Max Lucado Daily: GET OUT OF YOUR SHELL
God loves all people groups and equips us to be his voice. He teaches us the vocabulary of distant lands, the dialect of the discouraged neighbor, the vernacular of the lonely heart, and the idiom of the young student. God outfits his followers to cross cultures and touch hearts. Pentecost makes this promise: if you are in Christ, God’s Spirit will speak through you.
Let God unshell you. Galatians 6:4 says, “Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Discover your language. With whom do you feel most fluent? For whom do you feel most compassion? It’s amazing what happens when we get out of our shells.
Psalm 87
A Korah Psalm
He founded Zion on the Holy Mountain—
and oh, how God loves his home!
Loves it far better than all
the homes of Jacob put together!
God’s hometown—oh!
everyone there is talking about you!
4 I name them off, those among whom I’m famous:
Egypt and Babylon,
also Philistia,
even Tyre, along with Cush.
Word’s getting around; they point them out:
“This one was born again here!”
5 The word’s getting out on Zion:
“Men and women, right and left,
get born again in her!”
6 God registers their names in his book:
“This one, this one, and this one—
born again, right here.”
7 Singers and dancers give credit to Zion:
“All my springs are in you!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, January 08, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Job 19:21–27
“Have pity on me, my friends,z have pity,
for the hand of God has strucka me.
22 Why do you pursueb me as God does?c
Will you never get enough of my flesh?d
23 “Oh, that my words were recorded,
that they were written on a scroll,e
24 that they were inscribed with an iron toolf onb lead,
or engraved in rock forever!g
25 I know that my redeemerc h lives,i
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.d
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yete inf my flesh I will see God;j
27 I myself will see him
with my own eyesk—I, and not another.
How my heart yearnsl within me!
Insight
Accused of secret sin that had caused his suffering, Job maintained his innocence. In Job 19:25, he speaks of a Redeemer who will one day vindicate him. The word used here for “Redeemer” frequently refers in the Old Testament to the kinsman-redeemer, the person who defended or avenged the cause of another, or who provided protection or legal aid for close relatives who could not do so for themselves (Leviticus 25:47–55; Ruth 3:9; Proverbs 23:10–11; Jeremiah 50:34). Some see a correlation between the Old Testament kinsman-redeemer and the redemptive ministry of Jesus.
A Hundred Years from Now
I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. Job 19:25
“I just want people to remember me a hundred years from now,” said screenwriter Rod Serling in 1975. Creator of the TV series The Twilight Zone, Serling wanted people to say of him, “He was a writer.” Most of us can identify with Serling’s desire to leave a legacy—something to give our lives a sense of meaning and permanence.
The story of Job shows us a man struggling with meaning amid life’s fleeting days. In a moment, not just his possessions but those most precious to him, his children, were taken. Then his friends accused him of deserving this fate. Job cried out: “Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!” (Job 19:23–24).
Job’s words have been “engraved in rock forever.” We have them in the Bible. Yet Job needed even more meaning in his life than the legacy he’d leave behind. He discovered it in the character of God. “I know that my redeemer lives,” Job declared, “and that in the end he will stand on the earth” (19:25). This knowledge gave him the right longing. “I myself will see him,” Job said. “How my heart yearns within me!” (v. 27).
In the end, Job didn’t find what he expected. He found much more—the Source of all meaning and permanence (42:1–6). By: Tim Gustafson
Reflect & Pray
Why do you think Job wanted his words preserved forever? How do you want people to remember you one hundred years from now?
God, everything is fleeting except for You. We praise You for Your unshakable character. Show us what is truly important.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, January 08, 2020
Is My Sacrifice Living?
Abraham built an altar…; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar… —Genesis 22:9
This event is a picture of the mistake we make in thinking that the ultimate God wants of us is the sacrifice of death. What God wants is the sacrifice through death which enables us to do what Jesus did, that is, sacrifice our lives. Not— “Lord, I am ready to go with You…to death” (Luke 22:33). But— “I am willing to be identified with Your death so that I may sacrifice my life to God.”
We seem to think that God wants us to give up things! God purified Abraham from this error, and the same process is at work in our lives. God never tells us to give up things just for the sake of giving them up, but He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having, namely, life with Himself. It is a matter of loosening the bands that hold back our lives. Those bands are loosened immediately by identification with the death of Jesus. Then we enter into a relationship with God whereby we may sacrifice our lives to Him.
It is of no value to God to give Him your life for death. He wants you to be a “living sacrifice”— to let Him have all your strengths that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus (Romans 12:1). This is what is acceptable to God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion. The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, January 08, 2020
How to Shape Up the Neighborhood - #8608
One of the cities that symbolizes the charm of the Old South for me is Charleston, South Carolina. When you go down to the harbor and hire a carriage ride to go to the old part of the city, you feel like you're suddenly back in like "Gone With the Wind" or something. These antebellum homes and mansions are classic. I thought it was great that this historic part of the city had been so well preserved over the years, until the carriage driver told me what really happened. These old buildings had actually deteriorated terribly over the years and the area had become pretty shabby until some people took an interest in financing a renewal.
According to our driver, they only had a limited amount of money, so they decided to invest in one building. Now the owner used those funds to convert this dilapidated old building into a historic masterpiece. "Well, that's only one building. What about the neighborhood?" Well, it's interesting. The fellow next door was so inspired by what had happened to the neighboring property, he decided to find somebody to restore his building. Then the next neighbor did the same thing, and then the next neighbor, until finally the entire neighborhood was finally transformed.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Shape Up the Neighborhood."
The recovery of historic Charleston demonstrates dramatically the renewing power of a model, and so does the story of the great Jewish leader Ezra at a time when God's people looked pretty dilapidated.
We read part of that story in Ezra 9. It's our word for today from the Word of God beginning at verse 3. He says, "When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled. And I sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice. Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the Lord my God and I prayed: 'Oh my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.'"
Now, what have we got here? We've got a man so torn up over the sin of his people that he passionately repents - even publicly repents - and grieves over sin. And here's the result in chapter 10, verses 1 and 2. "While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites gathered around him. They, too, wept bitterly." Then they, too, went on to confess publicly.
It's like the renewal of Old Charleston. The revival of one man sparked the revival of the people around him. I remember, I think it was back in the spring of 1995, we began to hear some extraordinary spiritual renewal stories that were taking place on Christian college campuses. What began in one school spread to a lot of others, and in each case there were hundreds of students confessing their sins publicly, being surrounded by fellow students praying with them and for them. There was a public destruction of what I call "sin props": videos, magazines, books, and music. Broken relationships were restored, and suddenly the Holy Spirit exploded across entire student bodies.
In almost every case, it began the same way. Not with a sermon or a series of meetings. It began when one student spontaneously walked to the front of a meeting and asked if he or she could say something. And in each situation it was a student whose heart had been broken over its sin, like Ezra, who wanted to make it right with the accountability and support of their peers to solidify it.
In Ezra's day - in our day - revival conditions begin when one person becomes what Ezra embodied - a radical repenter - someone who's sick of their sin, sick of the wicked ways around them. Someone who's willing to repent of that sin even publicly, passionately. And that leads to your neighborhood, whether that's your church or your organization or your family, your circle of believers. Would you ask the Lord to help you see the immediate world around you through His eyes, and to see your sin and the sin around you? Would you dare look at it in light of Jesus dying on the cross for it?
And then maybe the Lord will ask you to be the one who makes it right in a public way. Who knows what might happen? If one person attacked what is decaying and began a renewing work, then God might use it to transform everyone around.
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