Max Lucado Daily: LEAVE YOUR GUILT AT CALVARY
Do you carry a load of guilt? So many do. If our spiritual baggage were visible, do you know what you would see? Suitcases of guilt, bulging with binges, blowups, and compromises. The kid with the baggy jeans and the nose ring? He’d give anything to retract the words he said to his mother. But he can’t, so he tows them along. The woman in the business suit that looks like she could run for Senator? She can’t run at all, not hauling that carpet bag wherever she goes. So what do we do?
In Psalm 23:3 David said it like this, “He leads me in the paths of righteousness.” The path of righteousness is a narrow, winding trail up a steep hill. At the top is a cross. At the base of the cross are bags, countless bags full of innumerable sins. Calvary is the compost pile for guilt. Would you like to leave yours there as well?
Read more Traveling Light
Matthew 23:23-39
“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that’s wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?
25-26 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.
27-28 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You’re like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it’s all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you’re saints, but beneath the skin you’re total frauds.
29-32 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You build granite tombs for your prophets and marble monuments for your saints. And you say that if you had lived in the days of your ancestors, no blood would have been on your hands. You protest too much! You’re cut from the same cloth as those murderers, and daily add to the death count.
33-34 “Snakes! Reptilian sneaks! Do you think you can worm your way out of this? Never have to pay the piper? It’s on account of people like you that I send prophets and wise guides and scholars generation after generation—and generation after generation you treat them like dirt, greeting them with lynch mobs, hounding them with abuse.
35-36 “You can’t squirm out of this: Every drop of righteous blood ever spilled on this earth, beginning with the blood of that good man Abel right down to the blood of Zechariah, Barachiah’s son, whom you murdered at his prayers, is on your head. All this, I’m telling you, is coming down on you, on your generation.
37-39 “Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Murderer of prophets! Killer of the ones who brought you God’s news! How often I’ve ached to embrace your children, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you wouldn’t let me. And now you’re so desolate, nothing but a ghost town. What is there left to say? Only this: I’m out of here soon. The next time you see me you’ll say, ‘Oh, God has blessed him! He’s come, bringing God’s rule!’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Read: Romans 5:1–11
Peace and Hope
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Footnotes:
Romans 5:1 Many manuscripts let us
Romans 5:2 Or let us
Romans 5:3 Or let us
INSIGHT
Does Paul add insult to injury when he links hope to character? Is he saying it takes being a good person to have hope (Romans 5:3–4)? No. Paul isn’t writing to exalt the virtues of moral or legal compliance. He’s telling a story about what the Spirit of Christ does for us in our sin and in our suffering (Romans 5:6–8; 8:22–27). According to Paul, hope is given to us by the Holy Spirit who personally opens our hearts to the love of God—with the assurance Christ died for us in our moral helplessness. - Mart DeHaan
True Hope
By James Banks
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Romans 8:16
Not long ago I visited the Empire State Building with a friend. The line looked short—just down the block and around the corner. Yet as we entered the building, we discovered the line of people stretching through the lobby, up the stairs, and into another room. Every new turn revealed more distance to go.
Attractions and theme parks carefully route their crowds to make the lines seem shorter. Yet disappointment can lurk “just around the bend.”
Abba, Father, thank You that I can always trust in Your perfect, never-ending love.
Sometimes life’s disappointments are much more severe. The job we hoped for doesn’t materialize; friends we counted on let us down; the romantic relationship we longed for fails to work out. But into these heartbreaks, God’s Word speaks a refreshing truth about our hope in Him. The apostle Paul wrote, “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame [or disappoint us], because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5).
As we place our trust in Him, through His Spirit, God whispers the truth that we are unconditionally loved and will one day be with Him—regardless of the obstacles we face. In a world that may often disappoint us, how good it is to know that God gives genuine hope.
Abba, Father, thank You that I can always trust in Your perfect, never-ending love.
In Christ, the hopeless find hope.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Leave Room for God
When it pleased God… —Galatians 1:15
As servants of God, we must learn to make room for Him— to give God “elbow room.” We plan and figure and predict that this or that will happen, but we forget to make room for God to come in as He chooses. Would we be surprised if God came into our meeting or into our preaching in a way we had never expected Him to come? Do not look for God to come in a particular way, but do look for Him. The way to make room for Him is to expect Him to come, but not in a certain way. No matter how well we may know God, the great lesson to learn is that He may break in at any minute. We tend to overlook this element of surprise, yet God never works in any other way. Suddenly—God meets our life “…when it pleased God….”
Keep your life so constantly in touch with God that His surprising power can break through at any point. Live in a constant state of expectancy, and leave room for God to come in as He decides.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed. So Send I You, 1330 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, January 25, 2018
One More Mission - #8099
It was Yogi Berra who gave us that unforgettable wisdom of the ages, "It ain't over 'till it's over." I'll tell you one man who believes that: John Glenn. Now, he had become an American hero in 1962 with his historic, manned, orbital flight around the earth. And, oh yes, he had gone on to become a United States Senator. That should be enough for one lifetime, right? Especially at the ripe old age of 78. But not for John Glenn! No! At an age when some people are just coasting to the finish line or riding around in an RV, John Glenn went back into space! It was just amazing to see him be part of the crew of the Shuttle Discovery, blasting into space with crewmen half his age. What a hero! At a time when a lot of people think all their important missions were behind them, John Glenn was still flying them!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "One More Mission."
As I watched John Glenn heading for one more mission at the age of 78, I thought to myself, "We need some spiritual John Glenns; some seasoned men and women who will take on new missions for Jesus Christ until God takes them home!"
That's the kind of warrior Caleb was, as exhibited in our word for today from the Word of God. We're in Joshua 14:10-12. Caleb is now 85 years old. At the age of 40 he had been one of the 12 spies sent by Moses to scout out the Promised Land. Ten of those spies told the Jews it would be suicide to go in against those giants and those walled cities, but Caleb and Joshua stood alone, encouraging God's people to claim God's promise and take the land. As a result of the unbelief of his comrades and his nation, Caleb got to wander in the wilderness for the next 40 years until every unbelieving adult had died off.
Now, four decades later, God's people are finally taking the land. And Caleb's planning a sweet retirement, right? Wrong! He tells Joshua, "Now then, just as the Lord promised, He has kept me alive for 45 years... while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, 85 years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites (those were giants!) were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as He said." Wow, listen to this guy!
Now here's a guy who could have said--like too many of God's veterans say, "Well, I've fought my battles. I've been hurt by people's bad decisions. It's my time to rest now." But, like an ancient John Glenn, Caleb says, "Give me that mountain! Bring on those giants! I've still got more battles to fight and win!"
Maybe you're the veteran of a lot of years or at least a lot of battles fought for the Lord. You've got the wrinkles, you've got the scars to prove it. It could be you've been going into sort of a cruise mode, thinking, "I've served enough." There's no such thing. If we live to be 200, we'll run out of time to serve the Savior who laid down His life for us to the last drop of His blood! In the words of Ecclesiastes 8:8, "There is no discharge in time of war." And since the battle for lives rages until Jesus comes, none of us gets a discharge!
My Dad believed, "It ain't over 'til it's over." Even when he was in the hospital, awaiting the last surgery - the heart surgery that would ultimately claim his life - he led his roommate to Christ! He lived as if there was always one more mission! That's how God's calling you to live!
Be a spiritual John Glenn. Be a Caleb! Go out fighting. Go out doing everything in your power to take someone to heaven with you. No matter where you are, no matter your limitations, Jesus can still touch and transform lives through you. There's no time for self-pity or criticizing or passivity. There's still too much to do for Jesus!
No matter how many battles you've fought, no matter how many scars, how many struggles - or how many birthdays - until you see Jesus, there is always one more mission!
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