Max Lucado Daily: FEAR OF THE LORD
Boxes bring wonderful order to our world. But when it comes to defining Christ, no box works. People prefer a god they can manage, control, and predict. Matthew 17:6 says Peter, James and John witnessed the transfiguration of Christ, and “they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.” This is the fear of the Lord.
How long since you felt this fear? Since a glimpse of him that left you speechless and breathless? If it’s been a while, that explains your fears. A big God translates into big courage. A packageable Jesus may fit well on a shelf but does nothing for your fears.
We need to know the transfigured Christ. The longer we live in him, the greater he becomes in us. It is not that he changes but that we do. Agree with the words of David in Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”
Read more Fearless
Psalm 70
A David Prayer
70 1-3 God! Please hurry to my rescue!
God, come quickly to my side!
Those who are out to get me—
let them fall all over themselves.
Those who relish my downfall—
send them down a blind alley.
Give them a taste of their own medicine,
those gossips off clucking their tongues.
4 Let those on the hunt for you
sing and celebrate.
Let all who love your saving way
say over and over, “God is mighty!”
5 But I’ve lost it. I’m wasted.
God—quickly, quickly!
Quick to my side, quick to my rescue!
God, don’t lose a minute.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:Galatians 4:1-7
Let me show you the implications of this. As long as the heir is a minor, he has no advantage over the slave. Though legally he owns the entire inheritance, he is subject to tutors and administrators until whatever date the father has set for emancipation. That is the way it is with us: When we were minors, we were just like slaves ordered around by simple instructions (the tutors and administrators of this world), with no say in the conduct of our own lives.
4-7 But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!” Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.
Insight
Used only five times in the New Testament (and only by Paul), the word translated “adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:5) is packed with meaning. Huiothesia is a compound Greek word from huios (“son”) and thesia (“placing”). Adoption took place when a child (almost exclusively males in the ancient world) was placed in a family that lacked a suitable heir. With adoption came privileges, rights, and responsibilities of family membership. Paul used the term “adoption,” but the concept of family membership is also present in John’s writing: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! . . . Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:1–2). By: Arthur Jackson
Adopted
God sent his Son . . . that we might receive adoption to sonship. Galatians 4:4–5
I’m glad when a philanthropist builds an orphanage for homeless children. I’m thrilled when that person gives even more and adopts one of them. Most orphans would be delighted merely to have a patron. But then to learn the sponsor isn’t content merely to help me but also wants me. How must that feel?
If you’re a child of God you already know, because it’s happened to you. We couldn’t complain if God had merely loved us enough to send His Son that we might “not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). It would be enough for us. But not for God. He “sent his Son . . . to redeem” us, not as an end in itself, but “that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:4–5).
The apostle Paul refers to us as “sons” because in his day it was common for sons to inherit their father’s wealth. His point is that now everyone who puts their faith in Jesus, whether man or woman, becomes a “son” of God with equal and full rights of inheritance (v. 7).
God does not merely want to save you. He wants you. He has adopted you into His family, given you His name (Revelation 3:12), and proudly calls you His child. You could not possibly be loved more, or by anyone more important. You aren’t merely blessed by God. You are the child of God. Your Father loves you. By Mike Wittmer
Today's Reflection
Father, what a privilege to call You this! Thank You for saving me, and for wanting me.
Welcome to Mike Wittmer! Meet all our authors at odb.org/all-authors.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Do You See Your Calling?
…separated to the gospel of God… —Romans 1:1
Our calling is not primarily to be holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the gospel of God. The one all-important thing is that the gospel of God should be recognized as the abiding reality. Reality is not human goodness, or holiness, or heaven, or hell— it is redemption. The need to perceive this is the most vital need of the Christian worker today. As workers, we have to get used to the revelation that redemption is the only reality. Personal holiness is an effect of redemption, not the cause of it. If we place our faith in human goodness we will go under when testing comes.
Paul did not say that he separated himself, but “when it pleased God, who separated me…” (Galatians 1:15). Paul was not overly interested in his own character. And as long as our eyes are focused on our own personal holiness, we will never even get close to the full reality of redemption. Christian workers fail because they place their desire for their own holiness above their desire to know God. “Don’t ask me to be confronted with the strong reality of redemption on behalf of the filth of human life surrounding me today; what I want is anything God can do for me to make me more desirable in my own eyes.” To talk that way is a sign that the reality of the gospel of God has not begun to touch me. There is no reckless abandon to God in that. God cannot deliver me while my interest is merely in my own character. Paul was not conscious of himself. He was recklessly abandoned, totally surrendered, and separated by God for one purpose— to proclaim the gospel of God (see Romans 9:3).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When a man’s heart is right with God the mysterious utterances of the Bible are spirit and life to him. Spiritual truth is discernible only to a pure heart, not to a keen intellect. It is not a question of profundity of intellect, but of purity of heart. Bringing Sons Unto Glory, 231 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Safety When Your World Is Collapsing - #8364
He was just a teenager and his village had just collapsed all around him. He was one of countless thousands who were affected by a massive earthquake that hit Turkey. In an interview with National Geographic Magazine, this young man offered an amazingly insightful perspective on what he had just witnessed. He said, "I accept this as a geologic event, but it can be taken as a warning. In seconds, billionaires can become penniless. So you must have values you cannot lose." Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Safety When Your World Is Collapsing."
In a sense, we all live in an earthquake zone. There are times when everything in your world is shaken by forces you can't control. It might be one of those times in your life right now. And like that young man in Turkey observed after so much collapsed so quickly, life's quakes remind us how losable things are, how breakable, how vulnerable we are. In fact, "vulnerable" might be a word that describes how you're feeling right now.
Then, I think you'll find from our word for today from the Word of God something pretty encouraging. In Proverbs 18:10, God says, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe." Safe; it's a good word. It's hard to feel that when a relationship you've counted on is collapsing all around you, when there are suddenly serious questions about your health or your job or someone you love, or when things or people you've counted on just can't be counted on anymore. But "safe"? That's what the Lord offers you in a relationship with Him. It's what that earthquake victim talked about-something "you cannot lose" he said.
I'll never forget the night one of our Native American team members told her heart-rending story to all the young people of a Native village. Tearfully, she told about a life of violation. She had been raped as a little girl. She'd been sexually abused over a period of years, and she'd been hurt by alcoholic parents. By the time she got to her teenage years, she tried to find some relief from her pain in alcohol and sexual relationships. But those things only added to her despair. But then she told about giving the broken pieces of her life to Jesus Christ and asking Him to be her Savior from her sin. I just about lost it when she concluded this way, "Now that I belong to Jesus, I feel safe for the first time in my life."
When you run into the strong tower of a relationship with Jesus, you finally are safe. He's the relationship you were made for; the anchor you've been looking for in a world where everything else is so losable. You'll never lose Jesus, because His love for you is unconditional. He proved it by blood when He died on the cross to pay for every sin you've ever committed. In God's own words, "God demonstrated His own love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
If you're ready to finally surrender the self-government of your life, then you're ready to start living for the One you were designed to live for. And Jesus is waiting for you with open arms to welcome you into His unlosable love.
If you're not sure you have a relationship with Him and you want to, you've got to tell Him. Maybe in words something like this: "Jesus, I know I was created by you and I was created for You. I've lived pretty much for me. And I know your Bible says that there's a death penalty for hijacking my life from You, and I deserve to pay that. But I believe You loved me so much that You paid for it. You paid for my sin when you died on the cross. Now I know you're alive because You walked out of your grave. And Jesus, today I'm turning my back on running my life. I resign that, and beginning today I put all my trust in You. Jesus, I'm Yours."
Our website is for you in a moment like this. It's a crossroads website. It's called ANewStory.com, and if you go there, there'll be some information there that will encourage you and assure you that you belong to Jesus now.
There's no quake in your life that can pry you from the loving hands of Jesus Christ. When you belong to Him, for the first time in your life, you are really safe.