Max Lucado Daily: NO EASY SOLUTION
Life turns every person upside down. No one escapes unscathed. Not the woman who discovers her husband is in an affair. Not the teenager who discovers a night of romance has resulted in a surprise pregnancy. Not the pastor who feels his faith shaken by questions of suffering and fear.
We’d be foolish to think we’re invulnerable. But we’d be just as foolish to think evil wins the day. The Bible vibrates with the steady drumbeat of faith; God recycles evil into righteousness. I don’t have an easy solution or magic wand. I have found something—Someone—far better. God Himself. When God gets in the middle of life, evil becomes good. Trust God. He will get you through this. God will make good out of this mess. That’s His job.
Romans 14
Cultivating Good Relationships
Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.
2-4 For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God’s welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.
5 Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.
6-9 What’s important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God’s sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you’re a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It’s God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That’s why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.
10-12 So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I’d say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse. Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren’t going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture:
“As I live and breathe,” God says,
“every knee will bow before me;
Every tongue will tell the honest truth
that I and only I am God.”
So tend to your knitting. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.
13-14 Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. I’m convinced—Jesus convinced me!—that everything as it is in itself is holy. We, of course, by the way we treat it or talk about it, can contaminate it.
15-16 If you confuse others by making a big issue over what they eat or don’t eat, you’re no longer a companion with them in love, are you? These, remember, are persons for whom Christ died. Would you risk sending them to hell over an item in their diet? Don’t you dare let a piece of God-blessed food become an occasion of soul-poisoning!
17-18 God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness’ sake. It’s what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you’ll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.
19-21 So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault. You’re certainly not going to permit an argument over what is served or not served at supper to wreck God’s work among you, are you? I said it before and I’ll say it again: All food is good, but it can turn bad if you use it badly, if you use it to trip others up and send them sprawling. When you sit down to a meal, your primary concern should not be to feed your own face but to share the life of Jesus. So be sensitive and courteous to the others who are eating. Don’t eat or say or do things that might interfere with the free exchange of love.
22-23 Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe—some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them—then you know that you’re out of line. If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 26, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Judges 5:19–21
“Kings came, they fought,
the kings of Canaan fought.
At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,
they took no plunder of silver.
20 From the heavens the stars fought,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 The river Kishon swept them away,
the age-old river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul; be strong!
Insight
Today’s passage (Judges 5:19–21) is part of the Song of Deborah (vv. 1–31), sung by Deborah and Barak after they were victorious over the Canaanites (4:23–24). We first read of Deborah in Judges 4 and learn she was a prophetess, Lappidoth’s wife, and a judge (the only female judge in the book of Judges) who settled disputes among the Israelites (vv. 4–5). She served during a time when, once again, “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,” were oppressed, and cried out to God (vv. 1–3). In this case, Jabin, king of Canaan, had been oppressing the Israelites for twenty years. Deborah was holding court when she sent for Barak (son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali) and gave him God’s instructions to assemble an army to attack Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army. Barak agreed only on the condition that Deborah accompany him. She did, and the army was defeated.
Beat Again
March on, my soul; be strong! Judges 5:21
In 2012, Phillips, Craig and Dean released their song “Tell Your Heart to Beat Again.” It was inspired by the true story of a heart surgeon. After removing a patient’s heart to repair it, the surgeon returned it to the chest and began gently massaging it back to life. But the heart wouldn’t restart. More intense measures followed, but the heart still wouldn’t beat. Finally, the surgeon knelt next to the unconscious patient and spoke to her: “Miss Johnson,” he said, “this is your surgeon. The operation went perfectly. Your heart has been repaired. Now tell your heart to beat again.” Her heart began to beat.
The idea that we could tell our physical heart to do something might seem strange, but it has spiritual parallels. “Why, my soul, are you downcast?” the psalmist says to himself. “Put your hope in God” (Psalm 42:5). “Return to your rest, my soul,” says another, “for the Lord has been good to you” (116:7). After beating Israel’s enemies in war, Deborah, a judge, revealed that she too had spoken to her heart during battle. “March on, my soul,” she told it, “be strong!” (Judges 5:21), because the Lord had promised victory (4:6–7).
Our capable Surgeon has mended our heart (Psalm 103:3). So when fear, depression, or condemnation come, perhaps we too should address our souls and say: March on! Be strong! Feeble heart, beat again.
By: Sheridan Voysey
Reflect & Pray
What was your first response to the surgeon’s words to the patient? What words from Scripture do you need to speak to your soul today?
Master Physician, thank You for being with me in every trial and battle. Because of Your promised presence, I will direct my soul to act bravely.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 26, 2020
Drawing on the Grace of God— Now
We…plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. —2 Corinthians 6:1
The grace you had yesterday will not be sufficient for today. Grace is the overflowing favor of God, and you can always count on it being available to draw upon as needed. “…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses”— that is where our patience is tested (2 Corinthians 6:4). Are you failing to rely on the grace of God there? Are you saying to yourself, “Oh well, I won’t count this time”? It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you— it is taking the grace of God now. We tend to make prayer the preparation for our service, yet it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God. Don’t say, “I will endure this until I can get away and pray.” Pray now — draw on the grace of God in your moment of need. Prayer is the most normal and useful thing; it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God. We are very slow to learn to draw on God’s grace through prayer.
“…in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors…” (2 Corinthians 6:5)— in all these things, display in your life a drawing on the grace of God, which will show evidence to yourself and to others that you are a miracle of His. Draw on His grace now, not later. The primary word in the spiritual vocabulary is now. Let circumstances take you where they will, but keep drawing on the grace of God in whatever condition you may find yourself. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be totally humiliated before others without displaying even the slightest trace of anything but His grace.
“…having nothing….” Never hold anything in reserve. Pour yourself out, giving the best that you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful with the treasure God gives you. “…and yet possessing all things”— this is poverty triumphant (2 Corinthians 6:10).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is in the middle that human choices are made; the beginning and the end remain with God. The decrees of God are birth and death, and in between those limits man makes his own distress or joy. Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
Bible in a Year: Job 5-7; Acts 8:1-25
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 26, 2020
The Incredible Power of a Woman - #8730
I don't think women have any idea of the power they have over a man. Listen, I've seen a 250-pound he-man reduced to quivering jelly by a little 95-pound blonde. Most guys can relate to the trauma of trying to work up the courage just to call a girl for a simple date. I can remember looking at the phone for 45 minutes, rehearsing all these impressive lines and the macho tone I was going to use. But it didn't matter how long I thought about it, when I finally heard that little voice on the other end of the phone say, "Hello," my reply would come back with this pitiful, "Hello-oo-ooh."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Incredible Power of a Woman."
OK, the secret's out - if it ever was a secret. A woman has incredible power to make a man feel very big inside - or very small. And her own happiness may depend on how she uses that tremendous God-given power.
In our word for today from the Word of God, He addresses this power of a woman to work either the construction crew or the demolitions crew. In Proverbs 14:1, God says, "The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands." In that treasured Proverbs 31 description of the woman God is impressed with, it says, "the heart of her husband trusts in her...she does him good and not evil all the days of her life...her husband is known in the gates...her children rise up and bless her...her husband also, and he praises her."
Now, this is a woman who clearly builds up her man, and the implication is that he is highly regarded in the community largely because of the kind of woman she is. I get that. I've often told people that heaven will show that most of whatever contribution I've been able to make is because of the wonderful woman He allowed me to be married to. And it tells us in Proverbs 31, that this woman receives back the highest praise and respect from her husband, her children, the people who know them, and from God Himself.
Sadly, Proverbs also talks about a woman who tears down her house with her own hands. I don't think any woman means to do that, but in her frustration, she focuses on what the man in her life is doing wrong much more than what he's doing right. Maybe she doesn't understand how her criticism and her attacks wither his confidence and emotionally emasculate him. And in trying to nag and push him to take the leadership he should be taking, she may actually be causing him to doubt himself more and to actually retreat from leading.
And the more dominating and controlling and nagging and critical she becomes, the less the chances he will ever have the confidence to be the leader he ought to be and that she needs for him to be; the family needs for him to be.
Now, often in this program, let me tell you, I spend a lot of time talking about a man's responsibilities to a woman. In case you're only listening today, you need to know that's a frequent theme. But today we're looking at what the Bible says about that awesome power that a woman has to build up or tear down the man she loves.
The secret is that, well, inside most of us men is a pretty insecure little boy who can blossom or wither, depending in part on the godly wisdom of a woman who loves him. That woman, in the life of any man, has incredible power to make him or to break him.
