Max Lucado Daily: We’ve Been Found Guilty
Romans 3:10 introduces an essential truth. “There is no one righteous, not even one. . .no one who seeks God. All have turned away, there is no one who does good, not even one.”
We must start where God starts. We won’t appreciate what grace does until we understand who we are. We are rebels. We deserve to die. Four prison walls, thickened with hurt, and hate, surround us. Incarcerated by our past, our low-road choices, and our high-minded pride. We have been found guilty.
Our executioner’s footsteps echo against stone walls. We don’t look up as he opens the door and begins to speak. We know what he’s going to say– “Time to pay for your sins.” But we hear something else. “You’re free to go. They took Jesus instead of you.” The light shines, the shackles are gone, and our crimes are pardoned.
What just happened? Grace happened!
From GRACE
2 Chronicles 19
But Jehoshaphat king of Judah got home safe and sound. Jehu, son of Hanani the seer, confronted King Jehoshaphat: “You have no business helping evil, cozying up to God-haters. Because you did this, God is good and angry with you. But you’re not all bad—you made a clean sweep of the polluting sex-and-religion shrines; and you were single-minded in seeking God.”
4 Jehoshaphat kept his residence in Jerusalem but made a regular round of visits among the people, from Beersheba in the south to Mount Ephraim in the north, urging them to return to God, the God of their ancestors.
5-7 And he was diligent in appointing judges in the land—each of the fortress cities had its judge. He charged the judges: “This is serious work; do it carefully. You are not merely judging between men and women; these are God’s judgments that you are passing on. Live in the fear of God—be most careful, for God hates dishonesty, partiality, and bribery.”
8-10 In Jerusalem Jehoshaphat also appointed Levites, priests, and family heads to decide on matters that had to do with worship and mediating local differences. He charged them: “Do your work in the fear of God; be dependable and honest in your duties. When a case comes before you involving any of your fellow citizens, whether it seems large (like murder) or small (like matters of interpretation of the law), you are responsible for warning them that they are dealing with God. Make that explicit, otherwise both you and they are going to be dealing with God’s wrath. Do your work well or you’ll end up being as guilty as they are.
11 “Amariah the chief priest is in charge of all cases regarding the worship of God; Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the leader of the tribe of Judah, is in charge of all civil cases; the Levites will keep order in the courts. Be bold and diligent. And God be with you as you do your best.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Isaiah 53:1–6
Who has believed our messageu
and to whom has the armv of the Lord been revealed?w
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,x
and like a rooty out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearancez that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering,a and familiar with pain.b
Like one from whom people hidec their faces
he was despised,d and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,e
yet we considered him punished by God,f
stricken by him, and afflicted.g
5 But he was piercedh for our transgressions,i
he was crushedj for our iniquities;
the punishmentk that brought us peacel was on him,
and by his woundsm we are healed.n
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,o
each of us has turned to our own way;p
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquityq of us all.
Insight
Beginning in chapter 42 of Isaiah, we find many references to the “Servant of the Lord.” From chapters 42–48, the “Servant” sometimes refers to Israel or to a godly remnant with indirect references to Jesus Christ. But chapters 49–53 clearly indicate the “Servant” is Jesus. For example: The Servant’s extreme humiliation through a beating that grotesquely disfigures Him will be followed by such exaltation that men will bow in awe before Him (52:13–15; Philippians 2:1–11). The Servant will be despised and rejected because His appearance will differ from Jewish Messianic expectations (53:1–3). The Servant will suffer and die a violent death for our transgressions as the Lord lays on Him the suffering we deserve (vv. 4–6).
Adapted from Knowing God through Isaiah. Read it at discoveryseries.org/sb151.
Pierced Love
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Isaiah 53:5
She’d called. She’d texted. Now Carla stood outside her brother’s gated entry, unable to rouse him to answer. Burdened with depression and fighting addiction, her brother had hidden himself away in his home. In a desperate attempt to penetrate his isolation, Carla gathered several of his favorite foods along with encouraging Scriptures and lowered the bundle over the fence.
But as the package left her grip, it snagged on one of the gate spikes, tearing an opening and sending its contents onto the gravel below. Her well-intended, love-filled offering spilled out in seeming waste. Would her brother even notice her gift? Would it accomplish the mission of hope she’d intended? She can only hope and pray as she waits for his healing.
God so loved the world that—in essence—He lowered His one and only Son over the wall of our sin, bringing gifts of love and healing into our weary and withdrawn world (John 3:16). The prophet Isaiah predicted the cost of this act of love in Isaiah 53:5. This very Son would be “pierced for our transgressions, . . . crushed for our iniquities.” His wounds would bring the hope of ultimate healing. He took on Himself “the iniquity of us all” (v. 6).
Pierced by spikes for our sin and need, God’s gift of Jesus enters our days today with fresh power and perspective. What does His gift mean to you? By: Elisa Morgan
Reflect & Pray
How have you experienced God’s pierced love? How have you seen Him transform a broken life by His amazing grace?
Dear God, thank You for Your gift of Jesus, sent over the fences in my heart to meet my need today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, February 23, 2020
The Determination to Serve
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve… —Matthew 20:28
Jesus also said, “Yet I am among you as the One who serves” (Luke 22:27). Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s— “…ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5). We somehow have the idea that a person called to the ministry is called to be different and above other people. But according to Jesus Christ, he is called to be a “doormat” for others— called to be their spiritual leader, but never their superior. Paul said, “I know how to be abased…” (Philippians 4:12). Paul’s idea of service was to pour his life out to the last drop for others. And whether he received praise or blame made no difference. As long as there was one human being who did not know Jesus, Paul felt a debt of service to that person until he did come to know Him. But the chief motivation behind Paul’s service was not love for others but love for his Lord. If our devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another.
Paul’s understanding of how Christ had dealt with him is the secret behind his determination to serve others. “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man…” (1 Timothy 1:13). In other words, no matter how badly others may have treated Paul, they could never have treated him with the same degree of spite and hatred with which he had treated Jesus Christ. Once we realize that Jesus has served us even to the depths of our meagerness, our selfishness, and our sin, nothing we encounter from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for His sake.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. Disciples Indeed, 386 R