Max Lucado Daily: THE GREENHOUSE OF THE HEART
Proverbs 4:23 advises us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Think of your heart as a greenhouse and consider your thoughts as seed. We must be selective about the seeds we allow to come into the greenhouse.
To have a pure heart, we must submit all thoughts to the authority of Christ. You see, your mind is the doorway to your heart. The Holy Spirit stands with you on the threshold, helping you manage and filter the thoughts that try to enter. If Jesus agrees with the thought, then let it in. If not, kick it out. How do you know if Jesus agrees or disagrees? You open your Bible. Armed with the opinion of Christ and the sword of the Spirit, guard the doorway of your heart. The more selective you are about seeds, the more delighted you will be with the crop.
Read more Just Like Jesus
John 9:1-23
Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”
3-5 Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”
6-7 He said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man’s eyes, and said, “Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “Sent”). The man went and washed—and saw.
8 Soon the town was buzzing. His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying, “Why, isn’t this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?”
9 Others said, “It’s him all right!”
But others objected, “It’s not the same man at all. It just looks like him.”
He said, “It’s me, the very one.”
10 They said, “How did your eyes get opened?”
11 “A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ I did what he said. When I washed, I saw.”
12 “So where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
13-15 They marched the man to the Pharisees. This day when Jesus made the paste and healed his blindness was the Sabbath. The Pharisees grilled him again on how he had come to see. He said, “He put a clay paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “Obviously, this man can’t be from God. He doesn’t keep the Sabbath.”
Others countered, “How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?” There was a split in their ranks.
17 They came back at the blind man, “You’re the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”
18-19 The Jews didn’t believe it, didn’t believe the man was blind to begin with. So they called the parents of the man now bright-eyed with sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he now sees?”
20-23 His parents said, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But we don’t know how he came to see—haven’t a clue about who opened his eyes. Why don’t you ask him? He’s a grown man and can speak for himself.” (His parents were talking like this because they were intimidated by the Jewish leaders, who had already decided that anyone who took a stand that this was the Messiah would be kicked out of the meeting place. That’s why his parents said, “Ask him. He’s a grown man.”)
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, February 25, 2019
Today's Scripture: Luke 24:28–35 (NIV)
They came to the edge of the village where they were headed. He acted as if he were going on but they pressed him: “Stay and have supper with us. It’s nearly evening; the day is done.” So he went in with them. And here is what happened: He sat down at the table with them. Taking the bread, he blessed and broke and gave it to them. At that moment, open-eyed, wide-eyed, they recognized him. And then he disappeared.
32 Back and forth they talked. “Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?”
33-34 They didn’t waste a minute. They were up and on their way back to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and their friends gathered together, talking away: “It’s really happened! The Master has been raised up—Simon saw him!”
35 Then the two went over everything that happened on the road and how they recognized him when he broke the bread.
Insight
In the lands and times of the Bible, bread and table were symbols of relationship and a shared life. So when Jesus broke bread with His disciples on the night of His betrayal and said, “This is My body which is broken for you” (1 Corinthians 11:24 nkjv; see Luke 22:19), He was using words rich in meaning to communicate more than His disciples understood. Not until three days later when Jesus lifted His scarred hands to break bread at a table in the village of Emmaus did two disciples recognize the Stranger who had been opening their understanding of the Scriptures (Luke 24:13–32). They were among the first to witness what others would soon hear and see for themselves (vv. 33–43). The Bread had been broken on a dark Passover night. The news would soon spread of a bigger table, shared life, and a new way to read the Scriptures and story of God (vv. 45–49). By: Mart DeHaan
The Spirit of Fika
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.
Luke 24:30
The coffeehouse in the town near my house is named Fika. It’s a Swedish word meaning to take a break with coffee and a pastry, always with family, co-workers, or friends. I’m not Swedish, yet the spirit of fika describes one thing I love most about Jesus—His practice of taking a break to eat and relax with others.
Scholars say Jesus’s meals weren’t random. Theologian Mark Glanville calls them “the delightful ‘second course’” of Israel’s feasts and celebrations in the Old Testament. At the table, Jesus lived what God had intended Israel to be: “a center of joy, celebration and justice for the whole world.”
From the feeding of 5,000, to the Last Supper—even to the meal with two believers after His resurrection (Luke 24:30)—the table ministry of Jesus invites us to stop our constant striving and abide in Him. Indeed, not until eating with Jesus did the two believers recognize Him as the risen Lord. “He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened” (vv. 30–31) to the living Christ.
Sitting with a friend recently at Fika, enjoying hot chocolate and rolls, we found ourselves also talking of Jesus. He is the Bread of Life. May we linger at His table and find more of Him. By Patricia Raybon
Today's Reflection
Lord, thank You for making time and room for us to abide at Your table.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, February 25, 2019
The Destitution of Service
…though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. —2 Corinthians 12:15
Natural human love expects something in return. But Paul is saying, “It doesn’t really matter to me whether you love me or not. I am willing to be completely destitute anyway; willing to be poverty-stricken, not just for your sakes, but also that I may be able to get you to God.” “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor…” (2 Corinthians 8:9). And Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s. He did not care how high the cost was to himself— he would gladly pay it. It was a joyful thing to Paul.
The institutional church’s idea of a servant of God is not at all like Jesus Christ’s idea. His idea is that we serve Him by being the servants of others. Jesus Christ actually “out-socialized” the socialists. He said that in His kingdom the greatest one would be the servant of all (see Matthew 23:11). The real test of a saint is not one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples’ feet— that is, being willing to do those things that seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God. It was Paul’s delight to spend his life for God’s interests in other people, and he did not care what it cost. But before we will serve, we stop to ponder our personal and financial concerns— “What if God wants me to go over there? And what about my salary? What is the climate like there? Who will take care of me? A person must consider all these things.” All that is an indication that we have reservations about serving God. But the apostle Paul had no conditions or reservations. Paul focused his life on Jesus Christ’s idea of a New Testament saint; that is, not one who merely proclaims the gospel, but one who becomes broken bread and poured-out wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for the sake of others.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. The Place of Help, 1032 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, February 25, 2019
You're In the Picture! - #8381
If you were a firstborn, or even a second born child, you might not understand this. But if you came after that in your family, you'll be able to empathize with our third and final born child. His frustration probably came to a head every Christmas when I'd pull out the old family movies...most of which he was not in. He's later observed that the number of photographs taken of a child seems to go down exponentially after the firstborn. It's like for every ten pictures of the first child, maybe there's five of the second, and if you're lucky, maybe one picture of the third. I can remember that he would sometimes leave the room for a little while during family movies. I mean, he had been patiently watching his older sister and brother's infant activities. When I'd ask him where he was going, he would reply matter-of-factly, "Call me when there's something I'm in."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "You're In the Picture!"
If we're honest, we know that we're most interested in the pictures we're in! Right? A lot of people have never taken a real personal look at the most important picture in history. Until they realize that they're in the picture. I hope you'll be able to see yourself in this picture today as you've never seen it before.
The scene is the brutal death of Jesus Christ on a Roman cross. You can probably bring up a mental image of that scene in your mind. The old spiritual asks, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" Actually, in a way, you were. All of us were, represented by one of two men. If you can figure out which one is you, you can figure out whether or not you're going to heaven when you die.
Jesus is being crucified between two hardened criminals. In Luke 23 beginning in verse 39, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible says, "One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him: 'Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!' But the other criminal rebuked Him. 'Don't you fear God,' he said, 'since you are under the same sentence? We are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing.' Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.' Jesus answered him, 'Today you will be with Me in paradise'."
There's the picture. Those two criminals represent the whole human race. And spiritually, one or the other represents you. Like them, we've all sinned. Our sins may not have been as dramatic, but all of us are rebels against God. Really, we've run our own lives, doing all kinds of things our way instead of His way. And like those two men, we all deserve the death penalty for what we've done. The Bible clearly states that the penalty for our sin is spiritual death, which means being separated from God forever (Romans 6:23).
And like one of them, many people see Jesus dying on that cross but they don't reach out to Him to be their Savior from their sin. You can reject Him aggressively like that one guy did, or passively just by simply failing to grab the Rescuer who came for you. And that might be you at Jesus' cross. You've never really placed your trust in Him as your only hope for getting to heaven.
If that's you, I pray you'll join the other man on the other cross, who's crying out to Jesus to be his personal Savior. Look, if you want this amazing relationship with this amazing Savior, would you tell Him that right now? You could pray to Him something like this, "Lord, I was made by you. I was made for you, and I've lived pretty much without you. I've pretty much run my own life, and I know there's a death penalty. But Lord, I believe you loved me so much you died to take that death penalty for me, and you rose again from the dead so you could give me life. Beginning right now, I turn from the running of my own life. I turn from the sin it's produced, and beginning right now, Lord, I am yours."
Man, it could be settled today. If you want that to happen, our website is a great place for you to go today. Because right there you will find the road to make sure you belong to Him. It is ANewStory.com. That's what it's about, and that's what it's called.
At the moment you open your heart to Jesus, the promise He made on that cross becomes your promise Here it is: "You will be with Me in paradise."