Max Lucado Daily: Just the Way You Are
Don't confuse God's love with the love of people. That kind of love often increases with performances and decreases with mistakes. When my daughter was a toddler, she loved going to the park and playing in the sandbox. And often I'd give her an ice-cream treat. One day as I turned to do that, I saw her mouth was full of sand. Where I intended to put a delicacy, she had put dirt. Did I love her with dirt in her mouth? Absolutely. Was I going to allow her to keep the dirt in her mouth? No way. I loved her right where she was, but I refused to leave her there.
God does the same for us. "Spit the dirt out, honey," our Father urges. I've got something better for you." Jesus wants to give us a heart like his. Can you imagine a better offer?
From Just Like Jesus
Psalm 108
A David Prayer
108 1-2 I’m ready, God, so ready,
ready from head to toe.
Ready to sing,
ready to raise a God-song:
“Wake, soul! Wake, lute!
Wake up, you sleepyhead sun!”
3-6 I’m thanking you, God, out in the streets,
singing your praises in town and country.
The deeper your love, the higher it goes;
every cloud’s a flag to your faithfulness.
Soar high in the skies, O God!
Cover the whole earth with your glory!
And for the sake of the one you love so much,
reach down and help me—answer me!
7-9 That’s when God spoke in holy splendor:
“Brimming over with joy,
I make a present of Shechem,
I hand out Succoth Valley as a gift.
Gilead’s in my pocket,
to say nothing of Manasseh.
Ephraim’s my hard hat,
Judah my hammer.
Moab’s a scrub bucket—
I mop the floor with Moab,
Spit on Edom,
rain fireworks all over Philistia.”
10-11 Who will take me to the thick of the fight?
Who’ll show me the road to Edom?
You aren’t giving up on us, are you, God?
refusing to go out with our troops?
12-13 Give us help for the hard task;
human help is worthless.
In God we’ll do our very best;
he’ll flatten the opposition for good.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, April 07, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Philippians 2:1–4
If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
Insight
The challenges Paul presents to the believers at Philippi are perfectly expressed in the example of Christ’s incarnation. Paul warns them against the dangers of rivalry or conceit (vv. 1–4), but in verse 6 Jesus is described as willingly releasing His right to position and place. They’re challenged to put others first (v. 3), while Jesus perfectly modeled true humility by making Himself nothing (v. 7). The Philippians are encouraged not to put their own interests first (v. 4), and Jesus became the perfect servant for our sake (v. 7). They’re called to remember that Jesus did this so completely that He became “obedient to death—even death on the cross!” (v. 8). His sacrifice on our behalf is also our greatest example on how to live.
For more on this important Bible text, read The Mind of Christ: Experiencing the Joy of the Christlike Difference at discoveryseries.org/q0209.
Change Is Possible
It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Philippians 2:13
One Saturday afternoon, some youth group members from my church gathered to ask one another some hard questions based on Philippians 2:3–4: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Some of the difficult queries included: How often do you take an interest in others? Would someone describe you as humble or proud? Why?
As I listened, I was encouraged by their honest answers. The teenagers agreed that it’s easy to acknowledge our shortcomings, but it’s hard to change, or—for that matter—desire to change. As one teen lamented, “Selfishness is in my blood.”
The desire to let go of our focus on self to serve others is only possible through Jesus’s Spirit living in us. That’s why Paul reminded the Philippian church to reflect on what God had done and made possible for them. He had graciously adopted them, comforted them with His love, and given His Spirit to help them (Philippians 2:1–2). How could they—and we—respond to such grace with anything less than humility?
Yes, God is the reason for us to change, and only He can change us. Because He gives us “the desire and power to do what pleases him” (v.13 nlt), we can focus less on ourselves and humbly serve others. By Poh Fang Chia
Today's Reflection
In what ways has God helped you turn from selfishness and be more willing to serve others? How does Jesus’s humility inspire you to humbly serve?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, April 07, 2019
Why We Lack Understanding
He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead. —Mark 9:9
As the disciples were commanded, you should also say nothing until the Son of Man has risen in you— until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you truly understand what He taught while here on earth. When you grow and develop the right condition inwardly, the words Jesus spoke become so clear that you are amazed you did not grasp them before. In fact, you were not able to understand them before because you had not yet developed the proper spiritual condition to deal with them.
Our Lord doesn’t hide these things from us, but we are not prepared to receive them until we are in the right condition in our spiritual life. Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). We must have a oneness with His risen life before we are prepared to bear any particular truth from Him. Do we really know anything about the indwelling of the risen life of Jesus? The evidence that we do is that His Word is becoming understandable to us. God cannot reveal anything to us if we don’t have His Spirit. And our own unyielding and headstrong opinions will effectively prevent God from revealing anything to us. But our insensible thinking will end immediately once His resurrection life has its way with us.
“…tell no one….” But so many people do tell what they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration— their mountaintop experience. They have seen a vision and they testify to it, but there is no connection between what they say and how they live. Their lives don’t add up because the Son of Man has not yet risen in them. How long will it be before His resurrection life is formed and evident in you and in me?
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