Max Lucado Daily: COURTEOUS CONDUCT
Those who don’t believe in Jesus take note of what believers do. They make decisions about Christ by watching us. When we’re kind, they assume Christ is kind. When we’re gracious, they assume Christ is gracious. But when we’re dishonest, what assumption will an observer make about our Master?
No wonder the apostle Paul says to “be wise in the way you act with people who are not believers, making the most of every opportunity. When you talk, you should always be kind and pleasant so you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should” (Colossians 4:5-6). Courteous conduct honors Christ. It also honors his children. When you make an effort to greet everyone in the room, especially the ones others may have overlooked, you honor God’s children with a love worth giving!
Read more Grace for the Moment II
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, November 05, 2018
1 Samuel 3
“Speak, God. I’m Ready to Listen”
3 1-3 The boy Samuel was serving God under Eli’s direction. This was at a time when the revelation of God was rarely heard or seen. One night Eli was sound asleep (his eyesight was very bad—he could hardly see). It was well before dawn; the sanctuary lamp was still burning. Samuel was still in bed in the Temple of God, where the Chest of God rested.
4-5 Then God called out, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel answered, “Yes? I’m here.” Then he ran to Eli saying, “I heard you call. Here I am.”
Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” And so he did.
6-7 God called again, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel got up and went to Eli, “I heard you call. Here I am.”
Again Eli said, “Son, I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” (This all happened before Samuel knew God for himself. It was before the revelation of God had been given to him personally.)
8-9 God called again, “Samuel!”—the third time! Yet again Samuel got up and went to Eli, “Yes? I heard you call me. Here I am.”
That’s when it dawned on Eli that God was calling the boy. So Eli directed Samuel, “Go back and lie down. If the voice calls again, say, ‘Speak, God. I’m your servant, ready to listen.’” Samuel returned to his bed.
10 Then God came and stood before him exactly as before, calling out, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Samuel answered, “Speak. I’m your servant, ready to listen.”
11-14 God said to Samuel, “Listen carefully. I’m getting ready to do something in Israel that is going to shake everyone up and get their attention. The time has come for me to bring down on Eli’s family everything I warned him of, every last word of it. I’m letting him know that the time’s up. I’m bringing judgment on his family for good. He knew what was going on, that his sons were desecrating God’s name and God’s place, and he did nothing to stop them. This is my sentence on the family of Eli: The evil of Eli’s family can never be wiped out by sacrifice or offering.”
15 Samuel stayed in bed until morning, then rose early and went about his duties, opening the doors of the sanctuary, but he dreaded having to tell the vision to Eli.
16 But then Eli summoned Samuel: “Samuel, my son!”
Samuel came running: “Yes? What can I do for you?”
17 “What did he say? Tell it to me, all of it. Don’t suppress or soften one word, as God is your judge! I want it all, word for word as he said it to you.”
18 So Samuel told him, word for word. He held back nothing.
Eli said, “He is God. Let him do whatever he thinks best.”
19-21 Samuel grew up. God was with him, and Samuel’s prophetic record was flawless. Everyone in Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, recognized that Samuel was the real thing—a true prophet of God. God continued to show up at Shiloh, revealed through his word to Samuel at Shiloh.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, November 05, 2018
Read: 1 Kings 3:16–28
Solomon's Wisdom
16 Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. 18 Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house. 19 And this woman's son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.” 22 But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king.
23 Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” 24 And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. 25 And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” 26 Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” 27 Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.
Wisdom’s Source
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Give your servant a discerning heart. 1 Kings 3:9
A man filed a lawsuit against a woman, claiming she had his dog. In court, the woman said her dog couldn’t be his and told the judge where she had purchased it. The real owner’s identity was revealed when the judge released the animal in the courtroom. Tail wagging, it immediately ran to the man!
Solomon, a judge in ancient Israel needed to settle a somewhat similar issue. Two women each claimed to be the mother of the same baby boy. After considering both arguments, he requested a sword to divide the infant in half. The real mother begged Solomon to give the baby to the other woman, choosing to save her son’s life even if she could not have him (1 Kings 3:26). Solomon gave the baby to her.
Wisdom is necessary as we decide what’s fair and moral, right and wrong. If we truly value wisdom, we can ask God for a discerning heart, like Solomon did (v. 9). God may answer our request by helping us balance our needs and desires with the interests of others. He may also help us weigh short-term benefits against long-term (sometimes eternal) gains so we can honor Him in how we live.
Our God is not only a perfectly wise judge, but He is also a personal counselor who is willing to give us godly wisdom in great amounts (James 1:5).
I worship You, God, as the true source of wisdom. Please show me how to make choices that bring honor to Your name.
Need wisdom? Seek it from the Source who alone can provide it—God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 05, 2018
Partakers of His Suffering
…but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings… —1 Peter 4:13
If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. Because of this process, you will never be surprised by what comes your way. You say, “Oh, I can’t deal with that person.” Why can’t you? God gave you sufficient opportunities to learn from Him about that problem; but you turned away, not heeding the lesson, because it seemed foolish to spend your time that way.
The sufferings of Christ were not those of ordinary people. He suffered “according to the will of God” (1 Peter 4:19), having a different point of view of suffering from ours. It is only through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we can understand what God is after in His dealings with us. When it comes to suffering, it is part of our Christian culture to want to know God’s purpose beforehand. In the history of the Christian church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with the sufferings of Jesus Christ. People have sought to carry out God’s orders through a shortcut of their own. God’s way is always the way of suffering— the way of the “long road home.”
Are we partakers of Christ’s sufferings? Are we prepared for God to stamp out our personal ambitions? Are we prepared for God to destroy our individual decisions by supernaturally transforming them? It will mean not knowing why God is taking us that way, because knowing would make us spiritually proud. We never realize at the time what God is putting us through— we go through it more or less without understanding. Then suddenly we come to a place of enlightenment, and realize— “God has strengthened me and I didn’t even know it!”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples. Approved Unto God, 11 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, November 05, 2018
The Only Way to End Up Where You Want to Go - #8301
Our son was supposed to be flying into our local airport, but well, shall we say the unpredictabilities of airplane travel today forced him to land in another city. Which meant renting a car to drive the four hours home and then returning the rental car to the airport where I have never returned a rental car. He drove the rental car as I led the way in our family car. (You following all this? I'm not sure I am.) Well, we managed to find the ramp that pointed to "rental car returns." I looked at the companies listed on the signs only to discover that the one our son had rented from wasn't listed! We pulled over, rolled down our windows, and said, "What now?" Suddenly he said, "Whoa! Let's follow him!" At just that moment, the van from our rental company went by! So, we took off behind him. It's a good thing we did. The roads and ramps took us on this merry chase all around the airport and beyond the airport. We could have never figured out how to get there! We literally had to follow someone who has been there!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Only Way to End Up Where You Want to Go."
In recent years there has been a rush of movies that have dealt with death and dying and the here after and heaven. I guess we're thinking a lot more about our mortality and our immortality. And in this age where people are taking a little helping of everything that's on the spirituality buffet, we've got all kinds of theories and hopes about what might await us on the other side of our last heartbeat.
And like my son and I looking for the right destination at the airport that night, we're sort of scanning the various signs, we're following our instincts to get to where we want to end up. Every time we go to a funeral, everytime we hear about the death of someone like who is our age, we remember it will be us in the casket and we want to know where the life is beyond our time on earth.
There are a lot of ideas floating around today about what's out there, but after all is said and done, everybody's guessing! We're like my son and me at the airport. We're trying to find the way by reading the signs posted by various religions and theorizers. We're trying to figure out the way through our own instincts and our speculation. But our only hope is what got my son and me to our destination that night. We need someone who has been there and back! Without that, it's just too easy to get lost, to make a wrong turn. In this case, to be dead wrong. Eternity is too important. It's too long to risk being wrong about.
There's only one person who's been all the way there and back, and He is the final word on death and on eternity. He speaks to us about it in our word for today from the Word of God in Revelation 1:17-18, where Jesus' disciple, John, is allowed to see Jesus as He is today in heaven. John says, "Then He placed His right hand on me and said: 'Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.'"
According to the record of six historians, three days after He died, Jesus Christ walked out of His grave under His own power. He's been there and back, and He is the only One who isn't guessing about death and eternity. He told us there's a heaven for those who have had their sins forgiven, there's a hell for those who have not claimed God's forgiveness, that we die once and don't come back. He told us that our eternal destination is settled here, in this life, by whether or not we grab hold of the One who died to forgive our sins and take us to heaven.
You could literally go to sleep tonight not wondering about your eternity, but knowing you will go to heaven when you die because the sin that could keep you from heaven is gone forever. The Bible says, "He who has the Son (of God) has life" (1 John 5:12). You can have the Son of God right now by putting your total trust in Him to be your eternal Rescuer based on His death on the cross for you. Only the One who proved he has eternal life can give it to you. Reach out for Him today.
There's so much more about beginning this relationship and what it can mean in your life at our website. I urge you to go there today - ANewStory.com. It might be for you the beginning of a new story.
The One who can take you to heaven is near you right now. Don't miss Him!
