Max Lucado Daily: THE GREATEST GREETING IN HISTORY
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University concluded that “huggers are happier.” Another study linked hugging with a diminished rate of sickness. So greet people for your sake and experience the joy of showing people that they matter.
And greet people for their sake. What is small to you may be huge to them. Most of all, greet one another for Jesus’ sake. He said, “In so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).
By the way, the greatest greeting in history has yet to be issued. It will be issued by Jesus to you in person. He will say, “You did well. You are a good and loyal servant. Because you were loyal with small things, I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my joy with me” (Matthew 25:23).
This is how happiness happens.
Psalm 43
Clear my name, God; stick up for me
against these loveless, immoral people.
Get me out of here, away
from these lying degenerates.
I counted on you, God.
Why did you walk out on me?
Why am I pacing the floor, wringing my hands
over these outrageous people?
3-4 Give me your lantern and compass,
give me a map,
So I can find my way to the sacred mountain,
to the place of your presence,
To enter the place of worship,
meet my exuberant God,
Sing my thanks with a harp,
magnificent God, my God.
5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He’s my God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 19:38–42
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[a] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Footnotes:
John 19:39 Or about 34 kilograms
Insight
Jewish burial customs required that the dead be buried within twenty-four hours. Jewish law dictated that a crucified body must be taken down and not left exposed overnight (Deuteronomy 21:22–23; John 19:31). Jesus would have been buried with the other two convicted criminals in a common grave if Joseph hadn’t asked Pilate for His body (John 19:38). Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy and influential leader of the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish judicial body. He was a good and upright man who was waiting for the kingdom of God. Though he was a secret disciple of Jesus, he wasn’t afraid to disagree with the Sanhedrin’s decision to put the Savior to death (Matthew 27:57; Mark 15:43; Luke 23:50–52). Joseph places Christ’s body “in his own new tomb” (Matthew 27:60). That Jesus was buried in a rich man’s tomb was a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:9.
Faith-Stand
Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. John 19:40
Desmond Doss enlisted to serve in World War II as a non-combatant. Though his religious beliefs prevented him from carrying a gun, Doss ably served as a combat medic. In one battle, he withstood intense and repeated enemy fire to pull seventy-five soldiers in his unit to safety after they had been injured. His story is told in the documentary The Conscientious Objector and dramatized in the film Hacksaw Ridge.
A roll call of the heroes of Christian faith includes such courageous characters as Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Peter, and Paul. Yet there are some unsung heroes like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who risked their standing with the Jewish leaders to take Christ’s crucified body and give Him a decent burial (John 19:40–42). This was a bold move from a fearful, secret disciple of Jesus and another, Nicodemus, who had previously dared to visit Him only at night (vv. 38–39). Even more impressive is that they took their faith-stand before Jesus rose victorious from the grave. Why?
Perhaps the manner of Jesus’s death and the events that immediately followed (Matthew 27:50–54) crystallized the fledgling faith of these fearful followers. Maybe they learned to focus on who God is rather than what man could do to them. Whatever the inspiration, may we follow their example and exhibit courage to take risks of faith in our God—for others today. By: Remi Oyedele
Reflect & Pray
In what ways have you lived courageously for your faith in Jesus? What can you do differently that might show your faith to the world?
Courage [is] not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. Nelson Mandela
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 26, 2019
The “Go” of Reconciliation
If you…remember that your brother has something against you… —Matthew 5:23
This verse says, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you….” It is not saying, “If you search and find something because of your unbalanced sensitivity,” but, “If you…remember….” In other words, if something is brought to your conscious mind by the Spirit of God— “First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:24). Never object to the intense sensitivity of the Spirit of God in you when He is instructing you down to the smallest detail.
“First be reconciled to your brother….” Our Lord’s directive is simple— “First be reconciled….” He says, in effect, “Go back the way you came— the way indicated to you by the conviction given to you at the altar; have an attitude in your mind and soul toward the person who has something against you that makes reconciliation as natural as breathing.” Jesus does not mention the other person— He says for you to go. It is not a matter of your rights. The true mark of the saint is that he can waive his own rights and obey the Lord Jesus.
“…and then come and offer your gift.” The process of reconciliation is clearly marked. First we have the heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, then the sudden restraint by the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit, and then we are stopped at the point of our conviction. This is followed by obedience to the Word of God, which builds an attitude or state of mind that places no blame on the one with whom you have been in the wrong. And finally there is the glad, simple, unhindered offering of your gift to God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Much of the misery in our Christian life comes not because the devil tackles us, but because we have never understood the simple laws of our make-up. We have to treat the body as the servant of Jesus Christ: when the body says “Sit,” and He says “Go,” go! When the body says “Eat,” and He says “Fast,” fast! When the body says “Yawn,” and He says “Pray,” pray! Biblical Ethics, 107 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Life-Saving Pain - #8534
One of the first clues that something was wrong with little Megan showed up when her baby teeth were coming in. She'd chew her lips bloody in her sleep and bite through her tongue while she was eating. When she was three, she laid her hands on a hot pressure washer in the backyard. Didn't cry, just stared bewildered at the red blister in her palm. Megan was diagnosed with a rare condition that makes her unable to feel pain. She gulps down scalding hot food with no internal warning that she's hurting herself. One child with this same condition had appendicitis that went untreated until her appendix burst and there was no pain. Well, last I knew, Megan was five and her inability to feel pain was downright scary.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Life-Saving Pain."
At first thought, you might say. "Oh, it would be nice not to feel pain," but only on first thought. God has given us pain as His internal warning system that something is wrong, something that will cause us far more pain, or even kill us if we don't deal with it. Pain is our friend. It's our life-saving friend - not only physically, but spiritually.
God has built into our soul a capacity to feel guilty when we do something wrong. We might call guilt moral pain. Feeling guilty, and feeling shame over what we have or haven't done, feeling dirty inside - those aren't nice feelings. But they're God's alarm to deal with what's wrong before it causes greater pain, or even spiritual death.
In Psalm 32, which is where we find our word for today from the Word of God, David candidly pours out what moral pain feels like and two ways to respond to the pain. He tried them both. He begins with this conclusion: "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him." Now, there's a declaration of spiritual freedom!
But first came the pain. David says, "When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long." He's talking about a deep soul anguish that he couldn't even put into words. "Day and night, your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer." Maybe these are feelings you know all too well - that heavy weight. Turns out to be the weight of God's hand on you: the dwindling energy - dwindling enthusiasm for life, the dark feelings of shame and guilt, the fear of getting caught. Moral pain, given to you by God, not to make you miserable, but to make you well.
Your guilt isn't meant to crush you. It's meant to save you. And David got the message. He said, "Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord' and You forgave my sin.'" Guilt removed - pain over.
It can be that way for you if you'll quit trying to rationalize your sin, or cover up your sin, or justify it. The longer you refuse to repent of your sin, the more God's going to turn up the pain and the higher price you're going to pay. Not because He doesn't love you, but because He does, too much to let you keep going down a road that's destroying you.
The message from heaven to your heart today is the summons from Acts 3:19 - "Repent and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord." Relief from your pain, healing for your heart, cleansing for your soul - you'll find them at the foot of the cross of Jesus where everything you've done was paid for in full with His blood.
Maybe you've never personally in your heart gone to that cross and said, "Jesus, what You did there is for me your dying for every wrong thing I have ever done, and I'm tired of the guilt. I want to be forgiven. I want to be clean." Would you tell Him that today, put your life in His hands? Put your total trust in Him to be your own Savior from your own sin. And it is done! You are forgiven. It could happen today.
Our website is set up just for this kind of a moment where you're considering beginning a relationship with Jesus. Go there! There's information that will help you cross the line. That website is ANewStory.com.
You know that pain in your soul? Listen to it. It's life-saving pain.