Max Lucado Daily: GOD SHAPES HIS SERVANTS
Compassion matters to God. This is the time for service, not self-centeredness. Cancel the pity party. Love the people God brings to you. This test will be your testimony. Second Corinthians 1:4 reminds us, “God comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, He brings us alongside someone else who’s going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us” (MSG).
You didn’t sign up for this crash course in single parenting or caring for a disabled spouse, did you? No, God enrolled you. Why? So you can teach others what He has taught you. Rather than say, “God, why?” ask, “God, what?” What can I learn from this experience? Your mess can become His message!
From You’ll Get Through This
2 John 1
1-2 My dear congregation, I, your pastor, love you in very truth. And I’m not alone—everyone who knows the Truth that has taken up permanent residence in us loves you.
3 Let grace, mercy, and peace be with us in truth and love from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, Son of the Father!
4-6 I can’t tell you how happy I am to learn that many members of your congregation are diligent in living out the Truth, exactly as commanded by the Father. But permit me a reminder, friends, and this is not a new commandment but simply a repetition of our original and basic charter: that we love each other. Love means following his commandments, and his unifying commandment is that you conduct your lives in love. This is the first thing you heard, and nothing has changed.
Don’t Walk Out on God
7 There are a lot of smooth-talking charlatans loose in the world who refuse to believe that Jesus Christ was truly human, a flesh-and-blood human being. Give them their true title: Deceiver! Antichrist!
8-9 And be very careful around them so you don’t lose out on what we’ve worked so diligently in together; I want you to get every reward you have coming to you. Anyone who gets so progressive in his thinking that he walks out on the teaching of Christ, walks out on God. But whoever stays with the teaching, stays faithful to both the Father and the Son.
10-11 If anyone shows up who doesn’t hold to this teaching, don’t invite him in and give him the run of the place. That would just give him a platform to perpetuate his evil ways, making you his partner.
12-13 I have a lot more things to tell you, but I’d rather not use paper and ink. I hope to be there soon in person and have a heart-to-heart talk. That will be far more satisfying to both you and me. Everyone here in your sister congregation sends greetings.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 26, 2017
Read: Genesis 1:24–31
God spoke: “Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind:
cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds.”
And there it was:
wild animals of every kind,
Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug.
God saw that it was good.
26-28 God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them
reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself,
and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”
God created human beings;
he created them godlike,
Reflecting God’s nature.
He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
“Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”
29-30 Then God said, “I’ve given you
every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
given them to you for food.
To all animals and all birds,
everything that moves and breathes,
I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.”
And there it was.
31 God looked over everything he had made;
it was so good, so very good!
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Six.
INSIGHT:
Do we sometimes get lost in thinking about all that is wrong with the world? When we do, remember how the God of creation asked a man named Job to consider what the wonder of all nature is saying to us about His goodness and wisdom (Job 38:1–42:6).
Very Good!
By Alyson Kieda
Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! Genesis 1:31 nlt
Some days seem to have a theme running through them. Recently I had one of those days. Our pastor began his sermon on Genesis 1 with two minutes of breathtaking, time-lapse photography of blossoming flowers. Then, at home, a scroll through social media revealed numerous posts of flowers. Later on a walk in the woods, the wildflowers of spring surrounded us—trilliums, marsh marigolds, and wild iris.
God created flowers and every other variety of vegetation (and dry ground to grow in), on the third day of creation. And twice on that day, God pronounced it “good” (Gen. 1:10, 12). On only one other day of creation—the sixth—did God make that double pronouncement of “good” (vv. 25, 31). In fact, on this day when He created humans and His masterpiece was complete, He looked over all He had made and “saw that it was very good!” (nlt).
Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! Genesis 1:31 nlt
In the creation story, we see a Creator God who delighted in His creation—and seemed to take joy in the very act of creating. Why else design a world with such colorful and amazing variety? And He saved the best for last when He “created mankind in his own image” (v. 27). As His image-bearers we are blessed and inspired by His beautiful handiwork.
Dear Creator God, thank You for creating the world in all its beauty for our enjoyment—and Yours. Thank You too for making us in Your image so that we would be inspired to create.
All creation bears God’s autograph.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 26, 2017
Drawing on the Grace of God— Now
We…plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. —2 Corinthians 6:1
The grace you had yesterday will not be sufficient for today. Grace is the overflowing favor of God, and you can always count on it being available to draw upon as needed. “…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses”— that is where our patience is tested (2 Corinthians 6:4). Are you failing to rely on the grace of God there? Are you saying to yourself, “Oh well, I won’t count this time”? It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you— it is taking the grace of God now. We tend to make prayer the preparation for our service, yet it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God. Don’t say, “I will endure this until I can get away and pray.” Pray now — draw on the grace of God in your moment of need. Prayer is the most normal and useful thing; it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God. We are very slow to learn to draw on God’s grace through prayer.
“…in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors…” (2 Corinthians 6:5)— in all these things, display in your life a drawing on the grace of God, which will show evidence to yourself and to others that you are a miracle of His. Draw on His grace now, not later. The primary word in the spiritual vocabulary is now. Let circumstances take you where they will, but keep drawing on the grace of God in whatever condition you may find yourself. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be totally humiliated before others without displaying even the slightest trace of anything but His grace.
“…having nothing….” Never hold anything in reserve. Pour yourself out, giving the best that you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful with the treasure God gives you. “…and yet possessing all things”— this is poverty triumphant (2 Corinthians 6:10).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Christianity is not consistency to conscience or to convictions; Christianity is being true to Jesus Christ. Biblical Ethics, 111 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 26, 2017
Living For His Arrival - #7946
Missy taught me about dogs. Missy was our Shih-tzu dog. Our son was given Missy when she was a puppy and he was in high school. And I was amazed at their relationship. When he came downstairs each morning, Missy came to life. Then, as soon as he left, she'd just kind of hunker down under this cabinet in the kitchen and kind of be bla-bla there all day long...until she heard that car pulling in the driveway late in the afternoon. I couldn't hear it pulling in, but Missy sure could! In an instant, she came alive! She shot out from under that cabinet and stationed herself at the back door with her tail in overdrive. When our son came through that door, Missy freaked out! Her whole day revolved around one big event-her master's return.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Living For His Arrival."
Our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Timothy 4:8: "Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing." The KJV refers to all those "who love His appearing". Jesus has special things in store for His followers who love the prospect of His arrival, who will live for the prospect of their Master's return like a certain dog I know.
God's challenge is to revolve your life around your Master's coming. But unlike a certain dog I know, not to just retreat until He comes. In the previous verses, Paul describes how he lived in light of his Lord's return. It says he "fought the good fight", he "finished the race", he poured out his life. He showed that He was looking for his Lord by actively, aggressively putting the things of God, the work of God, the agenda of God first in his life. That way he could be, as John says, "confident and unashamed before Him at His coming." In other words, living in such a way that Jesus will be proud of you when He comes; in a way that you won't have to run and hide when He comes.
When our oldest son was 12, we were at a Christian conference center, and he and I were just coming out of a meeting where the speaker had talked a lot about the mess the world is in. He seemed kind of weighed down with what he had heard. I said, "Just remember-some day, maybe soon, Jesus is going to come back and make all that right." To which he replied, "I don't want Him to come back yet." I asked him why-and I've never forgotten his answer. He said, "I want to have more devotions first, Dad. I want to know Jesus better before I see Him."
That's a part of loving your Master's return-to learn to love your Master better before He returns. That's living to see Jesus. It means arranging your daily schedule so Jesus gets prime time. It's saying, "Jesus, I'm going to see You soon, and I'm going to start spending time with you right now."
Loving your Master's return also means living for things that will matter when He comes back. Like whether or not the people around you are ready to meet Him, like whether or not your money's going to be all tied up in earth-stuff or invested in heaven-stuff when He comes, like whether your schedule looks like one that realizes what will last and what will not.
Those who love their Master's return, those who live for their Master's return examine all their priorities in light of that glorious event. I personally, along with a whole lot of believers, have a feeling it's late in the day-maybe about the time your Master might be coming back.
I hope when He appears, you'll be able to run to the door excitedly-because you've been revolving your life around His coming all day long.
