Max Lucado Daily: YOUR MESS WILL BECOME YOUR MESSAGE
I like the conversation Bob Benson recounts in his book, See You at the House, about his friend who had a heart attack. For a while it seemed his friend wouldn’t make it, but he recovered. Months later Bob asked him, “Well, how did you like your heart attack?” “It scared me to death, almost.” “Would you do it again?” “No!” “Would you recommend it?” Bob asked. “Definitely not.”
And then Bob said, “Does your life mean more to you now than it did before?” “Well, yeah.” “You and your wife always had a beautiful marriage, but are you closer now more than ever?” “Yes.” “Do you have a new compassion for people—a deeper understanding and sympathy?” “Yes, I do.” “Do you know the Lord in richer fellowship than you’d ever realized?” “Yes.” And then Bob said, “So how did you like your heart attack?”
You know Deuteronomy 11:2 says, “Remember what you’ve learned about the Lord through your experience with Him.” You do that, my friend, and your mess will become your message.
Romans 9:1-18
At the same time, you need to know that I carry with me at all times a huge sorrow. It’s an enormous pain deep within me, and I’m never free of it. I’m not exaggerating—Christ and the Holy Spirit are my witnesses. It’s the Israelites . . . If there were any way I could be cursed by the Messiah so they could be blessed by him, I’d do it in a minute. They’re my family. I grew up with them. They had everything going for them—family, glory, covenants, revelation, worship, promises, to say nothing of being the race that produced the Messiah, the Christ, who is God over everything, always. Oh, yes!
6-9 Don’t suppose for a moment, though, that God’s Word has malfunctioned in some way or other. The problem goes back a long way. From the outset, not all Israelites of the flesh were Israelites of the spirit. It wasn’t Abraham’s sperm that gave identity here, but God’s promise. Remember how it was put: “Your family will be defined by Isaac”? That means that Israelite identity was never racially determined by sexual transmission, but it was God-determined by promise. Remember that promise, “When I come back next year at this time, Sarah will have a son”?
10-13 And that’s not the only time. To Rebecca, also, a promise was made that took priority over genetics. When she became pregnant by our one-of-a-kind ancestor, Isaac, and her babies were still innocent in the womb—incapable of good or bad—she received a special assurance from God. What God did in this case made it perfectly plain that his purpose is not a hit-or-miss thing dependent on what we do or don’t do, but a sure thing determined by his decision, flowing steadily from his initiative. God told Rebecca, “The firstborn of your twins will take second place.” Later that was turned into a stark epigram: “I loved Jacob; I hated Esau.”
14-18 Is that grounds for complaining that God is unfair? Not so fast, please. God told Moses, “I’m in charge of mercy. I’m in charge of compassion.” Compassion doesn’t originate in our bleeding hearts or moral sweat, but in God’s mercy. The same point was made when God said to Pharaoh, “I picked you as a bit player in this drama of my salvation power.” All we’re saying is that God has the first word, initiating the action in which we play our part for good or ill.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 6:32–38
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Insight
Of all the difficult sayings of Jesus, this is one of the hardest: “Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back” (Luke 6:35). How can Christ expect this? Actually, He’s asking us to emulate the love of our Father in heaven, who loved us despite our animosity toward Him. The apostle Paul explains, “While we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). God loved us despite the ugly reality of our rejection of Him and His loving directives. Now, having been forgiven, we have every incentive to give to others at every opportunity, especially to those who hate us. Jesus’ concluding words here can frighten or encourage us, depending on how we live our lives: “For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you”—by God Himself (Luke 6:38).
Good Measure
Give, and it will be given to you. Luke 6:38
At a gas station one day, Staci encountered a woman who had left home without her bank card. Stranded with her baby, she was asking passersby for help. Although unemployed at the time, Staci spent $15 to put gas in the stranger’s tank. Days later, Staci came home to find a gift basket of children’s toys and other presents waiting on her porch. Friends of the stranger had reciprocated Staci’s kindness and converted her $15 blessing into a memorable Christmas for her family.
This heartwarming story illustrates the point Jesus made when he said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38).
It can be tempting to hear this and focus on what we get out of giving, but doing so would miss the point. Jesus preceded that statement with this one: “Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (v. 35).
We don’t give to get things; we give because God delights in our generosity. Our love for others reflects His loving heart toward us. By: Remi Oyedele
Reflect & Pray
In what ways have you experienced God’s generosity in your life? How can you extend generosity to others?
Gracious Father, help me to give generously to others because You’ve been so generous to me.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Unquestioned Revelation
In that day you will ask Me nothing. —John 16:23
When is “that day”? It is when the ascended Lord makes you one with the Father. “In that day” you will be one with the Father just as Jesus is, and He said, “In that day you will ask Me nothing.” Until the resurrection life of Jesus is fully exhibited in you, you have questions about many things. Then after a while you find that all your questions are gone— you don’t seem to have any left to ask. You have come to the point of total reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus, which brings you into complete oneness with the purpose of God. Are you living that life now? If not, why aren’t you?
“In that day” there may be any number of things still hidden to your understanding, but they will not come between your heart and God. “In that day you will ask Me nothing”— you will not need to ask, because you will be certain that God will reveal things in accordance with His will. The faith and peace of John 14:1 has become the real attitude of your heart, and there are no more questions to be asked. If anything is a mystery to you and is coming between you and God, never look for the explanation in your mind, but look for it in your spirit, your true inner nature— that is where the problem is. Once your inner spiritual nature is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child, because the Lord has made you one. “In that day you will ask Me nothing.”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
For the past three hundred years men have been pointing out how similar Jesus Christ’s teachings are to other good teachings. We have to remember that Christianity, if it is not a supernatural miracle, is a sham. The Highest Good, 548 L
Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 4-6; John 10:24-42
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, May 28, 2020
How Nice People Miss Heaven - #8709
When people ask me why I'm not going on some roller coaster that goes upside down and around and around at something like 200 miles per hour, I don't want to just tell them I'm chicken. So, I tell them I'm not tall enough. You know that picture they have of a little person? They have them at the entrance to rides that are a little more challenging. You're supposed to stand next to it, and if you're not as big as that person that they've drawn, you're not allowed on that ride. I've got grandsons, on the other hand, who would love to get on some of those rides. They don't have the wisdom of my years. They don't have the well-developed survival instincts that I have, but for a long time they weren't allowed on the ride. They just didn't measure up.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Nice People Miss Heaven."
If you don't measure up, you can't go - to heaven. It's not that we don't try to stand on tippy-toe next to God's standard and do everything we can to measure up to it. Someone who's listening today, you're a really religious person, you're a spiritual person, you're a nice person. Your hope is that when Judgment Day comes - when, in a sense, you stand at the gates of heaven by the standard of the holiness of God - you'll be spiritually tall enough to get in. You won't be. Not if you're depending on your own goodness.
That's not my verdict. It's the verdict of the One you will meet the day you die; the One who decides whether or not you enter heaven. But, surprisingly, it won't be your goodness that He'll be looking at. It will be whether or not you have Jesus in your heart. And He will only be in your heart if you've abandoned all hope of being good enough for a perfect God and you've pinned all your hopes on His Son who died for your sin. You would have had to die for it if He didn't love you enough to do it.
The verdict of God on all of us rings down through the ages in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 3:10 and then verse 23. God Himself says: "There is no one righteous, not even one." That's "righteous" by His standard of perfection. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." So, we all fall short. I do. You do. Speaking of our best efforts to be good, God says in Romans 3:20, "No one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin."
God's standards are to show us how much we need Jesus. Think of the cumulative effect of all the times in your life that you've told less than the truth - you broke the commandment about bearing false witness; all the times you did less than honor your parents - you blew off the commandment to honor your father and mother. Think about all the times you've had lustful thoughts. Jesus said when we do, we mentally violate the commandment against "committing adultery." Think of all the selfish things, the proud things that have been, in God's eyes, violating His commandment to "have no other gods before Me."
But here's the good news. Romans 3:21 announces that God is ready to give you (now here's the word) "a righteousness from God, apart from the law...through faith in Jesus Christ." That's because Jesus died to cancel from God's records every sin of every day of your life; erased by the blood He shed for those sins. "Faith in Jesus Christ" means telling Jesus you're pinning all your hopes on Him and Him alone. You're going to drop your sin so you can grab Him with both hands as your personal rescuer from your personal sin. Then, at the gates of heaven, you'll walk in because you belong to Jesus. He's the only One who measures up and you are with Him.
I pray that today you'll make the move from being religious to being rescued. You ready to get this settled? Then tell Jesus, "Lord, You're my only hope. I'm Yours. You died for the sin I could never pay for with all my goodness."
Listen, there's a lot of information that's helped people at this turning point at our website. I want to direct you to it as a great place to go to get this settled. It's ANewStory.com.
If there was any way you could measure up to get into God's heaven, believe me, Jesus would not have hung on that cross. There is no way except Him. Today the Savior can become your Savior.
