Max Lucado Daily: STAND UP FOR THE HAVE NOTS
In the game of life, many of us who cross home plate do so because we were born on third base. Others aren’t even on a team. Some people are poor because they are lazy and they need to get off their duffs. Others, however, are poor because they were born in the wrong place. A latitude largely vacant of libraries, vaccinations, clean water, and paved roads.
The ultimate solution to poverty is found in the compassion of God’s people. Scripture endorses not forced communism but Spirit-led volunteerism among God’s people. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.
What about you? Why not teach an inner-city Bible study? Use your vacation to build houses in hurricane-ravaged towns? Run for public office? Get out of your comfort zone…for Christ’s sake.
1 Corinthians 15:35-58
Some skeptic is sure to ask, “Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this ‘resurrection body’ look like?” If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a “dead” seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it don’t look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.
39-41 You will notice that the variety of bodies is stunning. Just as there are different kinds of seeds, there are different kinds of bodies—humans, animals, birds, fish—each unprecedented in its form. You get a hint at the diversity of resurrection glory by looking at the diversity of bodies not only on earth but in the skies—sun, moon, stars—all these varieties of beauty and brightness. And we’re only looking at pre-resurrection “seeds”—who can imagine what the resurrection “plants” will be like!
42-44 This image of planting a dead seed and raising a live plant is a mere sketch at best, but perhaps it will help in approaching the mystery of the resurrection body—but only if you keep in mind that when we’re raised, we’re raised for good, alive forever! The corpse that’s planted is no beauty, but when it’s raised, it’s glorious. Put in the ground weak, it comes up powerful. The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is supernatural—same seed, same body, but what a difference from when it goes down in physical mortality to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality!
45-49 We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. Physical life comes first, then spiritual—a firm base shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven. The First Man was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly. In the same way that we’ve worked from our earthy origins, let’s embrace our heavenly ends.
50 I need to emphasize, friends, that our natural, earthy lives don’t in themselves lead us by their very nature into the kingdom of God. Their very “nature” is to die, so how could they “naturally” end up in the Life kingdom?
51-57 But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:
Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?
It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!
58 With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Corinthians 4:7–12
But we have this treasure in jars of clayw to show that this all-surpassing power is from Godx and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side,y but not crushed; perplexed,z but not in despair; 9 persecuted,a but not abandoned;b struck down, but not destroyed.c 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus,d so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.e 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake,f so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.g
Insight
Paul’s call to ministry included the call to suffer (Acts 9:15–16). In 2 Corinthians 1:8–10; 6:4–10; and 11:23–27 he elaborated on the many oppositions, persecutions, threats, and dangers he faced. He sees these hardships from God’s perspective and desires to persevere through them with God’s provision (4:14–18). Paul’s confident resolve is to not “lose heart” (vv. 1, 16).
In the Bible, earthen vessels (objects made from clay) are used as a metaphor for human weakness and powerlessness (Job 4:19; 10:9; Psalm 31:12; 103:14–15). By speaking of himself as a “jar of clay” (2 Corinthians 4:7), Paul acknowledges his frailty and mortality. His confidence isn’t rooted in himself, but in God’s sovereign power and sustaining grace (vv. 7–9), Jesus’ resurrection life (vv. 10–15), and an expectation of a future reward and eternal glory (vv. 16–18).
An Old Clay Pot
We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7
I’ve acquired a number of old clay pots over the years. My favorite was excavated from a site dated during Abraham’s time. It’s at least one item in our home that is older than I! It’s not much to look at: stained, cracked, chipped, and in need of a good scrubbing. I keep it to remind me that I’m just a man made out of mud. Though fragile and weak, I carry an immeasurably precious treasure—Jesus. “We have this treasure [Jesus] in jars of clay” (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Paul continues: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (vv. 8–9). Hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, struck down. These are the pressures the pot must bear. Not crushed, in despair, abandoned, destroyed. These are the effects of the counteracting strength of Jesus in us.
“We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus” (v. 10). This is the attitude that characterized Jesus who died to Himself every day. And this is the attitude that can characterize us—a willingness to die to self-effort, trusting solely in the sufficiency of the One who lives in us.
“So that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body” (v. 10). This is the outcome: the beauty of Jesus made visible in an old clay pot. By: David H. Roper
You can make an impact today.
Reflect & Pray
How can you meet the demands placed on you? Where does your strength come from?
God, I’m weak and fragile. Thank You for living in me. I want You and Your strength to be seen.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
How Could Someone So Persecute Jesus!
Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? —Acts 26:14
Are you determined to have your own way in living for God? We will never be free from this trap until we are brought into the experience of the baptism of “the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). Stubbornness and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed and set on our own ambitions, we are hurting Jesus. Every time we stand on our own rights and insist that this is what we intend to do, we are persecuting Him. Whenever we rely on self-respect, we systematically disturb and grieve His Spirit. And when we finally understand that it is Jesus we have been persecuting all this time, it is the most crushing revelation ever.
Is the Word of God tremendously penetrating and sharp in me as I hand it on to you, or does my life betray the things I profess to teach? I may teach sanctification and yet exhibit the spirit of Satan, the very spirit that persecutes Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus is conscious of only one thing— a perfect oneness with the Father. And He tells us, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). All I do should be based on a perfect oneness with Him, not on a self-willed determination to be godly. This will mean that others may use me, go around me, or completely ignore me, but if I will submit to it for His sake, I will prevent Jesus Christ from being persecuted.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
What a Man Can't Afford to Miss - #8622
It was one of those days I stopped by our local post office - sort of notorious there I guess. Not because my picture was on a poster there, but because I kid around with the workers a lot. I wasn't kidding them when I complimented them on their new uniforms. They had just at that point premiered a redesigned uniform, and I actually noticed. One of the women there seemed pleasantly surprised. I said, "Can you believe it? An observant male!" She smiled and said, "I thought that was an oxymoron." Oh boy! Unfortunately, it would be all too many times.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What a Man Can't Afford to Miss."
Okay, it's true that men are not always the most observant people. We miss a lot of things that we should notice. There are some things we can't afford to miss; especially in the woman we've pledged our life to - the woman we promised to love, to protect, to honor, to put first.
Our word for today from the Word of God doesn't mention a man and his wife, but it promotes a principle that is fundamental to a strong and lasting marriage. It's in the Book of Proverbs. I love to come back to this verse. It's in Proverbs 27:23 - gives this warning: "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." Principle: if a man doesn't stay in touch with what's valuable to him, he'll lose what's valuable to him. Let's try this application: "Be sure you know the condition of your wife; give careful attention to the woman in your life."
So often the man is the last to know how badly his wife is hurting. He seems to be the last to know that his marriage is in trouble. Maybe it's because a lot of us have the tendency to ignore warning signs in a relationship; to postpone dealing with those difficult issues; to minimize what doesn't seem that important to us; to deny what we don't want to face. Those tendencies to be an ignorer, a postponer, a minimizer, a denier; these tendencies can cause a man to miss things that are slowly destroying the one he loves most.
So when it comes to your marriage, you can't afford to not know the condition of your wife. There's no excuse for neglecting being that kind of observer. But you have to take time - the thing you have the least of - to hear not only her words, but to hear her heart. Because men are bottom-liners, we get impatient with a lot of detail, right? And it helps if a woman can give us an edited version or at least let us know where all this is going! But if you have to listen a lot to get to what's in your wife's heart, then that is her language of love. You have to allow time in your life on a regular basis to hear what she cares about, what's hurting her, what she needs, and what she sees that you might be missing.
It's all part of being the kind of man God describes in 1 Peter 3:7 - "Husbands, be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect." That includes being attentive to this most important person in your world.
At our wedding I prayed something that I haven't always done, but it should be
every husband's commitment. Here's what the prayer said, "Lord, may Your voice always be the most important in heaven, and my wife's the most important on earth."
