Max Lucado Daily: DOING GOOD DOES GOOD FOR THE DOER
Doing good does good for the doer. Research bears this out. When volunteers were put in a functional MRI scanner and were told they would be giving some of their money to charity, the areas of their brains associated with pleasure— like food and sex— lit up like Christmas trees. Giving to others triggers dopamine. Perhaps that could be a new fund-raising slogan?
In another study a team of social psychologists distilled happiness factors into eight common denominators. Two of the first three involve helping others. Happy, contented people “devote a great amount of time to their family and friends, nurturing and enjoying those relationships.” And “they are often the first to offer a helping hand to co-workers and passers-by.” Seeking joy? Do good for someone else.
Galatians 2
Fourteen years after that first visit, Barnabas and I went up to Jerusalem and took Titus with us. I went to clarify with them what had been revealed to me. At that time I placed before them exactly what I was preaching to the non-Jews. I did this in private with the leaders, those held in esteem by the church, so that our concern would not become a controversial public issue, marred by ethnic tensions, exposing my years of work to denigration and endangering my present ministry. Significantly, Titus, non-Jewish though he was, was not required to be circumcised. While we were in conference we were infiltrated by spies pretending to be Christians, who slipped in to find out just how free true Christians are. Their ulterior motive was to reduce us to their brand of servitude. We didn’t give them the time of day. We were determined to preserve the truth of the Message for you.
6-10 As for those who were considered important in the church, their reputation doesn’t concern me. God isn’t impressed with mere appearances, and neither am I. And of course these leaders were able to add nothing to the message I had been preaching. It was soon evident that God had entrusted me with the same message to the non-Jews as Peter had been preaching to the Jews. Recognizing that my calling had been given by God, James, Peter, and John—the pillars of the church—shook hands with me and Barnabas, assigning us to a ministry to the non-Jews, while they continued to be responsible for reaching out to the Jews. The only additional thing they asked was that we remember the poor, and I was already eager to do that.
11-13 Later, when Peter came to Antioch, I had a face-to-face confrontation with him because he was clearly out of line. Here’s the situation. Earlier, before certain persons had come from James, Peter regularly ate with the non-Jews. But when that conservative group came from Jerusalem, he cautiously pulled back and put as much distance as he could manage between himself and his non-Jewish friends. That’s how fearful he was of the conservative Jewish clique that’s been pushing the old system of circumcision. Unfortunately, the rest of the Jews in the Antioch church joined in that hypocrisy so that even Barnabas was swept along in the charade.
14 But when I saw that they were not maintaining a steady, straight course according to the Message, I spoke up to Peter in front of them all: “If you, a Jew, live like a non-Jew when you’re not being observed by the watchdogs from Jerusalem, what right do you have to require non-Jews to conform to Jewish customs just to make a favorable impression on your old Jerusalem cronies?”
15-16 We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over “non-Jewish sinners.” We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.
17-18 Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren’t perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is frivolous. If I was “trying to be good,” I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.
19-21 What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, September 04, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Genesis 1:1–5
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
Insight
One of the fascinating characteristics of Scripture is how different portions of the Bible echo one another—ultimately combining to tell the story of Jesus. We see this synergy when we compare today’s reading, Genesis 1:1–5, to John 1:1–5. Both begin with the phrase “in the beginning,” taking us back before time to see the work of God in creation. In the beginning, God existed (Genesis 1:1), and the Word (Jesus; John 1:1, 14) existed with the Father and the Spirit (Genesis 1:2). As Genesis 1 tracks the work of the Godhead in creation, John affirms that Christ was the primary agent of that creation (John 1:3). Both accounts resolve with light penetrating the darkness of the pre-creation void. Initially, that light was through the declared word of the Father (Genesis 1:3), a reality that anticipated the eventual coming of Jesus—the Light of the world (John 1:4–5; 8:12; 9:5).
Guiding Light
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Genesis 1:3
The restaurant was lovely but dark. Only one small candle flickered on every table. To create light, diners used their smartphones to read their menus, look to their tablemates, and even to see what they were eating.
Finally, a patron quietly pushed back his chair, walked over to a waiter, and asked a simple question. “Could you turn on the lights?” Before long, a warm ceiling light flashed on and the room erupted with applause. But also with laughter. And happy chatter. And thank-yous. My friend’s husband turned off his phone, picked up his utensils, and spoke for us all. “Let there be light! Now, let’s eat!”
Our gloomy evening turned festive with the flick of a switch. But how much more important to know the real source of true light. God Himself spoke those astonishing words, “Let there be light,” on the first day when He created the universe, “and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). Then “God saw that the light was good” (v. 4).
Light expresses God’s great love for us. His light points us to Jesus, “the light of the world” (John 8:12), who guides us from the gloom of sin. Walking in His light, we find the bright path to a life that glorifies the Son. He is the world’s brightest gift. As He shines, may we walk His way. By: Patricia Raybon
Reflect & Pray
In what situation do you need Christ’s light to shine? When has His light guided you?
Loving God, we thank You for Jesus, the Light of the World, and the guiding light of His great love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 04, 2019
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” (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
A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance. Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 04, 2019
Braving the Cold, Building a Fire - #8518
Winter came early to the mountains where we were spending our summer vacation. Of course, that's to be expected if we're on vacation; in the summer, it's probably going to get to be winter. But one night the temperature actually dropped into the 30s and no one was prepared for that. We're in this little cabin, and all of us... suddenly we're snuggling under this warm, Hudson Bay blanket. Therefore, we actually didn't have any awareness of how cold it was outside, because, well, we were warm.
Well, I ventured out of bed first that morning, and I very quickly discovered that we were in a very cold situation. So I wrapped up in everything I could find and I knew what I had to do. I had to get to the only source of heat in that cabin, which was the wood stove, and I had to get a fire going as fast as possible - pioneer Ron. Right! You know if you're warm where you are, it's pretty easy to forget how cold it is all around you.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Braving the Cold, Building a Fire."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God is about braving the cold and building a fire I guess you could say. It's in Romans 15. I'm going to read verses 20 and 21, where Paul talks about the driving ambition of his life. Here's what he says: "It has always been my ambition..." Oh really, Paul, what's that? "...to preach the gospel where Christ was not known so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. Rather, as it is written, those who were not told about Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand."
Now, I like that word ambition. I don't know what you think of when you think of ambition, but don't you usually think of somebody driving and pushing for something that they're determined is going to happen in their life, sort of a consuming, obsessing goal?
Paul says here that this magnificent obsession for him is to get to a world out there who has no knowledge about our Jesus. In essence, Paul is saying, "I want to go out into the cold; there's a big, cold world out there, and I want to go out and build a fire where there is no warmth. I can't just keep staying where it's warm." Man, I hope you feel that way. I think God hopes you feel that way. I hope it's a driving ambition. a passion of your life, because I know it's how God feels. I know it's what drove Jesus. I mean, He said He was here to seek and save the lost.
See, we Western Christians live under a pretty warm blanket spiritually, don't we? We're warmed by Bible studies and seminars, concerts, Christian radio, Christian books, Christian TV, and Christian websites, and our favorite teachers, and our heroes. But outside our little blanket, it's really cold outside.
Martin Marty, the church historian was quoted once on the front page of the Wall Street Journal as saying, "If you're part of the evangelical subculture, it's your whole life. You go to church, you buy the religious books, you watch the television programs. But if you're not part of the subculture, you never even know it exists." Yeah, there's a cold world out there where families are collapsing, sex and love are totally devalued, relationships are disappointing, broken. There's an epidemic of loneliness, a growing epidemic of suicide. There's no meaning to stick around for. There's a quiet desperation.
It's time for us to get out from under our blanket and start a fire. How can we be content or comfortable any longer? Let's pray, "Lord, I want to lift up my eyes to the lost people around me. I want to live my life to reach them; to rescue them for You. I want to urge my troubled believers, my church, to see that it exists for those who aren't in the church yet, churches aren't just for those who are already in."
Let's actually ask God to break our heart with the things that break His. Take some risks to reach your neighbor, to give, to reach out to other people, to see your time, your money, your influence, your building, and your background, and your talent as a resource to take Christ's warmth into a cold, cold world. We've got to get out there and build a fire.
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