Max Lucado Daily: THE DYNAMIC OF MERCY
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7). Jesus says the merciful are shown mercy. Forgiving others allows us to see how God has forgiven us. The dynamic of giving grace is the key to understanding grace. For it is when we forgive others, that we begin to feel what God feels.
Those who taste God’s grace but refuse to share it are tortured by anger; choked by bitterness; and consumed by revenge. But for the one who tastes God’s grace and gives it to others, the reward is a blessed liberation. The prison door is thrown open. And the prisoner set free is yourself. Find the face of God who forgave you in the face of your enemy. Then set your enemy and yourself free.
Read more Applause of Heaven
Proverbs 19
Better to be poor and honest
than a rich person no one can trust.
2 Ignorant zeal is worthless;
haste makes waste.
3 People ruin their lives by their own stupidity,
so why does God always get blamed?
4 Wealth attracts friends as honey draws flies,
but poor people are avoided like a plague.
5 Perjury won’t go unpunished.
Would you let a liar go free?
6 Lots of people flock around a generous person;
everyone’s a friend to the philanthropist.
7 When you’re down on your luck, even your family avoids you—
yes, even your best friends wish you’d get lost.
If they see you coming, they look the other way—
out of sight, out of mind.
8 Grow a wise heart—you’ll do yourself a favor;
keep a clear head—you’ll find a good life.
9 The person who tells lies gets caught;
the person who spreads rumors is ruined.
10 Blockheads shouldn’t live on easy street
any more than workers should give orders to their boss.
11 Smart people know how to hold their tongue;
their grandeur is to forgive and forget.
12 Mean-tempered leaders are like mad dogs;
the good-natured are like fresh morning dew.
13 A parent is worn to a frazzle by a stupid child;
a nagging spouse is a leaky faucet.
14 House and land are handed down from parents,
but a congenial spouse comes straight from God.
15 Life collapses on loafers;
lazybones go hungry.
16 Keep the rules and keep your life;
careless living kills.
17 Mercy to the needy is a loan to God,
and God pays back those loans in full.
18 Discipline your children while you still have the chance;
indulging them destroys them.
19 Let angry people endure the backlash of their own anger;
if you try to make it better, you’ll only make it worse.
20 Take good counsel and accept correction—
that’s the way to live wisely and well.
21 We humans keep brainstorming options and plans,
but God’s purpose prevails.
22 It’s only human to want to make a buck,
but it’s better to be poor than a liar.
23 Fear-of-God is life itself,
a full life, and serene—no nasty surprises.
24 Some people dig a fork into the pie
but are too lazy to raise it to their mouth.
25 Punish the insolent—make an example of them.
Who knows? Somebody might learn a good lesson.
26 Kids who lash out against their parents
are an embarrassment and disgrace.
27 If you quit listening, dear child, and strike off on your own,
you’ll soon be out of your depth.
28 An unprincipled witness desecrates justice;
the mouths of the wicked spew malice.
29 The irreverent have to learn reverence the hard way;
only a slap in the face brings fools to attention.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 139:1-14
1-6 God, investigate my life;
get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there,
then up ahead and you’re there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can’t take it all in!
7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.
13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.
Insight
As inspired Scripture, the Psalms require us to discern between expressions of human perspective and the God who speaks to us. For example, in the first eighteen verses of Psalm 139, the songwriter clearly reflects the wonder of our Creator. But he makes a sudden shift in verses 19–22 with his expression of violent hatred for the enemies of God. We might wonder how his hateful words compare to the words of Jesus to love our enemies (Matthew 5:43–48; Luke 6:32–36). Perhaps the songwriter’s conclusion indicates he had second thoughts and asked the Spirit of God to help him understand what was happening in his own spirit (vv. 23–24).
Marvelously Unique
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14
Human beings are not special—at least according to the London Zoo. In 2005, the zoo introduced a four-day exhibit: “Humans in Their Natural Environment.” The human “captives” were chosen through an online contest. To help visitors understand the humans, the zoo workers created a sign detailing their diet, habitat, and threats. According to the zoo’s spokesperson, the goal of the exhibit was to downplay the uniqueness of human beings. One participant in the exhibit seemed to agree. “When they see humans as animals, here, it kind of reminds them that we’re not that special.”
What a stark contrast to what the Bible says about human beings: God “fearfully and wonderfully” made us in “his image” (Psalm 139:14; Genesis 1:26–27).
David began Psalm 139 by celebrating God’s intimate knowledge of him (vv. 1–6) and His all-encompassing presence (vv. 7–12). Like a master weaver, God not only formed the intricacies of David’s internal and external features (vv. 13–14), but He also made him a living soul, giving spiritual life and the ability to intimately relate to God. Meditating on God’s handiwork, David responded in awe, wonder, and praise (v. 14).
Human beings are special. God created us with marvelous uniqueness and the awesome ability to have an intimate relationship with Him. Like David, we can praise Him because we’re the workmanship of His loving hands. By Marvin Williams
Reflect & Pray
What are some practical implications of knowing and believing you’re fearfully and wonderfully made? What are some negative consequences of not believing this?
God created human beings to be like Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Having God’s “Unreasonable” Faith
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. —Matthew 6:33
When we look at these words of Jesus, we immediately find them to be the most revolutionary that human ears have ever heard. “…seek first the kingdom of God….” Even the most spiritually-minded of us argue the exact opposite, saying, “But I must live; I must make a certain amount of money; I must be clothed; I must be fed.” The great concern of our lives is not the kingdom of God but how we are going to take care of ourselves to live. Jesus reversed the order by telling us to get the right relationship with God first, maintaining it as the primary concern of our lives, and never to place our concern on taking care of the other things of life.
“…do not worry about your life…” (Matthew 6:25). Our Lord pointed out that from His standpoint it is absolutely unreasonable for us to be anxious, worrying about how we will live. Jesus did not say that the person who takes no thought for anything in his life is blessed— no, that person is a fool. But Jesus did teach that His disciple must make his relationship with God the dominating focus of his life, and to be cautiously carefree about everything else in comparison to that. In essence, Jesus was saying, “Don’t make food and drink the controlling factor of your life, but be focused absolutely on God.” Some people are careless about what they eat and drink, and they suffer for it; they are careless about what they wear, having no business looking the way they do; they are careless with their earthly matters, and God holds them responsible. Jesus is saying that the greatest concern of life is to place our relationship with God first, and everything else second.
It is one of the most difficult, yet critical, disciplines of the Christian life to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into absolute harmony with the teaching of Jesus in these verses.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success. My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Playing Judas - #8442
Not far from us, there is a famous Passion Play, and it wonderfully portrays the life and death of Jesus. The other day I was asking one of our ministry team members what the play is like. That conversation brought back some memories of a similar play he'd been in some years ago. I asked him what part he played, and he answered a little sheepishly, "I think maybe I was typecast. I played Judas." Then he went on to explain what an eerie feeling it was to play the one who betrayed our Lord. But, then, haven't we all?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Playing Judas."
It's an unsettling thought to consider that you or I might ever play Judas in our relationship with Christ - unsettling, but sometimes all too true. Our word for today from the Word of God focuses again on what it can look like to sell out the Son of God.
Matthew 26:14 records it this way, "Then one of the Twelve - the one called Judas Iscariot - went to the chief priests and asked, 'What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?' So they counted out for him 30 silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand Him over."
The first thing that bothers me about this is that the one who betrays Jesus is one who is really close to Him. And most of us Christians would like to think that we're close to Him. But that closeness is no guarantee we won't sell out our Savior when the price seems right. I'm sure if you had told Judas a few months before that his betrayal was going to do this, he would have reacted the same way you and I would do, "No way I'd ever betray Jesus." But he did.
And it's convicting to see the value judgment that led to Judas' betrayal. There was something that seemed worth more to him than Jesus did - something he couldn't have and also remain true to the Lord. In his case, some silver coins. Some of us have sold out Jesus for a lot less.
I wonder what your sellout price might be - the thing that you would allow to displace Jesus - the thing you would leave Jesus' way to get? Would you push Jesus aside to have a relationship you know He really doesn't want you to have? Or to get ahead? To get some friends or to keep your friends? Would you betray Jesus to have more money? To be married? To keep your image? Would you sell out Jesus for a little pleasure? A little relief from your pain? Would you push Jesus aside to have your own way? More importantly, are you betraying Jesus for anything you can't have and still remain true to Him?
Judas betrayed Jesus and he never came back. While there's a Judas, there's also a Peter - one close to Jesus who turns his back on Jesus. But Peter is living proof that a denier, a betrayer, can come back! In fact, when Peter repented with all his heart, all Jesus wanted to know - He asked him three times - was this: "Do you love Me?" Peter did, and Jesus entrusted major spiritual leadership to this one who had once turned his back on Him. You know, he'll do the same for you. With Jesus, failure doesn't ever have to be final.
The ugliest role in any story about Jesus is playing Judas. Are you?
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