Max Lucado Daily: THE REAL JESUS
The Jesus of many people is small enough to be contained in an aquarium that fits on the cabinet. He never causes trouble or demands attention. If you want a goldfish bowl of Jesus, steer clear of the real Jesus Christ. He changes everything!
No, Jesus doesn’t make you sexy, skinny, or clever. Jesus doesn’t change what you see in the mirror. He changes how you see what you see. He will not be silenced, packaged, or predicted. He is the pastor who chased people out of church. He is the prophet who had a soft spot for crooks and whores. He is the king who washed the grime off the feet of his betrayer. He turned a bread basket into a buffet and a dead friend into a living one. And most of all, he transformed the tomb into a womb out of which life was born life ….your life.
2 Corinthians 10
And now a personal but most urgent matter; I write in the gentle but firm spirit of Christ. I hear that I’m being painted as cringing and wishy-washy when I’m with you, but harsh and demanding when at a safe distance writing letters. Please don’t force me to take a hard line when I’m present with you. Don’t think that I’ll hesitate a single minute to stand up to those who say I’m an unprincipled opportunist. Then they’ll have to eat their words.
3-6 The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.
7-8 You stare and stare at the obvious, but you can’t see the forest for the trees. If you’re looking for a clear example of someone on Christ’s side, why do you so quickly cut me out? Believe me, I am quite sure of my standing with Christ. You may think I overstate the authority he gave me, but I’m not backing off. Every bit of my commitment is for the purpose of building you up, after all, not tearing you down.
9-11 And what’s this talk about me bullying you with my letters? “His letters are brawny and potent, but in person he’s a weakling and mumbles when he talks.” Such talk won’t survive scrutiny. What we write when away, we do when present. We’re the exact same people, absent or present, in letter or in person.
12 We’re not, understand, putting ourselves in a league with those who boast that they’re our superiors. We wouldn’t dare do that. But in all this comparing and grading and competing, they quite miss the point.
13-14 We aren’t making outrageous claims here. We’re sticking to the limits of what God has set for us. But there can be no question that those limits reach to and include you. We’re not moving into someone else’s “territory.” We were already there with you, weren’t we? We were the first ones to get there with the Message of Christ, right? So how can there be any question of overstepping our bounds by writing or visiting you?
15-18 We’re not barging in on the rightful work of others, interfering with their ministries, demanding a place in the sun with them. What we’re hoping for is that as your lives grow in faith, you’ll play a part within our expanding work. And we’ll all still be within the limits God sets as we proclaim the Message in countries beyond Corinth. But we have no intention of moving in on what others have done and taking credit for it. “If you want to claim credit, claim it for God.” What you say about yourself means nothing in God’s work. It’s what God says about you that makes the difference.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 06, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ecclesiastes 4:9–11
Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
10 If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Insight
Along with Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes is classified as one of the Wisdom books of Scripture. Wisdom books, which emphasize the supreme value of fearing God (Ecclesiastes 8:13; 12:13), help the reader to navigate the good and not-so-good—the bitter and sweet of this life—from God’s perspective and to trust Him. Given Wisdom literature’s goal—to help its readers to “live skillfully”—it shouldn’t surprise us to find numerous occurrences in the book of Ecclesiastes of the word better or the phrase better than. The comparative value of wisdom is stressed in passages such as “Wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness” (2:13); “Wisdom is better than strength” (9:16); “Wisdom is better than weapons of war” (9:18). We also see this emphasis in Proverbs: “For she [wisdom] is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold” (3:14).
Two Are Better
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. Ecclesiastes 4:9
In the 1997 Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii, two women fought to stay on their feet as they hobbled toward the finish line. Exhausted, the runners persevered on wobbly legs, until Sian Welch bumped into Wendy Ingraham. They both dropped to the ground. Struggling to stand, they stumbled forward, only to fall again about twenty meters from the finish line. When Ingraham began to crawl, the crowd applauded. When her competitor followed suit, they cheered louder. Ingraham crossed the finish line in fourth place, and she slumped into the outstretched arms of her supporters. Then she turned and reached out to her fallen sister. Welch lunged her body forward, stretching her weary arm toward Ingraham’s hand and across the finish line. As she completed the race in fifth place, the crowd roared their approval.
This pair’s completion of the 140-mile swimming, biking, and running race inspired many. But the image of the weary competitors persevering together remains ingrained in my mind, affirming the life-empowering truth in Ecclesiastes 4:9–11.
There’s no shame in admitting we require assistance in life (v. 9), especially since we can’t honestly deny our needs or hide them from our all-knowing God. At one time or another, we’ll all fall, whether physically or emotionally. Knowing we’re not alone can comfort us as we persevere. As our loving Father helps us, He empowers us to reach out to others in need, affirming they too aren’t alone. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
How has someone helped you? How can you encourage others this week?
All-powerful God, thank You for reassuring us of Your constant presence as You help us and give us opportunities to reach out and help others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 06, 2020
Taking the Next Step
…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses. —2 Corinthians 6:4
When you have no vision from God, no enthusiasm left in your life, and no one watching and encouraging you, it requires the grace of Almighty God to take the next step in your devotion to Him, in the reading and studying of His Word, in your family life, or in your duty to Him. It takes much more of the grace of God, and a much greater awareness of drawing upon Him, to take that next step, than it does to preach the gospel.
Every Christian must experience the essence of the incarnation by bringing the next step down into flesh-and-blood reality and by working it out with his hands. We lose interest and give up when we have no vision, no encouragement, and no improvement, but only experience our everyday life with its trivial tasks. The thing that really testifies for God and for the people of God in the long run is steady perseverance, even when the work cannot be seen by others. And the only way to live an undefeated life is to live looking to God. Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to discourage you. Never allow yourself to think that some tasks are beneath your dignity or too insignificant for you to do, and remind yourself of the example of Christ inJohn 13:1-17.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To read the Bible according to God’s providential order in your circumstances is the only way to read it, viz., in the blood and passion of personal life. Disciples Indeed, 387 R
Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 1-2; Mark 10:1-31
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 06, 2020
Hurting But Passed By - #8650
Our friend Steve has been involved with horses most of his life. He's even owned a couple of champions. But one day at the barn, in one moment of carelessness, Steve allowed himself to get in what horse lovers know as the "kill zone" - that area behind a horse where they can kick you with those potentially deadly hooves. In one life-changing moment, Steve was kicked in the leg, shattered his bones. Even though he was in excruciating pain, he did manage to drag himself to the highway near his house where he pulled himself up and started waving for help. Car after car just drove right on past this seriously injured man - even his friends and neighbors. They didn't know he was hurting. They thought he was just waving "Hi!" Really?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hurting But Passed By."
A broken man...and no one knew his need. No one stopped for him. That might be part of the story of your life; a waving world, speeding past all that hurt that you carry inside. Everybody's in a hurry to get where they're going. Meanwhile, you suffer with that brokenness inside you in a world that doesn't know, or doesn't seem to care.
There's someone who does know, and there's someone who does care. Someone who has been broken, too - more broken than any of us could possibly be. It's the One the Bible calls the "man of sorrows" - Jesus Christ. Why can you trust Him? Because, as the Bible says, He was "familiar with suffering...He was despised...He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3-4). This is the man who told His followers to remember the sacrifice He was about to make for them on the cross with bread that was broken - a symbol of what would happen to the body of the very Son of God.
Jesus understands broken. When He was here, He always stopped for the hurting people that everyone else just drove on by. In Isaiah 61:1, our word for today from the Word of God, He announces what He wants to do for each of us - and for you. He said: "The Lord has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners."
But He came to do so much more than just relieve your pain. He came here to deal with the human cancer that causes our pain. Our brokenness is ultimately the result of a broken relationship with the very Creator, who gave us our life, who planned our life to have a cosmic purpose. But we all thought we could run it better. Instead of having God at the center of our life, we've just pushed Him to the margins, trying to placate Him with a little religion.
But sin is really serious stuff. It walls us off from God, from His love, and it brings us under the eternal judgment of the God we were made to live for. But God really loves you - enough to sacrifice the most precious thing He had to heal your broken relationship with Him. He allowed the body of His only Son to be broken on the cross for you as He died your death penalty for your sin.
Jesus wants to fix what's broken between you and God so He can forgive you, enter your life, and fix what sin has broken inside you. The problem hasn't been that He wouldn't stop for you. You haven't stopped for Him. He's been waiting for you to open up to His love for a long time. And one more time, He's giving you the chance to experience His healing - His forgiving touch. But you've got to open the door. You've got to tell Him, "Jesus, I want to be Yours starting right now. I'm ready to turn from living my way. I'm putting all my hope in what You did on that cross for me, and the fact that you are alive because you walked out of your grave."
Listen, there's some really wonderful information I'd love for you to have right now to help you be sure you belong to Him. It's at our website ANewStory.com. I urge you to check it out as soon as you can today.
Jesus, the only Son God had, was broken so you don't have to be. Would you let Him into the life that He died for, and today let the healing begin.
