Max Lucado Daily: IF ONLY…
Maybe your past isn’t much to brag about. Maybe you’ve seen evil and you have to make a choice. Do you rise above the past and make a difference? Or do you remain controlled by the past and make excuses?
Many choose the convalescent homes of the heart. Healthy bodies, sharp minds, but retired dreams. Lean closely and you’ll hear…If only. The white flag of the heart, if only. . . Maybe you’ve used those words. Maybe you have every right to use them. Perhaps you were hearing the ten count before you even got into the ring.
Let me show you where to turn. Go to John’s gospel and read Jesus’ words in John 3:6. “Human life comes from human parents, but spiritual life comes from one Spirit.” Your parents have given you genes, but God gives you grace. God is willing to give you what your family didn’t.
From Lucado Inspirational Reader
Matthew 12:24-50
But the Pharisees, when they heard the report, were cynical. “Black magic,” they said. “Some devil trick he’s pulled from his sleeve.”
25-27 Jesus confronted their slander. “A judge who gives opposite verdicts on the same person cancels himself out; a family that’s in a constant squabble disintegrates; if Satan banishes Satan, is there any Satan left? If you’re slinging devil mud at me, calling me a devil kicking out devils, doesn’t the same mud stick to your own exorcists?
28-29 “But if it’s by God’s power that I am sending the evil spirits packing, then God’s kingdom is here for sure. How in the world do you think it’s possible in broad daylight to enter the house of an awake, able-bodied man and walk off with his possessions unless you tie him up first? Tie him up, though, and you can clean him out.
30 “This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse.
31-32 “There’s nothing done or said that can’t be forgiven. But if you deliberately persist in your slanders against God’s Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives. If you reject the Son of Man out of some misunderstanding, the Holy Spirit can forgive you, but when you reject the Holy Spirit, you’re sawing off the branch on which you’re sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives.
33 “If you grow a healthy tree, you’ll pick healthy fruit. If you grow a diseased tree, you’ll pick worm-eaten fruit. The fruit tells you about the tree.
34-37 “You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It’s your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation.”
Jonah-Evidence
38 Later a few religion scholars and Pharisees got on him. “Teacher, we want to see your credentials. Give us some hard evidence that God is in this. How about a miracle?”
39-40 Jesus said, “You’re looking for proof, but you’re looking for the wrong kind. All you want is something to titillate your curiosity, satisfy your lust for miracles. The only proof you’re going to get is what looks like the absence of proof: Jonah-evidence. Like Jonah, three days and nights in the fish’s belly, the Son of Man will be gone three days and nights in a deep grave.
41-42 “On Judgment Day, the Ninevites will stand up and give evidence that will condemn this generation, because when Jonah preached to them they changed their lives. A far greater preacher than Jonah is here, and you squabble about ‘proofs.’ On Judgment Day, the Queen of Sheba will come forward and bring evidence that will condemn this generation, because she traveled from a far corner of the earth to listen to wise Solomon. Wisdom far greater than Solomon’s is right in front of you, and you quibble over ‘evidence.’
43-45 “When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn’t find anyone, it says, ‘I’ll go back to my old haunt.’ On return it finds the person spotlessly clean, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse off than if he’d never gotten cleaned up in the first place.
“That’s what this generation is like: You may think you have cleaned out the junk from your lives and gotten ready for God, but you weren’t hospitable to my kingdom message, and now all the devils are moving back in.”
Obedience Is Thicker than Blood
46-47 While he was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers showed up. They were outside trying to get a message to him. Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are out here, wanting to speak with you.”
48-50 Jesus didn’t respond directly, but said, “Who do you think my mother and brothers are?” He then stretched out his hand toward his disciples. “Look closely. These are my mother and brothers. Obedience is thicker than blood. The person who obeys my heavenly Father’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, November 24, 2017
Read: Ecclesiastes 3:10–11
I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Footnotes:
Ecclesiastes 3:11 Or also placed ignorance in the human heart, so that
INSIGHT
Ecclesiastes was written by one who calls himself “the Teacher” and identifies himself as the “son of David, king in Jerusalem” (1:1). In this book, Solomon shows that a life not centered on God is without meaning and purpose (1:14; 2:11). He also shows how and why God must be a part of our lives. In chapter 3, he paints a picture of a life trapped between birth and death, experiencing the mundane repetition of life’s recurring seasons and cyclical activities (vv. 1–8). Such a life is both frustrating and burdensome (v. 10). But Solomon hints that life is not supposed to be like this. We were made for far grander things—God created us for Himself “in his own image” (Gen. 1:27). And God has “set eternity in the human heart” (Eccl. 3:11). We were created for fellowship with the eternal God. C. S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, put it this way: “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” Without God, life will be purposeless and meaningless.
What are some ways that our culture offers false fulfillment? - Sim Kay Tee
The Heart’s True Home
By David H. Roper
[God] has . . . set eternity in the human heart. Ecclesiastes 3:11
We had a West Highland Terrier for a number of years. “Westies” are tough little dogs, bred to tunnel into badger holes and engage the “enemy” in its lair. Our Westie was many generations removed from her origins, but she still retained that instinct, put into her through years of breeding. On one occasion she became obsessed by some “critter” under a rock in our backyard. Nothing could dissuade her. She dug and dug until she tunneled several feet under the rock.
Now consider this question: Why do we as humans pursue, pursue, pursue? Why must we climb unclimbed mountains, ski near-vertical slopes? Run the most difficult and dangerous rapids, challenge the forces of nature? Part of it is a desire for adventure and enjoyment, but it’s much more. It’s an instinct for God that has been implanted in us. We cannot not want to find God.
Beneath all our longings is a deep desire for God.
We don’t know that, of course. We only know that we long for something. “You don’t know what it is you want,” Mark Twain said, “but you want it so much you could almost die.”
God is our heart’s true home. As church father Augustine said in that most famous quotation: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
And what is the heart? A deep void within us that only God can fill.
Help me, Lord, to recognize my deep longing for You. Then fill me with the knowledge of You. Draw me near.
Beneath all our longings is a deep desire for God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 24, 2017
Direction of Focus
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters…, so our eyes look to the Lord our God… —Psalm 123:2
This verse is a description of total reliance on God. Just as the eyes of a servant are riveted on his master, our eyes should be directed to and focused on God. This is how knowledge of His countenance is gained and how God reveals Himself to us (see Isaiah 53:1). Our spiritual strength begins to be drained when we stop lifting our eyes to Him. Our stamina is sapped, not so much through external troubles surrounding us but through problems in our thinking. We wrongfully think, “I suppose I’ve been stretching myself a little too much, standing too tall and trying to look like God instead of being an ordinary humble person.” We have to realize that no effort can be too high.
For example, you came to a crisis in your life, took a stand for God, and even had the witness of the Spirit as a confirmation that what you did was right. But now, maybe weeks or years have gone by, and you are slowly coming to the conclusion— “Well, maybe what I did showed too much pride or was superficial. Was I taking a stand a bit too high for me?” Your “rational” friends come and say, “Don’t be silly. We knew when you first talked about this spiritual awakening that it was a passing impulse, that you couldn’t hold up under the strain. And anyway, God doesn’t expect you to endure.” You respond by saying, “Well, I suppose I was expecting too much.” That sounds humble to say, but it means that your reliance on God is gone, and you are now relying on worldly opinion. The danger comes when, no longer relying on God, you neglect to focus your eyes on Him. Only when God brings you to a sudden stop will you realize that you have been the loser. Whenever there is a spiritual drain in your life, correct it immediately. Realize that something has been coming between you and God, and change or remove it at once.
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
Friday, November 24, 2017
Risking Everything On a Promise - #8055
Mike is a follower of Jesus Christ, and he's an executive with a large printing company founded on Christian principles. They had worked for two years to land this contract with a major publisher, and they got it. Mike told me about the day when their new client brought in their first job. It was exciting until he saw what it was about. It was all about horoscopes. Mike looked at his Sales Manager who had worked with him so hard to sign up this big company. Then he slid the manuscript back across the desk and said to his client, "I'm very sorry, but we can't print this. See, we try to run our business by the Bible, and this would go against what the Bible says."
The man with the manuscript sat back in his chair, dumbfounded. Then he said, "In all my years, I have never had anyone talk to me like this." Mike was ready for the worst. Then the man continued, "I have never seen a company with this much integrity. We'll be bringing you a lot of business!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Risking Everything On a Promise."
As Mike told me about that potentially costly act of integrity, he referred to a Biblical promise he was counting on that day. It's our word for today from the Word of God; it's in 1 Samuel 2:30. "Those who honor Me I will honor." They honored God that day, and God wonderfully honored them as a result. Now, let's be clear. God's honoring doesn't always happen that immediately, or always in the way we would script it, but He always keeps that promise.
So when it appears that we will benefit from compromising God's way, He asks us to risk everything on His promise - that honoring Him will pay off more than the compromise ever could. Many years ago, a beautiful woman named Karen made me a promise at our wedding that she would forsake all others and be my loving partner for the rest of her life. Well, I have based much of the rest of my life on that promise. That's what God is asking you to do with His promise: "They that honor Me I will honor." And God can honor you in ways that men could never touch!
Our lives, the lives of our children - they're filled with powerful examples of how God has honored us when we have stood for His ways. And more importantly, Scripture is filled with examples. I'm fascinated with the conversation the Book of Job records between God and Satan. The subject: Job. "The Lord said to Satan," according to the Bible, "'Have you considered My servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited Me against him to ruin him without any reason" (Job 2:3). In other words, God says to the devil, "You have thrown everything at My servant Job, but no matter how you have tested him. No matter how you've tempted him, he still maintains his integrity."
Could God say that about you? As Satan tries to taunt God with the failures of God's people, I wonder if God can say about you. "Have you considered My servant _________?" I hope your name can go there. Notice what the Lord brags about when He brags about His kids - not our busyness, not our giftedness, not our accomplishment. No, He brags about our character, our unshakable, uncompromised integrity.
Job lost a lot, but at the end, the Bible says, "the Lord gave him twice as much as he had before." In the choices you have to make in business, in the life of your family, as a parent, with your money, in that important relationship, that tempting opportunity, would you risk everything on a promise that God has never broken? "They that honor Me I will honor."