Max Lucado Daily: ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER
My big brother used to pick on me. For Dee no day was complete unless he had made mine miserable. He stole my allowance. He called me a sissy.
But all his cruel antics were offset by one great act of grace on a summer day in the park. He picked me to play on his baseball team. Everyone else was a middle-schooler. I was a third-grader. I went from the back of the pack to the front of line, all because he picked me. Dee didn’t pick me because I was good. He called my name for one reason only. He was my big brother. And on that day he decided to be a good big brother.
The New Testament has a word for such activity– encouragement. “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). This is how happiness happens.
Galatians 4
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.
8-11 Earlier, before you knew God personally, you were enslaved to so-called gods that had nothing of the divine about them. But now that you know the real God—or rather since God knows you—how can you possibly subject yourselves again to those paper tigers? For that is exactly what you do when you are intimidated into scrupulously observing all the traditions, taboos, and superstitions associated with special days and seasons and years. I am afraid that all my hard work among you has gone up in a puff of smoke!
12-13 My dear friends, what I would really like you to do is try to put yourselves in my shoes to the same extent that I, when I was with you, put myself in yours. You were very sensitive and kind then. You did not come down on me personally. You were well aware that the reason I ended up preaching to you was that I was physically broken, and so, prevented from continuing my journey, I was forced to stop with you. That is how I came to preach to you.
14-16 And don’t you remember that even though taking in a sick guest was most troublesome for you, you chose to treat me as well as you would have treated an angel of God—as well as you would have treated Jesus himself if he had visited you? What has happened to the satisfaction you felt at that time? There were some of you then who, if possible, would have given your very eyes to me—that is how deeply you cared! And now have I suddenly become your enemy simply by telling you the truth? I can’t believe it.
17 Those heretical teachers go to great lengths to flatter you, but their motives are rotten. They want to shut you out of the free world of God’s grace so that you will always depend on them for approval and direction, making them feel important.
18-20 It is a good thing to be ardent in doing good, but not just when I am in your presence. Can’t you continue the same concern for both my person and my message when I am away from you that you had when I was with you? Do you know how I feel right now, and will feel until Christ’s life becomes visible in your lives? Like a mother in the pain of childbirth. Oh, I keep wishing that I was with you. Then I wouldn’t be reduced to this blunt, letter-writing language out of sheer frustration.
21-31 Tell me now, you who have become so enamored with the law: Have you paid close attention to that law? Abraham, remember, had two sons: one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. The son of the slave woman was born by human connivance; the son of the free woman was born by God’s promise. This illustrates the very thing we are dealing with now. The two births represent two ways of being in relationship with God. One is from Mount Sinai in Arabia. It corresponds with what is now going on in Jerusalem—a slave life, producing slaves as offspring. This is the way of Hagar. In contrast to that, there is an invisible Jerusalem, a free Jerusalem, and she is our mother—this is the way of Sarah. Remember what Isaiah wrote:
Rejoice, barren woman who bears no children,
shout and cry out, woman who has no birth pangs,
Because the children of the barren woman
now surpass the children of the chosen woman.
Isn’t it clear, friends, that you, like Isaac, are children of promise? In the days of Hagar and Sarah, the child who came from faithless connivance (Ishmael) harassed the child who came—empowered by the Spirit—from the faithful promise (Isaac). Isn’t it clear that the harassment you are now experiencing from the Jerusalem heretics follows that old pattern? There is a Scripture that tells us what to do: “Expel the slave mother with her son, for the slave son will not inherit with the free son.” Isn’t that conclusive? We are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Footnotes:
Psalm 23:4 Or the valley of the shadow of death
Insight
Psalm 23, penned by David, is an expression of trust in God. The imagery builds the metaphor of God as a Shepherd leading His people (v. 1)—a metaphor commonly used for kings (2 Samuel 5:2; Isaiah. 44:28). The Shepherd leads the psalmist by “quiet waters” (Psalm 23:2) and “along the right paths” (v. 3), indicating the peace that sustains our journey even “through the darkest valley” (v. 4).
The rod and staff (v. 4) were typically used by shepherds to guide and protect the sheep. David knew from tending his father’s flocks that these had to be actively used to keep the sheep safe (1 Samuel 17:34–35). The mention of God’s goodness and love following him was also an active act—the Hebrew word radaph can be translated “pursue.” These final words affirm that God would be with David both during his life on earth and in heaven, where he would “dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6). By: Julie Schwab
I Will Fear No Evil
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Psalm 23:4
In 1957, Melba Pattillo Beals was selected to be one of the “Little Rock Nine,” a group of nine African American students who first integrated the previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. In her 2018 memoir, I Will Not Fear: My Story of a Lifetime of Building Faith under Fire, Beals gives a heartbreaking account of the injustices and harassment she struggled to face courageously every day as a fifteen-year-old student.
But she also wrote about her deep faith in God. In her darkest moments, when fear almost overwhelmed her, Beals repeated the familiar Bible verses she had learned at an early age from her grandmother. As she recited them, she was reminded of God’s presence with her, and Scripture gave her courage to endure.
Beals frequently recited Psalm 23, finding comfort in confessing, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (v. 4). Her grandmother’s encouragement would ring through her ears as well, reassuring her that God “is as close as your skin, and you have only to call on Him for help.”
Although our particular situations may vary, we will all likely endure difficult struggles and overwhelming circumstances that could easily cause us to give in to fear. In those moments, may your heart find encouragement in the truth that God’s powerful presence is always with us. By: Lisa M. Samra
Reflect & Pray
When have you felt God’s presence in a fearful situation? How is it comforting to know that God is always with you?
Father, when circumstances cause me to fear, help me to remember that You are near, and to find courage in the power of Your presence.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Missionary Weapons (1)
When you were under the fig tree, I saw you. —John 1:48
Worshiping in Everyday Occasions. We presume that we would be ready for battle if confronted with a great crisis, but it is not the crisis that builds something within us— it simply reveals what we are made of already. Do you find yourself saying, “If God calls me to battle, of course I will rise to the occasion”? Yet you won’t rise to the occasion unless you have done so on God’s training ground. If you are not doing the task that is closest to you now, which God has engineered into your life, when the crisis comes, instead of being fit for battle, you will be revealed as being unfit. Crises always reveal a person’s true character.
A private relationship of worshiping God is the greatest essential element of spiritual fitness. The time will come, as Nathanael experienced in this passage, that a private “fig-tree” life will no longer be possible. Everything will be out in the open, and you will find yourself to be of no value there if you have not been worshiping in everyday occasions in your own home. If your worship is right in your private relationship with God, then when He sets you free, you will be ready. It is in the unseen life, which only God saw, that you have become perfectly fit. And when the strain of the crisis comes, you can be relied upon by God.
Are you saying, “But I can’t be expected to live a sanctified life in my present circumstances; I have no time for prayer or Bible study right now; besides, my opportunity for battle hasn’t come yet, but when it does, of course I will be ready”? No, you will not. If you have not been worshiping in everyday occasions, when you get involved in God’s work, you will not only be useless yourself but also a hindrance to those around you.
God’s training ground, where the missionary weapons are found, is the hidden, personal, worshiping life of the saint.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth. The Place of Help, 1005 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
The Missing Birthday - #8522
We just finished celebrating our grandson's tenth birthday. We didn't forget it. I mean, he wouldn't let us forget it back then! I mean, this boy knew his birthday when he was two years old. So, you know, every year - big deal. Well, I'm never going to forget the day he was born, because my wife and I were there! We waited outside that birthing room, and then we got the word that he was in the process of arriving, and then we got the summons to come in and see him. One of life's ultimate, well they used to call it "Kodak moments." And suddenly a day that had been just another number on the calendar before became one of the most special days in our life from then on!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Missing Birthday."
Our grandson always knew when he was born - still does. You know when you were born, even if you've got so many candles on your cake now that it sets off the smoke detector. Basic fact of life: your life had a definite beginning. There was a point in time at which you were born into your family.
It's the same in God's family. If you belong to Him, there was a definite beginning to that relationship, a time when you were born into His family. You may or may not remember the specific date, but you need to know there was one. Listen to how Jesus describes our entrance into God's family. It's in John 1:12, our word for today from the Word of God. Speaking of Jesus, He says, "To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God." Born into the family of God, at the point where you consciously welcome Jesus Christ into your life.
You'll hear people say, "We're all God's children." Well, not according to the Bible. We're all God's creation, but you're only His child if you've been born into His family. And that happens at the point where you recognize your desperate need of Jesus and you throw open the door of your life, you let Him in, and you "receive" Him as it says. Obviously, if you've done that, you know you've done it. If you don't know that you have, well, you probably haven't. If you asked me if I'm married, I'd say, "Well, I'm not sure." You'd go, "Wait a minute. You've got to know." Or what if I said, "Well, I think we must have gotten hitched somewhere along the way," you'd say, "Man, if you're married, you know you're married! It's a conscious decision!"
So is turning over your life to Jesus Christ. It happens when you realize that you're away from God because you've done your life your way instead of God's way, and you decide it can't be that way anymore. You recognize your only hope of being forgiven, your only hope of heaven is Jesus and the dying that He did for your sins on the cross and then His coming back from death. And you reach out and you grab Him like a drowning person would grab a lifeguard and you say, "You're my only hope, Jesus!" Has there been a time when you did that with Him? If you don't know, you probably don't belong to Him. But you could today.
This could be the day when for sure you do what maybe you've somehow missed all these years. You agree with Jesus. You go to His meetings. You believe His beliefs. You try to live Jesus' way, but somehow you've never consciously given yourself to the one who gave His life for you. But once again, He's knocking on the door of your heart, He's giving you one more chance to belong to Him.
Why don't you get this settled once and for all today? Get it done! Tell Him, "Jesus, I am Yours beginning today! I am putting all my trust in what You did on the cross for me. And the fact that You came out of Your grave, You are alive. And I want to move from just believing about You to belonging to You. Let this be the day I am born into God's family. I'm yours." Wow!
Once you do that, you will finally experience the unspeakable joy of knowing Him for real. Knowing there was a day you began your relationship with Him. This can be your Jesus-day!