Max Lucado Daily: NEVER CONSULT YOUR GREED - June 19, 2018
Jesus warns, “Be on your guard against every form of greed” (Luke 12:15). John D. Rockefeller was asked, “How much money does it take to satisfy a man?” He answered, “Just a little more.” Wise was the one who wrote, “Whoever loves money never has money enough money; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
Urge your mate to choose satisfaction over salary. Better to be married to a happy person with a thin wallet than a miserable person with a thick one. As Proverbs 13:7 says, “a pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life.” Pursue the virtue of contentment because “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6). Consult your design. Consult your Designer. But never consult your greed.
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Numbers 32
Tribes East of the Jordan
1-4 The families of Reuben and Gad had huge herds of livestock. They saw that the country of Jazer and Gilead was just the place for grazing livestock. And so they came, the families of Gad and of Reuben, and spoke to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the congregation, saying, “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon—the country that God laid low before the community of Israel—is a country just right for livestock, and we have livestock.”
5 They continued, “If you think we’ve done a good job so far, give us this country for our inheritance. Don’t make us go across the Jordan.”
6-12 Moses answered the families of Gad and Reuben: “Do you mean that you are going to leave the fighting that’s ahead to your brothers while you settle down here? Why would you even think of letting the People of Israel down, demoralizing them just as they’re about to move into the land God gave them? That’s exactly what your ancestors did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to survey the country. They went as far as the Valley of Eshcol, took one look and quit. They completely demoralized the People of Israel from entering the land God had given them. And God got angry—oh, did he get angry! He swore: ‘They’ll never get to see it; none of those who came up out of Egypt who are twenty years and older will ever get to see the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They weren’t interested in following me—their hearts weren’t in it. None, except for Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua son of Nun; they followed me—their hearts were in it.’
13 “God’s anger smoked against Israel. He made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until that entire generation that acted out evil in his sight had died out.
14-15 “And now here you are, just one more mob of sinners stepping up to replace your ancestors, throwing fuel on the already blazing anger of God against Israel. If you won’t follow him, he’ll do it again. He’ll dump them in the desert and the disaster will be all your fault.”
16-19 They came close to him and said, “All we want to do is build corrals for our livestock and towns for our families. Then we’ll take up arms and take the front lines, leading the People of Israel to their place. We’ll be able to leave our families behind, secure in fortified towns, safe from those who live in the land. But we won’t go back home until every Israelite is in full possession of his inheritance. We won’t expect any inheritance west of the Jordan; we are claiming all our inheritance east of the Jordan.”
20-22 Moses said, “If you do what you say, take up arms before God for battle and together go across the Jordan ready, before God, to fight until God has cleaned his enemies out of the land, then when the land is secure you will have fulfilled your duty to God and Israel. Then this land will be yours to keep before God.
23-24 “But if you don’t do what you say, you will be sinning against God; you can be sure that your sin will track you down. So, go ahead. Build towns for your families and corrals for your livestock. Do what you said you’d do.”
25-27 The families of Gad and Reuben told Moses: “We will do as our master commands. Our children and wives, our flocks and herds will stay behind here in the towns of Gilead. But we, every one of us fully armed, will cross the river to fight for God, just as our master has said.”
28-30 So Moses issued orders for them to Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the ancestral tribes of the People of Israel. Moses said, “If the families of Gad and Reuben cross the Jordan River with you and before God, all armed and ready to fight, then after the land is secure, you may give them the land of Gilead as their inheritance. But if they don’t cross over with you, they’ll have to settle up with you in Canaan.”
31-32 The families of Gad and Reuben responded: “We will do what God has said. We will cross the Jordan before God, ready and willing to fight. But the land we inherit will be here, to the east of the Jordan.”
33 Moses gave the families of Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan—the land, its towns, and all the territories connected with them—the works.
34-36 The Gadites rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, Beth Nimrah, and Beth Haran as fortified cities; they also built corrals for their animals.
37-38 The Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, and Kiriathaim, also Nebo and Baal Meon and Sibmah. They renamed the cities that they rebuilt.
39-40 The family of Makir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and drove out the Amorites who lived there. Moses then gave Gilead to the Makirites, the descendants of Manasseh. They moved in and settled there.
41 Jair, another son of Manasseh, captured some villages and named them Havvoth Jair (Jair’s Tent-Camps).
42 Nobah captured Kenath and its surrounding camps. He renamed it after himself, Nobah.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Read: Matthew 7:1–6
A Simple Guide for Behavior
1-5 “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.
6 “Don’t be flip with the sacred. Banter and silliness give no honor to God. Don’t reduce holy mysteries to slogans. In trying to be relevant, you’re only being cute and inviting sacrilege.
INSIGHT
In today’s reading we see our Lord’s condemnation of a judgmental attitude. It’s remarkable how we can have a perfectionistic attitude toward others yet ignore the glaring faults we possess. The Pharisees of Jesus day were scathing in their attack on the sins of others while seemingly unaware of their own faults. In seeing the pretense of these hypocrites, Jesus gave a series of rebukes such as: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” (Matthew 23:25–26).
The Greek word hypocrite means “he that wears the mask” and was used of actors in plays. The private lives of hypocrites do not match the image they project for public view. The Christian walk should lead to greater integrity and transparency. To avoid hypocrisy, it’s essential that we confess our sin and rely on the Spirit to help us live holy lives (Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18; 1 John 1:9).
In what ways can you become more gracious in your response to the behavior of others? - Dennis Fisher
Impaired Judgment
By Linda Washington
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. Matthew 7:1
I’ve been quick to judge anyone I saw walking in the street while staring at a phone. How could they be so oblivious to the cars about to hit them? I’ve told myself. Don’t they care about their own safety? But one day, while crossing the entrance to an alleyway, I was so engrossed in a text message, that I missed seeing a car at my left. Thankfully, the driver saw me and came to an abrupt stop. But I felt ashamed. All of my self-righteous finger-pointing came back to haunt me. I had judged others, only to do the same thing myself.
My hypocrisy is the kind of thinking that Jesus addressed in the Sermon on the Mount: “First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5). I had a huge “plank”—a blind spot through which I judged others with my own impaired judgment.
“For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged,” Jesus also said (7:2). Recalling the disgusted look on the driver’s face that day, after having to make an abrupt stop when I walked in front of the car, I’m reminded of the disgusted looks I gave others engrossed in their phones.
None of us is perfect. But sometimes I forget that in my haste to judge others. We’re all in need of God’s grace.
Heavenly Father, please help me be quicker to console or encourage, and slower to judge someone else.
Be slow to judge others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
The Service of Passionate Devotion
…do you love Me?…Tend My sheep. —John 21:16
Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate…, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”— that is the source of devotion.
Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape (John 12:24).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
The Only Way to Build a Home - #8202
There's an Indian reservation in the Southwest where it can be pretty expensive to become a follower of Jesus Christ. Historically, this tribe has forced Christians to actually move outside the village. That actually happened to Amy's great-grandmother. She had been a tribal priestess. But when she gave her heart to Christ, she and her family were suddenly outcasts. But there's this little stone house outside the village where she and her husband ended up living – where Amy's grandmother actually grew up. The house looks, well, and I don't mean this in a bad way, but I want you to be able to picture it, sort of like the stone houses you might have seen on "The Flintstones." But it wasn't easy to build. Great-grandpa would go to work each day and he'd pick up a big rock on his way home. And one-by-one, rock-by-rock, he carried those rocks back to the site where he was slowly building a home for his family. And it's still there, three generations later – built one building block at a time.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Only Way to Build a Home."
The way that Indian man built his home decades ago is still the only way to build a home – one building block at a time. And those building blocks have a name; they're called days. Not years, not months, not weeks – days.
Our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 90:12 challenges us to a lifestyle that God calls living wisely. Moses wrote these words: "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." So, what does it mean to live wisely? To have a heart of wisdom? To understand the eternal importance of each new day! Make each day count! Number your days aright.
Now, nowhere does that mean more in your life than with your family – treating each person as if this were the only day you'll have with them. Setting the stone of one more good day with them to build that home of yours. When you break the challenge of making a marriage work, or being a parent, into bite-size chunks called days, it takes a lot of the fear, a lot of the anxiety out of it. I mean, it's just more "doable." Your strategy for building your family becomes, "Have a good day!"
So rather than focusing on all the bad things out there, and all the things you're afraid might happen in the future, how about focusing on making this a good day for your family relationships? So, each day, you ask yourself questions like these:
Have I said something really encouraging to each one today?
Have I said, "I'm sorry" for any way I've hurt him or her today?
Have I kept the boundaries clear today and enforced them consistently?
Have I given each person all of me at least once today?
Have I done something today that makes each one of them feel loved?
Have I shared a God-moment with my loved ones today?
Now, look, this is not some new legalism or performance chart for you to start measuring yourself by and checking the boxes. It's just to give you a feel for what a good day would look like with the people you love the most; the people that God has actually entrusted to your care.
Now, there's no quick or sporadic or instant way to build a family. You have to add another building block each new day. But if you do, you'll end up building a home, building relationships, and you will build lives that will last!
