Max Lucado Daily: AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
A few years back, three questions came from different people in the span of a month.
Question 1: Had you been a German Christian during World War II, would you have taken a stand against Hitler?
Question 2: Had you lived in the South during the civil rights conflict, would you have taken a stand against racism?
Question 3: When your grandchildren discover you lived during a day in which 1.75 billion people were poor and 1 billion were hungry, how will they judge your response?
I didn’t mind the first two questions. Those choices were not mine. But the third question has kept me awake at night. We are given an opportunity to make a big difference during a difficult time. We are created by a God to do great works. He invites us to outlive our lives, not just in heaven but here on earth.
Psalm 49
A Psalm of the Sons of Korah
49 1-2 Listen, everyone, listen—
earth-dwellers, don’t miss this.
All you haves
and have-nots,
All together now: listen.
3-4 I set plainspoken wisdom before you,
my heart-seasoned understandings of life.
I fine-tuned my ear to the sayings of the wise,
I solve life’s riddle with the help of a harp.
5-6 So why should I fear in bad times,
hemmed in by enemy malice,
Shoved around by bullies,
demeaned by the arrogant rich?
7-9 Really! There’s no such thing as self-rescue,
pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
The cost of rescue is beyond our means,
and even then it doesn’t guarantee
Life forever, or insurance
against the Black Hole.
10-11 Anyone can see that the brightest and best die,
wiped out right along with fools and dunces.
They leave all their prowess behind,
move into their new home, The Coffin,
The cemetery their permanent address.
And to think they named counties after themselves!
12 We aren’t immortal. We don’t last long.
Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.
13-15 This is what happens to those who live for the moment,
who only look out for themselves:
Death herds them like sheep straight to hell;
they disappear down the gullet of the grave;
They waste away to nothing—
nothing left but a marker in a cemetery.
But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death,
he reaches down and grabs me.
16-19 So don’t be impressed with those who get rich
and pile up fame and fortune.
They can’t take it with them;
fame and fortune all get left behind.
Just when they think they’ve arrived
and folks praise them because they’ve made good,
They enter the family burial plot
where they’ll never see sunshine again.
20 We aren’t immortal. We don’t last long.
Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, January 02, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Proverbs 24:13–14
Saying 26
13 Eat honey, my son, for it is good;
honey from the comb is sweet to your taste.
14 Know also that wisdom is like honey for you:
If you find it, there is a future hope for you,
and your hope will not be cut off.i
Insight
The book of Proverbs helps us theologically, practically, and ethically. It helps us theologically by describing the nature of wisdom as centered in God, practically by guiding us toward skillful living, and ethically by showing us how to live both individually and in community.
Some of the many practical topics that guide us toward wise living include: family relationships (6:20), sexual ethics (6:23–29), taking care of the poor (14:21; 19:17; 28:27), listening to advice (9:7–9), work ethics (10:4–5), business ethics (11:1, 26), life-planning (16:1–3, 9, 33), dealing with authority (23:1–3), relationships with friends/neighbors (24:28–29; 27:14), conflict (26:17, 20–21), anger (27:3), and the danger of pride (29:23).
Adapted from Understanding the Bible: The Wisdom Books by Tremper Longman. To read more, visit discoveryseries.org/q0422.
Good for You
Wisdom is like honey for you: If you find it, there is a future hope. Proverbs 24:14
People the world over spent an estimated $98.2 billion on chocolate in 2016. The number is staggering, yet at the same time not all that surprising. Chocolate, after all, tastes delicious and we enjoy consuming it. So the world rejoiced collectively when the sweet treat was found to have significant health benefits as well. Chocolate contains flavonoids that help safeguard the body against aging and heart disease. Never has a prescription for health been so well received or heeded (in moderation, of course!).
Solomon suggested there’s another “sweet” worthy of our investment: wisdom. He recommended his son eat honey “for it is good” (Proverbs 24:13) and compared its sweetness to wisdom. The person who feeds on God’s wisdom in Scripture finds it not only sweet to the soul but beneficial for teaching and training, equipping us for “every good work” we’ll need to accomplish in life (2 Timothy 3:16–17).
Wisdom is what allows us to make smart choices and understand the world around us. And it’s worth investing in and sharing with those we love—as Solomon wished to do for his son. We can feel good about feasting on God’s wisdom in the Bible. It’s a sweet treat that we can enjoy without limit—in fact, we’re encouraged to! God, thank You for the sweetness of Your Scriptures! By: Kirsten Holmberg
Reflect & Pray
What wisdom do you need to consume today? How has God’s wisdom been sweet to you?
God, please nourish us with Your wisdom.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 02, 2020
Will You Go Out Without Knowing?
He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8
Have you ever “gone out” in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, “What do you expect to do?” You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to “go out” in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don’t know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to “go out,” building your confidence in God. “…do not worry about your life…nor about the body…” (Luke 12:22). In other words, don’t worry about the things that concerned you before you did “go out.”
Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you “go out” in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does?
Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to “go out” in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to “go out” through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. The Place of Help, 1032 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, January 02, 2020
A Look At the Label - #8604
Now when you go food shopping it isn't as simple as it used to be. But that's a good thing, because you have to take time to read the labels. You don't just grab and run. Now, you think about it, we can find out now what's really in that cereal or those cookies or whatever. We're starting to realize more that what we eat has a lot to do with how healthy we are. And maybe how long we live. There's a lot of damaging ingredients hidden in some of that food, like for example, fat grams! Before we buy something, we've got to know about the fat grams in it and a whole lot of other things. I mean, who needs that stuff keeping your blood from your heart? Now, we smart shoppers, who want to live a little longer, realize the damage that those ingredients can do; some of that stuff that's hiding in the food, so we don't just buy the good-looking food because it looks good. Uh! Uh! First, we check for what's in that product that could do damage!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Look at the Label."
Now, we've gotten more and more vigilant about what we put in our body, huh? Things that can hurt it. We don't want to do that. But what about what we put in our soul? Our word for today from the Word of God, comes from 1 Peter 2, beginning at verse 9. It tells us what we are. We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people belonging to God!
Then in verse 11 it says, "I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul." Wow! I mean there are desires and temptations that literally attack your soul, and your soul is the 'command center' of your choices and your imagination, your dreams and your lifestyle. If it gets poisoned, your life gets poisoned. So like a health conscious shopper, we need to "Look At the Label."
We've got to check what damaging ingredients there might be and what we're allowing to feed our soul. Now our soul feeds on the books and magazines we read, the websites we visit, the videos we watch, the music we listen to, the movies we go to, the jokes we listen to. It feeds on the conversations we're in, the relationships we spend a lot of time on, and God's command is without compromise. "Abstain from sinful desires!" Don't touch, don't watch, don't listen to, don't be around any input that Satan can use later to attack your soul.
Maybe you've become kind of careless about what you're letting into your soul. It's easy to do, especially in times when you just want to relax or be entertained, times when you want to sort of hang a "closed" sign out on your brain. Those times where your guard is down are the most dangerous of all for your soul. Why is it so important, as the Bible says, to guard your heart? Because every sinful image is an opening for Satan to come into your soul and poison it, and "erode" you.
Sinful images last much longer than the moment you see or hear them. You know that. For example: dirty jokes and dirty pictures, they live on in your soul don't they? Often for many years. Every portrayal of something dark wears down your spiritual resistance and you need all of that you can muster.
Sinful input dulls your heart to Jesus' voice and it weakens your soul. Here's the bottom line: you can't afford, any longer, to let that poison into your soul! It just isn't worth the damage it can do. I've decided that about what I let into my body. So, that food may look good and taste good, but the pleasure isn't worth the damage to my heart. No matter how attractive that sin-selling input is, don't let it in. It is not worth the damage it will do to your heart.
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