Max Lucado Daily: SECOND CHANCES
Not many second chances exist in the world today! It’s more like “three strikes and you’re out.” It’s a dog-eat-dog world!
Jesus has a simple answer. He would say, “Well, then don’t live with the dogs.” Why let a bunch of other failures tell you how much of a failure you are? Sure you can have a second chance! Just ask Peter. One minute he felt lower than a snake’s belly and the next he was high hog at the trough. When Peter denied Jesus, the message came loud and clear, “Be sure and tell Peter he gets to bat again!”
It’s not every day you get a second chance. It’s not every day you find someone who’ll give you a second chance—much less someone who’ll give you a second chance every day. But in Jesus, Peter found both! No wonder they call Him the Savior!
1 Chronicles 2
Israel’s (that is, Jacob’s) sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
3-9 Judah had Er, Onan, and Shelah; their mother was Bathshua the Canaanite. Er, Judah’s firstborn, was so bad before God that God killed him. Judah also had Perez and Zerah by his daughter-in-law Tamar—a total of five sons. Perez had Hezron and Hamul; Zerah had Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Darda—five sons. Carmi had Achar, who brought doom on Israel when he violated a holy ban. Ethan’s son was Azariah. And Hezron had Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai.
10-17 Ram had Amminadab and Amminadab had Nahshon, a prominent leader in the Judah family. Nahshon had Salmon and Salmon had Boaz. Boaz had Obed and Obed had Jesse. Jesse’s firstborn was Eliab, followed by Abinadab, Shimea, Nethanel, Raddai, Ozem, and finally David; David was the seventh. Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah gave birth to three sons: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel; Abigail was the mother of Amasa (the father was Jether the Ishmaelite).
18-24 Caleb son of Hezron had children by his wife Azubah and also by Jerioth. Azubah’s sons were Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon. After Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who gave birth to Hur. Hur had Uri and Uri had Bezalel. Some time later Hezron married the daughter of Makir the father of Gilead; he was sixty years old when he married her; she gave birth to Segub. Then Segub had Jair who owned twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead. Geshur and Aram captured the nomadic villages of Jair and Kenath and their satellite settlements—sixty towns. These all belonged to Makir the father of Gilead. After the death of Hezron, Caleb married Ephrathah the wife of his father Hezron; she then gave birth to Ashhur the father of Tekoa.
25-26 The sons of Jerahmeel, Hezron’s firstborn: Ram his firstborn, followed by Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah. Jerahmeel had another wife whose name was Atarah; she gave birth to Onam.
27 The sons of Ram, Jerahmeel’s firstborn: Maaz, Jamin, and Eker.
28-29 The sons of Onam: Shammai and Jada.
The sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur. Abishur’s wife was Abihail; she gave birth to Ahban and Molid.
30 Nadab had Seled and Appaim. Seled died leaving no sons.
31 Appaim had Ishi; Ishi had Sheshan; and Sheshan had Ahlai.
32 Jada, Shammai’s brother, had Jether and Jonathan. Jether died leaving no sons.
33 Jonathan had Peleth and Zaza.
This is the family tree of the sons of Jerahmeel.
34-41 Sheshan had no sons, only daughters. But Sheshan had an Egyptian servant, Jarha. Sheshan married his daughter to Jarha and she gave birth to Attai. Attai had Nathan, Nathan had Zabad, Zabad had Ephlal, Ephlal had Obed, Obed had Jehu, Jehu had Azariah, Azariah had Helez, Helez had Eleasah, Eleasah had Sismai, Sismai had Shallum, Shallum had Jekamiah, and Jekamiah had Elishama.
42 Jerahmeel’s brother Caleb had a son, his firstborn, named Mesha; Mesha had Ziph; Ziph’s son was Mareshah the father of Hebron.
43-44 The sons of Hebron: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema. Shema had Raham the father of Jorkeam; Rekem had Shammai.
45 Shammai’s son was Maon and Maon was the father of Beth Zur.
46 Caleb’s concubine Ephah gave birth to Haran, Moza, and Gazez; Haran had Gazez.
47 The sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph.
48-50 Another concubine of Caleb, Maacah, gave birth to Sheber and Tirhanah. She also bore Shaaph the father of Madmannah and Sheva the father of Macbenah and Gibea. Caleb’s daughter was Acsah. These made up the Caleb branch of the family tree.
50-51 The sons of Hur, Ephrathah’s firstborn: Shobal who had Kiriath Jearim, Salma who had Bethlehem, and Hareph father of Beth Gader.
52-53 The family of Shobal, father of Kiriath Jearim: Haroeh, half of the population of Manahath, the families of Kiriath Jearim, the Ithrites, the Puthites, the Shumathites, and the Mishraites. The Zorathites and Eshtaolites also came from this line.
54-55 The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth Beth Joab, half of the Manahathites, the Zorites, and the families of Sopherim who lived at Jabez—the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and the Sucathites. They made up the Kenites who came from Hammath the father of the house of Recab.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, December 05, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Samuel 9:3–11
The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”
Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan;i he is lamej in both feet.”
4 “Where is he?” the king asked.
Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makirk son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”
5 So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.
6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.l
David said, “Mephibosheth!”
“At your service,” he replied.
7 “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan.m I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.n”
8 Mephiboshetho bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dogp like me?”
9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandsonq may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
11 Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’sa table like one of the king’s sons.r
Insight
The events that transpire in 2 Samuel 9 have their roots in the covenant relationship that David had with Jonathan, the son of Israel’s first king, Saul. Jonathan, knowing that David was destined to be king, secured David’s commitment to show “kindness” to his offspring (1 Samuel 20:14–17). Mephibosheth, crippled by an accident when he was five years old (2 Samuel 4:4), was an heir to covenant kindness. By: Arthur Jackson
Intentional Kindness
I want to show God’s kindness to them. 2 Samuel 9:3 nlt
Boarding a plane alone with her children, a young mom tried desperately to calm her three-year-old daughter who began kicking and crying. Then her hungry four-month-old son also began to wail.
A traveler seated next to her quickly offered to hold the baby while Jessica got her daughter buckled in. Then the traveler—recalling his own days as a young dad—began coloring with the toddler while Jessica fed her infant. And on the next connecting flight, the same man offered to assist again if needed.
Jessica recalled, “I [was] blown away by God’s hand in this. [We] could have been placed next to anyone, but we were seated next to one of the nicest men I have ever met.”
In 2 Samuel 9, we read of another example of what I call intentional kindness. After King Saul and his son Jonathan had been killed, some expected David to kill off any competition to his claim for the throne. Instead, he asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?” (v. 3). Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, was then brought to David who restored his inheritance and warmly invited him to share his table from then on—just as if he were his own son (v. 11).
As beneficiaries of the immense kindness of God, may we look for opportunities to show intentional kindness toward others (Galatians 6:10). By: Cindy Hess Kasper
Reflect & Pray
Who can you show God’s kindness to? What specific act of kindness can you demonstrate to someone who is hurting or discouraged?
Heavenly Father, I thank You for the kindness You’ve shown me. Help me to lavish it on others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, December 05, 2019
“The Temple of the Holy Spirit”
…only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you. —Genesis 41:40
I am accountable to God for the way I control my body under His authority. Paul said he did not “set aside the grace of God”— make it ineffective (Galatians 2:21). The grace of God is absolute and limitless, and the work of salvation through Jesus is complete and finished forever. I am not being saved— I am saved. Salvation is as eternal as God’s throne, but I must put to work or use what God has placed within me. To “work out [my] own salvation” (Philippians 2:12) means that I am responsible for using what He has given me. It also means that I must exhibit in my own body the life of the Lord Jesus, not mysteriously or secretly, but openly and boldly. “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection . . .” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Every Christian can have his body under absolute control for God. God has given us the responsibility to rule over all “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” including our thoughts and desires (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are responsible for these, and we must never give way to improper ones. But most of us are much more severe in our judgment of others than we are in judging ourselves. We make excuses for things in ourselves, while we condemn things in the lives of others simply because we are not naturally inclined to do them.
Paul said, “I beseech you…that you present your bodies a living sacrifice…” (Romans 12:1). What I must decide is whether or not I will agree with my Lord and Master that my body will indeed be His temple. Once I agree, all the rules, regulations, and requirements of the law concerning the body are summed up for me in this revealed truth-my body is “the temple of the Holy Spirit.”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To live a life alone with God does not mean that we live it apart from everyone else. The connection between godly men and women and those associated with them is continually revealed in the Bible, e.g., 1 Timothy 4:10. Not Knowing Whither, 867 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, December 05, 2019
The Biggest Mistake of All - #8584
Amy Biehl was 26 years old, and she really wanted to make a difference. Her graduate studies took her to South Africa in the turbulent days when the repressive system of apartheid was coming down and that nation's first all-race elections were approaching. She actually helped develop voter registration programs to help black South Africans participate in a system that up until then had always shut them out. She was driving three black coworkers back to the township where they lived. Suddenly a group of youths pelted her car with stones and forced it to stop. Dozens of young men surrounded the car and they started chanting, "One settler - one bullet! One settler - one bullet!" They pulled Amy from the car, hit her with a brick, beat her, and stabbed her in the heart. During that attack her black friends were yelling that she was a friend to black South Africans, all to no avail. Amy died from her wounds.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Biggest Mistake of All."
Someone who knew Amy underscored the tragedy of her death this way: "She was killed by some of the very people she had come to help." Some of those she came to help loved her, but others attacked her. And it is an ugly thing to brutalize someone who has come to help you. Of course, that happens to Jesus all the time. Often at the hands of people who have no idea that's what they're doing; people who have actually come close to Jesus, people who know a lot about Jesus. I'll explain.
There's a sobering scenario described in our word for today from the Word of God in Hebrews 10:29. These verses talk about what happens "if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth." The Bible appears to be talking about people who know about Jesus but keep on running their own lives. And that person, according to Hebrews 10:29, "has trampled the Son of God under foot...treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him...and insulted the Spirit of grace." That's heavy stuff! In fact, Hebrews 6:6 says that those who have tasted what Jesus offers and then go live their own way "are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace."
I'll tell you, if you know that Jesus has died on the cross to pay for your sin, if you've been "into Jesus" to some extent and you remain unchanged, that's serious business. And even though you're for Jesus and you agree with Jesus, you might be missing Jesus. The only response worthy of the sacrifice He made for us is to fall on our knees and give ourselves completely to the One who gave Himself completely for us. Anything less than a life-changing personal commitment to Jesus amounts to (God's words) "trampling the Son of God under foot" and "crucifying the Son of God all over again." In essence, turning on the very One who came to help you, to save you.
And that is the greatest mistake anyone can ever make. This isn't about Christianity, it's not about Christians. It's about Jesus. And maybe right now, He is speaking to you in your heart saying, "Don't do this. Don't come this close to Me and miss Me. I love you, and I'm giving you this chance to make things right with Me. Come on home."
Are you ready to finally give yourself to Him completely? Well, you can tell Him that right where you are. He's been waiting to hear from you, "Jesus, I believe You died on the cross. It was for my sins. You walked out of that grave to give me life, and beginning this very day I want to be Yours."
I hope your next stop will be our website ANewStory.com. Because I believe there's information there that can help you make this the beginning of your new story.
Please, don't risk another day away from Jesus.
