Max Lucado Daily: A HOPE-FILLED HEART
Jesus said, “Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar.”
In Gethsemane, Jesus faced betrayal on all levels. The disciples ran away. The people rejected him. And God didn’t answer his anguished appeal to avoid “the cup of suffering.” So, what did Christ do? He found enough good in the face of Judas to call him friend, and he can help us do the same with those who hurt us. He found purpose in the pain, seeing it as a necessary part of God’s greater plan.
Wouldn’t you love to have a hope-filled heart? God never promises to remove us from our struggles. He does promise, however, to change the way we look at them.
Read more Just Like Jesus
John 9:24-41
They called the man back a second time—the man who had been blind—and told him, “Give credit to God. We know this man is an impostor.”
25 He replied, “I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I was blind . . . I now see.”
26 They said, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 “I’ve told you over and over and you haven’t listened. Why do you want to hear it again? Are you so eager to become his disciples?”
28-29 With that they jumped all over him. “You might be a disciple of that man, but we’re disciples of Moses. We know for sure that God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this man even comes from.”
30-33 The man replied, “This is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he opened my eyes! It’s well known that God isn’t at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does his will. That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been heard of—ever. If this man didn’t come from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.”
34 They said, “You’re nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!” Then they threw him out in the street.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. He asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 The man said, “Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You’re looking right at him. Don’t you recognize my voice?”
38 “Master, I believe,” the man said, and worshiped him.
39 Jesus then said, “I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.”
40 Some Pharisees overheard him and said, “Does that mean you’re calling us blind?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you’re accountable for every fault and failure.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Today's Scripture: Proverbs 23:9–12 (NIV)
Don’t bother talking sense to fools;
they’ll only poke fun at your words.
10-11 Don’t stealthily move back the boundary lines
or cheat orphans out of their property,
For they have a powerful Advocate
who will go to bat for them.
12 Give yourselves to disciplined instruction;
open your ears to tested knowledge.
Insight
Proverbs 23:9–12 point to the interrelated principles of seeking wisdom from those who can be trusted (v. 12) while discerning who cannot be trusted (v. 9). This principle of discerning others’ character and limiting contact with the foolish—due to the profound influence of close relationships—is echoed in 26:4–5. However, these verses show a subtle difference of the principle by placing side by side opposite guidelines! First, we are told not to answer according to a foolish person’s folly (v. 4); then, we are told to answer, lest by silence we become complicit in their harmful ideas and character (v. 5).
These seemingly contradictory guidelines illustrate a principle central to the Proverbs: true wisdom is not a set of rules to be applied blindly but requires continual reliance on the Lord’s guidance to discern each situation. By: Monica Brands
Working off Bad Information
Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. Proverbs 23:12
On a recent trip to New York City, my wife and I wanted to brave a snowy evening and hire a taxi for a three-mile ride from our hotel to a Cuban restaurant. After entering the details into the taxi service’s app, I gulped hard when the screen revealed the price for our short jaunt: $1,547.26. After recovering from the shock, I realized I had mistakenly requested a ride to our home—several hundred miles away!
If you’re working with the wrong information, you’re going to end up with disastrous results. Always. This is why Proverbs encourages us to “apply [our] heart to instruction and [our] ears to words of knowledge”—God’s wisdom (Proverbs 23:12). If we instead seek advice from those who are foolish, those who pretend to know more than they do and who have turned their back on God, we’ll be in trouble. They “scorn . . . prudent words” and can lead us astray with unhelpful, misguided, or even deceptive advice (v. 9).
Instead, we can bend our “ears to words of knowledge” (v. 12). We can open our heart and receive God’s liberating instruction, words of clarity and hope. When we listen to those who know the deep ways of God, they help us receive and follow divine wisdom. And God’s wisdom will never lead us astray but always encourages and leads us toward life and wholeness. By Winn Collier
Today's Reflection
God, bend my ears and heart toward wisdom. Help me be open to Your truth and push away every kind of foolishness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Our Misgivings About Jesus
The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw [water] with, and the well is deep." —John 4:11
Have you ever said to yourself, “I am impressed with the wonderful truths of God’s Word, but He can’t really expect me to live up to that and work all those details into my life!” When it comes to confronting Jesus Christ on the basis of His qualities and abilities, our attitudes reflect religious superiority. We think His ideals are lofty and they impress us, but we believe He is not in touch with reality— that what He says cannot actually be done. Each of us thinks this about Jesus in one area of our life or another. These doubts or misgivings about Jesus begin as we consider questions that divert our focus away from God. While we talk of our dealings with Him, others ask us, “Where are you going to get enough money to live? How will you live and who will take care of you?” Or our misgivings begin within ourselves when we tell Jesus that our circumstances are just a little too difficult for Him. We say, “It’s easy to say, ‘Trust in the Lord,’ but a person has to live; and besides, Jesus has nothing with which to draw water— no means to be able to give us these things.” And beware of exhibiting religious deceit by saying, “Oh, I have no misgivings about Jesus, only misgivings about myself.” If we are honest, we will admit that we never have misgivings or doubts about ourselves, because we know exactly what we are capable or incapable of doing. But we do have misgivings about Jesus. And our pride is hurt even at the thought that He can do what we can’t.
My misgivings arise from the fact that I search within to find how He will do what He says. My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly— “Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it.”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible. Biblical Psychology, 199 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Too Close To The Edge - #8382
No matter how big you expect the Grand Canyon to be, it's bigger. And when our family has had the privilege to visit there, we've all been impressed with this awesome, divine masterpiece. One big problem there though has been our boys, because they think they're part mountain goat. Of course, mountain goats cannot read the signs that tell you to stay behind the fences. Apparently, our boys couldn't read them either. They always had this irresistible urge to venture out as far as possible on those rocks that overlook the canyon. Of course, one false step, and it's over – actually, you're all over. All our lectures about going too far for safety's sake made a lot more sense the morning after we had stopped at one particular overlook. The morning paper reported that on the same afternoon we had been there, two young men went to that same overlook and one never came back. He ended up dead at the bottom of the canyon. The reason? Yeah, you know. He got too close to the edge.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Too Close To The Edge."
God has a word today for someone who's hurting, who's depressed and might be getting too close to the edge. Maybe there's this voice inside you, or someone you know, that's saying, "Life just hurts too much. Maybe I should just check out once and for all." You're looking over the edge of that abyss called suicide.
You need to know where that voice is coming from. Our word for today from the Word of God is John 10:10. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." That was Jesus speaking. Two voices: one is the life-taker – that would be the devil, who wants to destroy you. The other is the life-giver – Jesus, who thought you were worth dying for. Any thoughts of ending your life, I can tell you, are from the Devil himself. And you cannot let him take you over the edge and rob you of all the tomorrows God has planned for you.
That edge of the cliff called suicide can only be a consideration if you do not realize how tragically expensive suicide is. First, it's the ultimate act of defiance toward the God who made you. In Psalm 139:13 and 16, it says, "You created my inmost being (God); You knit me together in my mother's womb... All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Only the One who gave you your life has the right to end your life. And He's the One you meet the moment your life is over. You don't want to go into eternity defying the God you are about to meet.
Suicide, in many ways, is an ultimate act of selfishness toward the people who love you. You don't mean for it to be, but I've been on the other end of this. They never recover from the awful agony of this decision. Don't do this to them. You know, suicide is the ultimate waste of a life that Jesus actually gave His life for. He didn't die on the cross just to have us throw away the life He gave everything for. One last thing – suicide is an ultimate surrender to the spiritual enemy who hates you.
Look, maybe you've gotten too close to the edge recently. You've been thinking about suicide as an answer. A lot of people have, more than we realize. But, believe me, living is always better. Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life." Right now, instead of giving up, would you give it all over to Jesus? Pour out all that pain and all that struggle at the feet of this One who loves you most. He said, "I was sent to bind up the brokenhearted." And please talk to someone today about your struggle – a pastor, someone on a hot line, a counselor who's maybe walked through this with a lot of other people. Whatever the risks there are of you reaching out and talking about it, they can't be as expensive as giving up.
The Lord wants you to live – to have all your tomorrows. That's why He sent you this message of life today where you could hear it. Please get away from the edge. Don't go near it again! In God's own words from His book, "Choose life!"