Max Lucado Daily: TO LOVE A STRANGER
“Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay” (1 Peter 4:9).
The Greek word for hospitality compounds two terms: love and stranger. The word literally means to love a stranger. All of us can welcome a guest we know and love. But can we welcome a stranger? Every morning in America more than 39 million people wake up in poverty. When we provide food stamps, we stave off hunger. But when we invite the hungry to our tables, we address the deeper issues of value and self-worth. God’s secret weapons in the war on poverty include your kitchen table and mine.
We encounter people. We detect an urge to open our doors to them. In these moments let’s heed the inner voice. We never know whom we may be hosting for dinner.
1 Chronicles 24
The family of Aaron was grouped as follows: Aaron’s sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Nadab and Abihu died before their father and left no sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar filled the office of priest. David assigned Zadok from the family of Eleazar and Ahimelech from the family of Ithamar and assigned them to separate divisions for carrying out their appointed ministries. It turned out that there were more leaders in Eleazar’s family than in Ithamar’s and so they divided them proportionately: sixteen clan leaders from Eleazar’s family and eight clan leaders from Ithamar’s family. They assigned the leaders by lot, treating both families alike, for there were officials of the sanctuary and officials of God among both the Eleazar and Ithamar families.
6 The secretary Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite, wrote down their names in the presence of the king, the officials, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and the leaders of the priestly and Levitical families. They took turns: One family was selected from Eleazar and then one from Ithamar.
7-18 The first lot fell to Jehoiarib,
the second to Jedaiah,
the third to Harim,
the fourth to Seorim,
the fifth to Malkijah,
the sixth to Mijamin,
the seventh to Hakkoz,
the eighth to Abijah,
the ninth to Jeshua,
the tenth to Shecaniah,
the eleventh to Eliashib,
the twelfth to Jakim,
the thirteenth to Huppah,
the fourteenth to Jeshebeab,
the fifteenth to Bilgah,
the sixteenth to Immer,
the seventeenth to Hezir,
the eighteenth to Happizzez,
the nineteenth to Pethahiah,
the twentieth to Jehezkel,
the twenty-first to Jakin,
the twenty-second to Gamul,
the twenty-third to Delaiah,
and the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.
19 They served in this appointed order when they entered The Temple of God, following the procedures laid down by their ancestor Aaron as God, the God of Israel, had commanded him.
20 The rest of the Levites are as follows:
From the sons of Amram: Shubael; from the sons of Shubael: Jehdeiah.
21 Concerning Rehabiah: from his sons, Isshiah was the first.
22 From the Izharites: Shelomoth; from the sons of Shelomoth: Jahath.
23 The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.
24-25 The son of Uzziel: Micah, and from the sons of Micah: Shamir. The brother of Micah was Isshiah, and from the sons of Isshiah: Zechariah.
26-27 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The son of Jaaziah: Beno. The sons of Merari from Jaaziah: Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri.
28 From Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons.
29 From Kish: Jerahmeel, the son of Kish.
30-31 And from the sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.
These were the Levites by their families. They also cast lots, the same as their kindred the sons of Aaron had done, in the presence of David the king, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the leaders of the priestly and Levitical families. The families of the oldest and youngest brothers were treated the same.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, January 20, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Peter 4:7–11
The end of all things is near.e Therefore be alert and of sober mindf so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply,g because love covers over a multitude of sins.h 9 Offer hospitalityi to one another without grumbling.j 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others,k as faithfull stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.m If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides,n so that in all things God may be praisedo through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Insight
Ancient letter-writing followed a general formula: opening/greeting, thanksgiving, body, and closing. Each of these sections has distinct subsections and characteristics, and each serves an important function in delivering the message of the writer.
Today’s passage is part of the closing section. It’s also what’s known as a hortatory (“to exhort”) section. Here the writer gives last-minute instructions to the reader. This section isn’t always a well-organized and progressive argument; rather, it’s more like random-fire instructions of everything the writer, through the inspiration of the Spirit, wanted to say but didn’t find a place to say in the body of the letter. Here at the end of his first letter, Peter urges his readers to pray, love, be hospitable, use their gifts, speak God’s words, and serve.
Clean Containers
Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs. Proverbs 10:12
“Hatred corrodes the container that carries it.” These words were spoken by former Senator Alan Simpson at the funeral of George H. W. Bush. Attempting to describe his dear friend’s kindness, Senator Simpson recalled how the forty-first president of the United States embraced humor and love rather than hatred in his professional leadership and personal relationships.
I relate to the senator’s quote, don’t you? Oh, the damage done to me when I harbor hatred!
Medical research reveals the damage done to our bodies when we cling to the negative or release bursts of anger. Our blood pressure rises. Our hearts pound. Our spirits sag. Our containers corrode.
In Proverbs 10:12, King Solomon observes, “Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.” The conflict that results from hatred here is a blood feud between rivaling peoples of different tribes and races. Such hatred fuels the drive for revenge so that people who despise each other can’t connect.
By contrast, God’s way of love covers—draws a veil over, conceals, or forgives—all wrongs. That doesn’t mean we overlook errors or enable a wrongdoer. But we don’t nurse the wrong when someone is truly remorseful. And if they never apologize, we still release our feelings to God. We who know the Great Lover are to “love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). By: Elisa Morgan
Reflect & Pray
What things cause you to hate? How might the hard-hearted heat of hostility eat away at our personal joy and our world’s peace?
O God, help me surrender to Your great love that covers all sins and makes me into a clean container in which You dwell in love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, January 20, 2020
Are You Fresh for Everything?
Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." —John 3:3
Sometimes we are fresh and eager to attend a prayer meeting, but do we feel that same freshness for such mundane tasks as polishing shoes?
Being born again by the Spirit is an unmistakable work of God, as mysterious as the wind, and as surprising as God Himself. We don’t know where it begins— it is hidden away in the depths of our soul. Being born again from above is an enduring, perpetual, and eternal beginning. It provides a freshness all the time in thinking, talking, and living— a continual surprise of the life of God. Staleness is an indication that something in our lives is out of step with God. We say to ourselves, “I have to do this thing or it will never get done.” That is the first sign of staleness. Do we feel fresh this very moment or are we stale, frantically searching our minds for something to do? Freshness is not the result of obedience; it comes from the Holy Spirit. Obedience keeps us “in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7).
Jealously guard your relationship with God. Jesus prayed “that they may be one just as We are one” — with nothing in between (John 17:22). Keep your whole life continually open to Jesus Christ. Don’t pretend to be open with Him. Are you drawing your life from any source other than God Himself? If you are depending on something else as your source of freshness and strength, you will not realize when His power is gone.
Being born of the Spirit means much more than we usually think. It gives us new vision and keeps us absolutely fresh for everything through the never-ending supply of the life of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, January 20, 2020
The High Price of Brake Failure - #8616
Our friends, Dan and Ellen, were living in this beautiful farmhouse that became a little less beautiful one day. They'd been doing some heavy outdoor work and they were using a big old dump truck. Ellen was a city girl. She lived on a farm for so many years that there isn't much that she couldn't do though - including driving a dump truck! She'd learned to be a good farm girl. This particular night they had just started it up when she had to run in the house for something, maybe a phone call. (You getting ahead of me now?) She left it running for just a minute. I guess it was more minutes inside than she had anticipated. You know how phone calls can be. Something happened as the air pressure built up in the truck's air brakes and they somehow released! Yeah, that big old dump truck started rolling until something stopped it...Dan and Ellen's dining room and kitchen stopped it! That truck ploughed right through their dining room wall. The brakes on their vehicle failed and the result? Major damage to their home!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The High Price of Brake Failure."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Proverbs 27:23-24. Here's what it says, "Be sure you know the condition of your flocks. Give careful attention to your herds for riches do not endure forever and a crown is not secure for all generations." Well, that's good advice for farmers. Oh, no. Not just for farmers. It's especially for those who are growing a home, or a marriage, or children. Developing a marriage is a lot like farming. Parenting is emotional and spiritual farming. Raising the most precious crop of all, children who are, as my wife often said, messengers to a time we will not see. Your family is your flock, the one you're supposed to know the condition of and give careful attention to.
A lot of families are damaged today because of brake failure in a man or woman's vehicle. I mean your job, your career, your business. That's the vehicle for earning money and maybe even for making a difference in other people's lives. But the problem comes when your work gets out of control and you don't have your work anymore, your work has you! It's easy to become so preoccupied with your work you don't know the condition of your flock and you don't give careful attention to it. The long hours, they drain you. All you have left for your mate or your kids is your leftovers.
The vehicle might be crashing right into your home! Or maybe the runaway vehicle is work you're doing for the Lord. Who could fault you for serving the Lord for so many hours with admirable dedication, right? Maybe your wife, or your husband, or your son or your daughter could. Maybe even the Lord you're working so hard for. Your family is your first and foremost ministry, and the ministry to them may be suffering because of all you're doing at church or some ministry - wonderful vehicles for serving Christ - but if your vehicle is damaging your home, it's gone too far.
Whether it's your job, your ministry, some project you're preoccupied with, maybe God's trying to tell you to put on the brakes, even if that means making less money or sacrificing some prestige, or some pursuit of personal significance. Even if it means people will not understand you, you cannot neglect your most important relationships any longer.
Neglect will ruin a garden, it will ruin a car, it will ruin your figure. You don't have to do anything to wreck them, just do nothing. And neglect may be doing slow but ultimately expensive damage to your family. Why? Because of the same thing that damag
ed our friend's home, a vehicle out of control because of brake failure. Your brake failure.
Is it time to get with God and get some new priorities? Only you can apply the brakes. Please, don't wait for the crash.
