Max Lucado Daily: THE DEBT CLOCK
If you want to be utterly distraught, spend a few moments in the presence of the U.S. National Debt Clock in New York City. It uses 306 light bulbs to endlessly declare the U.S. debt and each family’s share. As I pondered the clock this question came to me. What if heaven had one of these? A marquee that measured our spiritual debt? Does it click at each infraction? We lie…click. We gossip…click. We demand our way…click.
A financial liability is one matter, but a spiritual one? The debt of sin has a serious consequence. It separates us from God. What do we do? The apostle Paul said, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Paul knew that because God’s promises are unbreakable our hope is unshakable!
Read more Unshakable Hope
Luke 9:1-17
Keep It Simple
Jesus now called the Twelve and gave them authority and power to deal with all the demons and cure diseases. He commissioned them to preach the news of God’s kingdom and heal the sick. He said, “Don’t load yourselves up with equipment. Keep it simple; you are the equipment. And no luxury inns—get a modest place and be content there until you leave. If you’re not welcomed, leave town. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and move on.”
6 Commissioned, they left. They traveled from town to town telling the latest news of God, the Message, and curing people everywhere they went.
7-9 Herod, the ruler, heard of these goings on and didn’t know what to think. There were people saying John had come back from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, still others that some prophet of long ago had shown up. Herod said, “But I killed John—took off his head. So who is this that I keep hearing about?” Curious, he looked for a chance to see him in action.
10-11 The apostles returned and reported on what they had done. Jesus took them away, off by themselves, near the town called Bethsaida. But the crowds got wind of it and followed. Jesus graciously welcomed them and talked to them about the kingdom of God. Those who needed healing, he healed.
Bread and Fish for Five Thousand
12 As the day declined, the Twelve said, “Dismiss the crowd so they can go to the farms or villages around here and get a room for the night and a bite to eat. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”
13-14 “You feed them,” Jesus said.
They said, “We couldn’t scrape up more than five loaves of bread and a couple of fish—unless, of course, you want us to go to town ourselves and buy food for everybody.” (There were more than five thousand people in the crowd.)
14-17 But he went ahead and directed his disciples, “Sit them down in groups of about fifty.” They did what he said, and soon had everyone seated. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread and fish to the disciples to hand out to the crowd. After the people had all eaten their fill, twelve baskets of leftovers were gathered up.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 04, 2018
Read: Psalm 8:1–9
How Majestic Is Your Name
To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith.[a] A Psalm of David.
8 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings[b]
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Footnotes:
Psalm 8:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 8:5 Or than God; Septuagint than the angels
INSIGHT
Paul wrote that the sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another, and the stars in their differing sizes and brightness, still another (1 Corinthians 15:40–41). The varying wonders of the night sky, however, are only a hint of the differences we see in the glory of God. While the cosmos stretches our mind with its evidence of unlimited space and power, the heart of God contains a far greater wonder. Beyond the unbounded expanse, colors, and wonders of the cosmos is the hidden glory of the love of God on the cross.
Father, when we consider the universe Your hands have made and the face that bore the spit and fists of those who mocked Jesus, what is man that You are mindful of us? - Mart DeHaan
Beyond the Stars
By Xochitl Dixon
You have set your glory in the heavens. Psalm 8:1
In 2011, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration celebrated thirty years of space research. In those three decades, shuttles carried more than 355 people into space and helped construct the International Space Station. After retiring five shuttles, NASA has now shifted its focus to deep-space exploration.
The human race has invested massive amounts of time and money, with some astronauts even sacrificing their lives, to study the immensity of the universe. Yet the evidence of God’s majesty stretches far beyond what we can measure.
When we consider the Sculptor and Sustainer of the universe who knows each star by name (Isaiah 40:26), we can understand why the psalmist David praises His greatness (Psalm 8:1). The Lord’s fingerprints are on “the moon and the stars, which [He] set in place” (v. 3). The Maker of the heavens and the earth reigns above all, yet He remains near all His beloved children, caring for each intimately and personally (v. 4). In love, God gives us great power, responsibility, and the privilege to care for and explore the world He’s entrusted to us (vv. 5–8).
As we study our star-spattered night skies, our Creator invites us to seek Him with passion and persistence. He hears every prayer and song of praise flowing from our lips.
Loving Creator of the universe, thank You for being mindful of us.
The greatness of God is evident in His awesome vastness and intimate nearness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 04, 2018
His!
They were Yours, You gave them to Me… —John 17:6
A missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this realization: “You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). To say, “I am not my own,” is to have reached a high point in my spiritual stature. The true nature of that life in actual everyday confusion is evidenced by the deliberate giving up of myself to another Person through a sovereign decision, and that Person is Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit interprets and explains the nature of Jesus to me to make me one with my Lord, not that I might simply become a trophy for His showcase. Our Lord never sent any of His disciples out on the basis of what He had done for them. It was not until after the resurrection, when the disciples had perceived through the power of the Holy Spirit who Jesus really was, that He said, “Go” (a href=”https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+28:19?>Matthew 28:19; also see Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8).
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). He was not saying that this person cannot be good and upright, but that he cannot be someone over whom Jesus can write the word Mine. Any one of the relationships our Lord mentions in this verse can compete with our relationship with Him. I may prefer to belong to my mother, or to my wife, or to myself, but if that is the case, then, Jesus said, “[You] cannot be My disciple.” This does not mean that I will not be saved, but it does mean that I cannot be entirely His.
Our Lord makes His disciple His very own possession, becoming responsible for him. “…you shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8). The desire that comes into a disciple is not one of doing anything for Jesus, but of being a perfect delight to Him. The missionary’s secret is truly being able to say, “I am His, and He is accomplishing His work and His purposes through me.”
Be entirely His!
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The vital relationship which the Christian has to the Bible is not that he worships the letter, but that the Holy Spirit makes the words of the Bible spirit and life to him. The Psychology of Redemption, 1066 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 04, 2018
What They Forgot To Tell Us Providers - #8257
I was teaching at a training school for people entering youth ministry when I learned about a call home that must have been heartbreaking for the dad who made it. The school was three weeks long, and dad had already been gone for over two weeks. He was seriously missing his wife and a two-year-old son, and they were missing him. Well, he waited patiently in this long line that formed every day after classes in the lobby to get to the pay phone. (Let's hear it for cell phones today!) He finally got to talk to his wife. When he asked how his son was doing, she said, "Not too well, honey. Yesterday he came up to me and said, ‘Mommy, is Daddy dead?'" Ouch!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What They Forgot To Tell Us Providers."
That little guy was reflecting what many a child feels, the "missingness" of the man in his life. Not long ago I was talking with a friend who has been looking for a job that wasn't seasonal and sporadic like the work he's been doing, and something that would give him and his family a better and steadier income. He was on the verge of committing himself to a career opportunity that would mean better money but would take him away from home for long weeks at a time. When I questioned the idea, he said, "Well, I need to provide for my family." Hey, listen! We guys were raised on that idea.
My friend was right about being a provider for his family. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 5:8, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." Strong words. But still that's only part of the story. As my friend was considering a career that would provide financially but take him away from his family, he might have been missing a point someone forgot to tell us guys about being the provider. It's about much more than providing materially. Our word for today from the Word of God reveals the rest of the provider story.
Ephesians 5, beginning with verse 25, tells husbands, "Love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy...and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle." See, God has established the man as provider, but of much more than a roof and groceries. It's clear that he's to provide emotionally and spiritually for his wife – to nurture her, to love and support and encourage her – helping her become, it says, "radiant."
A man is called by God to be the emotional and spiritual provider for his children as well. Ephesians 6:4 says, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." Dads are trusted by the Heavenly Father to be their child's coach, and umpire, and biggest fan, and encourager. When my friend realized a new career would rob his children of that, he changed his course to a job that would provide, not just the things his family needs, but the man his family needs.
For a man to be what the Bible calls a provider, he's got to give more than money to his family – he has to give himself. To love, to nurture, to develop, to stay in touch with their ever-changing needs, you have to be there. Many a man has excused himself from the hard but rewarding work of building his family by hiding behind the provider myth – that all is well if I just provide materially for them. right? Well, that's the easy part of being your family's provider. The big assignment is to be consistently available for what your family needs most: your hugs, your advice, your attention, your praise, your laughter, your shoulder.
Many a man who has paid the mortgage and stocked the fridge has, in heaven's eyes and his family's eyes, failed as a provider because he didn't provide himself to them. The past can't be changed, but the future is yet to be written. Be the total provider your family so desperately needs, and make the rest of your days together the best of your days.