Max Lucado Daily: CHOOSE YOUR INHERITANCE
One of the most famous stories in the Bible has to do with inheritance. The Hebrews had just been delivered from Egyptian captivity. God led them and Moses to the edge of the promised land and made this offer. “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders” (Numbers 13:1-2).
God didn’t tell the Israelites to conquer, invade, or secure the land. He told them he was giving it to them. Their choice was clear: promises or circumstances? The circumstances said, No way. Stay out. There are giants in the land. God’s promise said, The land is yours. The victory is yours. Take it.
Circumstances say, cower to your fears. Your inheritance says otherwise: You are a child of the King. And because God’s promises are unbreakable, our hope is unshakable!
Read more Unshakable Hope
Luke 6:27-49
“To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.
31-34 “Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that’s charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that.
35-36 “I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.
37-38 “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”
39-40 He quoted a proverb: “‘Can a blind man guide a blind man?’ Wouldn’t they both end up in the ditch? An apprentice doesn’t lecture the master. The point is to be careful who you follow as your teacher.
41-42 “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 I-know-better-than-you mentality again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your own part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.
Work the Words into Your Life
43-45 “You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.
46-47 “Why are you so polite with me, always saying ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘That’s right, sir,’ but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.
48-49 “If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation. When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Luke 23:44–48
The Death of Jesus
44 It was now about the sixth hour,[a] and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,[b] 45 while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. 47 Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” 48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.
Footnotes:
Luke 23:44 That is, noon
Luke 23:44 That is, 3 p.m.
INSIGHT
In Luke’s account of Christ’s death, we see several dramatic events. A seemingly inexplicable darkness was present over the entire earth—not just over Jerusalem where the crucifixion took place (vv. 44–45). Inside the temple in Jerusalem the curtain that separated worshipers from the holy of holies was torn in two, symbolizing that through Christ our access to God has been opened (v. 45). After Christ died, a Roman soldier who had participated in His execution declared, “Surely this was a righteous man” (v. 47). And others watching lamented and beat their breasts (v. 48).
The witness in the sky, within the temple, and by people at the foot of the cross demonstrate that this was no ordinary death. It was the death of the loving God-Man who shed His blood to redeem all who would believe in Him.
For further study, see The Passion of Christ at discoveryseries.org/q0210. - Dennis Fisher
A Prayer to Point Us Home
By James Banks
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
One of the first prayers I learned as a little boy was “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep . . .” It was a prayer I learned from my parents, and I taught it to my son and daughter when they were little. As a child, I found great comfort in placing myself in God’s hands with those words before I fell asleep.
There’s a similar prayer neatly tucked away in the “prayer book” of the Bible, the Psalms. Some biblical scholars suggest that the phrase “Into your hands I commit my spirit” (Psalm 31:5) was a “bedtime” prayer taught to children in Jesus’s day.
You may recognize that prayer as Jesus’s final cry from the cross. But Jesus added one more word to it: Father (Luke 23:46). By praying that word in the moments before His death, Jesus demonstrated His intimate relationship with the Father and pointed believers toward their home with Him (John 14:3).
Jesus died on the cross so we could live in the wonder of a relationship with God as our heavenly Father. How comforting it is to know that because of Jesus’s sacrificial love for us, we can rest in God’s care as His children! We can close our eyes without fear because our Father watches over us and has promised to wake us up to life with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:14).
Lord Jesus, I receive the gift of forgiveness You offer me through the cross. Help me to turn from my sins and follow You, all the way home.
A bright new morning awaits us in Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
The Ministry of the Unnoticed
Blessed are the poor in spirit… —Matthew 5:3
The New Testament notices things that do not seem worthy of notice by our standards. “Blessed are the poor in spirit….” This literally means, “Blessed are the paupers.” Paupers are remarkably commonplace! The preaching of today tends to point out a person’s strength of will or the beauty of his character— things that are easily noticed. The statement we so often hear, “Make a decision for Jesus Christ,” places the emphasis on something our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him— something very different. At the foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is the genuine loveliness of those who are commonplace. I am truly blessed in my poverty. If I have no strength of will and a nature without worth or excellence, then Jesus says to me, “Blessed are you, because it is through your poverty that you can enter My kingdom.” I cannot enter His kingdom by virtue of my goodness— I can only enter it as an absolute pauper.
The true character of the loveliness that speaks for God is always unnoticed by the one possessing that quality. Conscious influence is prideful and unchristian. If I wonder if I am being of any use to God, I instantly lose the beauty and the freshness of the touch of the Lord. “He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). And if I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.
Who are the people who have influenced us most? Certainly not the ones who thought they did, but those who did not have even the slightest idea that they were influencing us. In the Christian life, godly influence is never conscious of itself. If we are conscious of our influence, it ceases to have the genuine loveliness which is characteristic of the touch of Jesus. We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Missing the Light You Can't Afford to Miss - #8247
Chaco Culture National Historical Park-it's situated in a remote corner of New Mexico. It's a place where a thousand years ago, the ancient ancestors of some of today's Indian tribes enjoyed this thriving civilization. They were, as an article in USA Today reported, "astronomically observant." For modern observers, it's still a great spot to be astronomically observant; a place where you can see the heavens without the interference of the artificial light that's all around us much of the time. Several years ago, a woman came to the visitor's center desk to report something remarkable she'd seen in the sky. The ranger held his breath for another "UFO sighting," only to be surprised by the woman's excited description of a "lane of white powder" she said that she had seen spanning the heavens above her campsite. The ranger had the great pleasure of informing this lady that, for the first time in her life, she had actually seen the Milky Way.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Missing the Light You Can't Afford to Miss."
It's estimated that more than two-thirds of the people in the United States and Europe cannot see their home galaxy from their backyard because of all the other light in their world. We're actually blinded to God's real light by the artificial light around us. We are. There's so much distraction all around us we can miss the one light we can't afford to miss. For you, today could be the day that God wants to help you take a step away and see that light for yourself, and I will tell you, your life will never be the same.
In 2 Corinthians 4, beginning with verse 4, our word for today from the Word of God, we have unveiled for us a spiritual conspiracy to actually keep you blinded to the greatest light of all. You need this information. Here's what it says: "The god of this age..." When the Bible says that, it's referring to the enemy of your soul and mine, the Devil. Who, by the way, hates you and wants you in hell with him forever. "...the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel (or the Good News) of the glory of Christ."
All your life, Satan has been flashing artificial lights in your eyes to keep you from seeing the only light that can direct you to heaven. That light is Jesus Christ, who loved you enough to die to pay for your sins, who's powerful enough to walk out of His grave under His own power.
The Devil has a pretty simple strategy for keeping you out of God's family and keeping you out of heaven forever..."anything but Jesus." He doesn't care what your heart turns to as long as it's not Jesus. Satan doesn't care if you get real religious, if you're active in your church or community, if you pursue spirituality, even if you get a lot of Christianity, just as long as he can use all your Christianity to blind you to the fact that you're missing Christ. He'll keep your heart busy with a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, a marriage, a family, all kinds of demands on you, a career, recreation, fitness, a house, a car, retirement-whatever it takes to keep you from seeing your need of Jesus until one day it is forever too late.
But the Bible tells us that God has mounted a counterattack so you don't miss the one who came here to rescue you. The Bible says, "God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.'" That's what God is doing in your heart right now as you listen to these words. He's turning on the light in your heart.
It's important you give yourself to Jesus while the light is still where you can see it, because very soon your enemy from hell will come again and turn on the artificial lights that have made you miss Jesus all this time. This is your day to meet the One who created you, to begin a personal relationship with the One you were made by and made for, and who loved you enough to die for you. It starts when you say, "Jesus, I'm yours." I'd love to help you get the rest of the way. Go to our website ANewStory.com.
God's shining His light in your heart right now. Please don't miss it.