amaze me, amuse me, and captivate me." As the sun came up on my first Valentine's Day alone, I realized I had a choice to make. I could either spend the day mourning what I had lost, or I could celebrate the decades I did have with this remarkable woman, and I chose that. I'm glad I did.
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Cherish Them...While You Can."
In the months since Karen went Home, I've found myself telling my friends, "Cherish her while you can." Like the Bible says in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 90:12, "Teach us to number our days aright that we may apply our hearts to wisdom." My translation: make each day count, man!
Suddenly, one May day, I had no more days to cherish the great treasure of my life. Reflecting on our years and days together, I found myself jotting down four questions that I'd encourage every married man to ask himself.
1. What would she say is her biggest competition for my time and my attention? Sports? My work? Facebook? The gym? My hobby? Being with the guys? I'll tell you what, whether or not the Mister knows what it is, you can be sure Mrs. does. Once you figure out the answer, then would you show her that she's number 1 over that? Every time you intentionally put her ahead of your biggest competition, you are making her know how loved she is. You are cherishing her.
2. In what ways am I a better man because of her love and influence? I've been thinking about that a lot in the past few months. I have been changed by the love of the woman I married. Most men are in ways they may not see unless they honestly pursue this question. My wife was the most generous person I've ever known. I was a spoiled and selfish only child. That's one of many ways God used her to make me more of a man. I'm glad I told her that. So once you've thought about how you're different because of her love, would you tell her!
3. What are three qualities she has that I really love and appreciate about her? Now I'll tell you, we're pretty quick to think of the things that frustrate us. Can I make a list of those? No. We communicate those pretty well. What about the qualities, the actions that mean a lot to you...that you fell in love with? Thank her! Why don't we give "flowers" before the funeral while they can still smell them!
4. If she was suddenly gone today, what would my biggest regrets be? Oh, I've had plenty of time to think about that one in recent months. If you think about it while she's still by your side, you can change it! It's too late to say "I wish I had" or "I wish I hadn't" at a graveside.
Sometimes it can be hard to answer questions like these. Which may indicate we have a deadly condition. A hardening heart. Filling up with resentment, anger, bitterness, self-pity, self justification. And more than the problems or the conflicts, it's a hard heart that kills love.
Sometimes you don't feel the love. Those are the times to say, "God, I don't have it, but You do. You loved her enough to die on a cross for her. So if you'll send Your love for her through me, I'll make sure it gets delivered." Life's too short and love's too precious for a closed-up heart.
I love this hope-restoring promise from the Author of love. He says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). I can tell you that "new heart" has saved many a marriage.
And it may be you've never experienced this love of Christ for yourself; this One who sacrificed His life so you could have your sin forgiven and so you could be new, and so you could have His resources to make your relationship work. Would you tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website. There's a whole lot more there about how this relationship can change your life forever. It's ANewStory.com.
From my wounded heart to the heart of a guy like me out there, cherish the love of your life. There are no days to waste.