Max Lucado Daily: CONSULT YOUR DESIGNER, NOT YOUR GREED
Jesus warns, “Be on your guard against every form of greed” (Luke 12:15). John D. Rockefeller was asked, “How much money does it take to satisfy a man?” He answered, “Just a little more.” Wise was the one who wrote, “Whoever loves money never has enough money; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
Urge your mate to choose satisfaction over salary. Better to be married to a happy person with a thin wallet than a miserable person with a thick one. Besides, “a pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life” (Proverbs 13:7). Pursue the virtue of contentment. Because “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6). Consult your design. Consult your Designer. But never consult your greed.
Jonah 1
One day long ago, God’s Word came to Jonah, Amittai’s son: “Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They’re in a bad way and I can’t ignore it any longer.”
3 But Jonah got up and went the other direction to Tarshish, running away from God. He went down to the port of Joppa and found a ship headed for Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board, joining those going to Tarshish—as far away from God as he could get.
4-6 But God sent a huge storm at sea, the waves towering.
The ship was about to break into pieces. The sailors were terrified. They called out in desperation to their gods. They threw everything they were carrying overboard to lighten the ship. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship to take a nap. He was sound asleep. The captain came to him and said, “What’s this? Sleeping! Get up! Pray to your god! Maybe your god will see we’re in trouble and rescue us.”
7 Then the sailors said to one another, “Let’s get to the bottom of this. Let’s draw straws to identify the culprit on this ship who’s responsible for this disaster.”
So they drew straws. Jonah got the short straw.
8 Then they grilled him: “Confess. Why this disaster? What is your work? Where do you come from? What country? What family?”
9 He told them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship God, the God of heaven who made sea and land.”
10 At that, the men were frightened, really frightened, and said, “What on earth have you done!” As Jonah talked, the sailors realized that he was running away from God.
11 They said to him, “What are we going to do with you—to get rid of this storm?” By this time the sea was wild, totally out of control.
12 Jonah said, “Throw me overboard, into the sea. Then the storm will stop. It’s all my fault. I’m the cause of the storm. Get rid of me and you’ll get rid of the storm.”
13 But no. The men tried rowing back to shore. They made no headway. The storm only got worse and worse, wild and raging.
14 Then they prayed to God, “O God! Don’t let us drown because of this man’s life, and don’t blame us for his death. You are God. Do what you think is best.”
15 They took Jonah and threw him overboard. Immediately the sea was quieted down.
16 The sailors were impressed, no longer terrified by the sea, but in awe of God. They worshiped God, offered a sacrifice, and made vows.
17 Then God assigned a huge fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was in the fish’s belly three days and nights.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, August 19, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Revelation 22:1–5
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
Insight
The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse of what the future will be like when we exist together with God in eternity. Chapters 21–22 list a variety of “new” things we’ll experience in the new heaven and new earth. In today’s passage, we see the existence of two trees of life—or one tree that spans both sides of the river (22:2). Access to the tree of life was lost when Adam and Eve were banished from the garden (see Genesis 3:24). In the new heaven, its fruit, seemingly meant to be consumed, will always be available. The tree of life underscores the idea that life in the kingdom is ongoing.
Our New Home
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city. Revelation 22:3
As the first immigrant to the US to pass through Ellis Island in 1892, Annie Moore must have felt incredible excitement at the thought of a new home and a fresh start. Millions would pass through there afterward. Just a teenager, Annie had left behind a difficult life in Ireland to start a new one. Carrying only a little bag in her hand, she came with lots of dreams, hopes, and expectations of a land of opportunity.
How much more excitement and awe will God’s children experience when we see “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). We will enter what the book of Revelation calls “the Holy City, the new Jerusalem” (v. 2). The apostle John describes this amazing place with powerful imagery. There will be “the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (22:1). Water represents life and abundance, and its source will be the eternal God Himself. John says that “no longer will there be any curse” (v. 3). The beautiful, pure relationship God intended between Himself and humans will be fully restored.
How incredible to know that God, who loves His children and purchased us with the life of His Son, is preparing such an amazing new home—where He Himself will live with us and be our God (21:3). By Estera Pirosca Escobar
Reflect & Pray
What comes to mind when you think about heaven? How does this passage from Revelation encourage you?
Father, thank You for Your love! We’re excited as we wait for that day when we will live in peace with You and each other in heaven.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, August 19, 2019
Self-Awareness
Come to Me… —Matthew 11:28
God intends for us to live a well-rounded life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside. Then we tend to fall back into self-examination, a habit that we thought was gone. Self-awareness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God, and self-awareness continually produces a sense of struggling and turmoil in our lives. Self-awareness is not sin, and it can be produced by nervous emotions or by suddenly being dropped into a totally new set of circumstances. Yet it is never God’s will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. Anything that disturbs our rest in Him must be rectified at once, and it is not rectified by being ignored but only by coming to Jesus Christ. If we will come to Him, asking Him to produce Christ-awareness in us, He will always do it, until we fully learn to abide in Him.
Never allow anything that divides or destroys the oneness of your life with Christ to remain in your life without facing it. Beware of allowing the influence of your friends or your circumstances to divide your life. This only serves to sap your strength and slow your spiritual growth. Beware of anything that can split your oneness with Him, causing you to see yourself as separate from Him. Nothing is as important as staying right spiritually. And the only solution is a very simple one— “Come to Me….” The intellectual, moral, and spiritual depth of our reality as a person is tested and measured by these words. Yet in every detail of our lives where we are found not to be real, we would rather dispute the findings than come to Jesus.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”
The Shadow of an Agony
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, August 19, 2019
The Most Agonizing Race of All - #8606
"The wall." I don't know what you think of when I say that, it could just be the surface you're looking at across the room, it could be something that has been proposed for some of the immigration issues in our country. It could be the Berlin Wall that used to separate East and West Berlin. Look, forget all that. If you're a marathon runner, I'm pretty sure what you think of when you think about "the wall" is that point in a grueling 26-mile run where you feel like your body is shutting down and you can't go another step. You've used up most of what you body has to give, and everything in you seems to be saying, "Quit now!" But the champions don't.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Most Agonizing Race of All."
Champions hit the wall and they keep on running to the finish line, no matter how much they want to give up. Finishing a race takes everything you've got and more, even if you're the Son of God - especially if you're the Son of God.
For three years of public ministry, Jesus had poured Himself out to meet the endless needs that were brought to Him, often with amazing miracles. He lived a life that was so perfect that even His enemies couldn't find anything wrong with Him, even after watching Him day and night. And He had given Himself fully to teaching the truths of His kingdom everywhere He went. He ran a perfect race.
But He hit the wall in the last lap, in a garden called Gethsemane, named after the olive press that crushed olives until the last of their juice had been squeezed out. Jesus knew that Judas, His betrayer, would soon be arriving with troops who were coming to arrest Him for the mock trial that would end in His brutal beating, and then in His crucifixion. As we watch Jesus hit the wall in this most agonizing race any man has ever run, I want you to remember He did not have to do this. He chose to do it for you.
In Luke 22, beginning with verse 41, our word for today from the Word of God, we read that "He knelt down and prayed, 'Father if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.' ... And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." A doctor friend explained to me that sweating blood is a condition known today as hematidrosis - your capillaries, in essence, explode from unbearable stress. Was it the nails that Jesus was agonizing over? Or the spear they would thrust into His side? Not ultimately.
The horror that Jesus dreaded was having all the shame and all the degradation and all the filth and destruction of your sin and mine heaped on Him on that cross. He would experience, in a brutally compressed period of time, all the eternal hell of every one of us - worst of all, the chill of having God the Father turn His back on His Son because He was carrying your sin and mine. But Jesus finished that race, in spite of unbearable, hellish suffering for you. And just before He breathed His last, He shouted triumphantly from that cross, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). Everything needed to forgive the sin of your life and get you into God's heaven - it was finished as Jesus died.
The greatest tragedy of all would be if somehow you missed all He died for and you ended up in the hell that He died to save you from. But you have to take for yourself what He died to give you. You've got to abandon all your faith in your religion, or your goodness, or anything else and give yourself totally in faith to Jesus.
The stakes of this choice are so high, they are so eternal, it doesn't make sense to risk one more day without Jesus. Do you want to belong to Him? You want to be sure you do? First of all, tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours. I'm not running things anymore. You died for me. I belong to You. I do it your way from today on."
And then please make your next step going to our website to find out where to go next; how to be sure you have begun this relationship. Here's the address: ANewStory.com.
Make sure today that you've surrendered to His love, because to miss Jesus is an awful, eternal mistake.
