Max Lucado Daily: GOD WANTS YOUR WHOLE HEART
God gives us more by going deeper than we ask. He not only wants your whole heart—He wants your heart whole. Why? Hurt people hurt people. Think about it. Why do you fly off the handle? Why do you avoid conflict? Why do you seek to please everyone? Might your tendencies have something to do with an unhealed hurt in your heart? God wants to help you for your sake.
Your family history has some sad chapters. But your history doesn’t have to be your future. The generational garbage can stop here and now. You don’t have to give your kids what your ancestors gave you. Talk to God about the scandals and scoundrels. Invite Him to relive the betrayal with you. The process may take a long time. It may take a lifetime. Difficult for certain…but let God do His work!
Romans 15:1-13
Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”
3-6 That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
7-13 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:
Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
I’ll sing to your name!
And this one:
Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!
And again:
People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give hearty praise!
And Isaiah’s word:
There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, July 01, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Genesis 37:2–4, 17–24
This is the account of Jacob’s family line.
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate[a] robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
Footnotes:
Genesis 37:3 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain; also in verses 23 and 32.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate[a] robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
Footnotes:
Genesis 37:3 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain; also in verses 23 and 32.
Insight
When Joseph's story began, he was just seventeen years old (Genesis 37:2), and when he entered into Pharaoh’s service he was thirty (41:46). During the thirteen intervening years, he spent perhaps ten or so in slavery (first as a laborer and then as a household manager) before spending another two to three in prison. Later, following seven years of plenty (41:53), there are two of famine (45:6) before Joseph’s brothers arrive and they reconcile. Imagine—twenty-two years from slavery to reconciliation!
The Favorite
As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34
My husband’s brother lives about 1,200 miles away in the mountains of Colorado. Despite the distance, Gerrits has always been a beloved family member because of his great sense of humor and kind heart. As long as I can remember, however, his siblings have good-naturedly joked about his favored status in their mother’s eyes. Several years ago, they even presented him with a T-shirt sporting the words, “I’m Mom’s Favorite.” While we all enjoyed the silliness of our siblings, true favoritism is no joking matter.
In Genesis 37, we read about Jacob who gave his son Joseph an ornate coat—an indication to his other children that Joseph was special (v. 3). Without a hint of subtlety, the coat’s message shouted: “Joseph is my favorite son.”
Displaying favoritism can be crippling in a family. Jacob’s mother, Rebekah, had favored him over her son Esau, leading to conflict between the two brothers (25:28). The dysfunction was perpetuated when Jacob favored his wife Rachel (Joseph’s mother) over his wife Leah, creating discord and heartache (29:30–31). No doubt this pattern was the unhealthy basis for Joseph’s brothers to despise their younger brother, even plotting his murder (37:18).
When it comes to our relationships, we may sometimes find it tricky to be objective. But our goal must be to treat everyone without favoritism and to love every person in our life as our Father loves us (John 13:34). By: Cindy Hess Kasper
Reflect & Pray
When have you struggled with showing favoritism? How is God helping you to treat everyone equally?
Loving God, as I interact with others help me to avoid showing unhealthy preferences. Help me to see others as You do and to treat everyone fairly and without favoritism.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, July 01, 2020
The Inevitable Penalty
You will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny. —Matthew 5:26
There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure, holy, and right, and He will not allow you to escape from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit for even one moment. He urged you to come to judgment immediately when He convicted you, but you did not obey. Then the inevitable process began to work, bringing its inevitable penalty. Now you have been “thrown into prison, [and]…you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny” (Matthew 5:25-26). Yet you ask, “Is this a God of mercy and love?” When seen from God’s perspective, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure, spotless, and undefiled, but He wants you to recognize the nature you were exhibiting— the nature of demanding your right to yourself. The moment you are willing for God to change your nature, His recreating forces will begin to work. And the moment you realize that God’s purpose is to get you into the right relationship with Himself and then with others, He will reach to the very limits of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide to do it right now, saying, “Yes, Lord, I will write that letter,” or, “I will be reconciled to that person now.”
These sermons of Jesus Christ are meant for your will and your conscience, not for your head. If you dispute these verses from the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will dull the appeal to your heart.
If you find yourself asking, “I wonder why I’m not growing spiritually with God?”— then ask yourself if you are paying your debts from God’s standpoint. Do now what you will have to do someday. Every moral question or call comes with an “ought” behind it— the knowledge of knowing what we ought to do.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. The Place of Help, 1032 L
Bible in a Year: Job 20-21; Acts 10:24-48
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, July 01, 2020
Why the Kids Are Safe - #8733
Mothers are never really off duty - even at the beach...especially at the beach. My wife was reminiscing one day about those summer days when she would take the three little Hutchcrafts, plus two little friends, to a lake near us. And they would run into the water and frolic like children. And is mother just lying on the beach, catching rays or going for refreshments? Nope! She is sitting on the beach, counting to five about fifty times. That's five, as in five little heads in the water. Good news! There were always as many kids in the station wagon leaving the lake as there had been coming to the lake! That's the goal. Our kids played without fear, and they could. They were safe because someone who loved them was always watching them.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why the Kids Are Safe."
You're probably all grown up now. But you still need to know there's someone watching over you. And someone is.
That brings us to our word for today from the Word of God in the 121st Psalm. See if you can pick out the idea that is repeated five times in eight short verses here. Okay? You don't have to be a seminary professor to figure this out. "My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you...The Lord will keep you from all harm. He will watch over your life. The Lord will watch over your coming and going from now and forevermore."
OK, a pretty airtight contract, huh? And did you get the words? Of course you did. Your Lord is constantly watching over you. There's no doubt about it. Your Lord is like my wife there at the beach, constantly keeping an eye on the children she loved, and ready to respond if harm might come to them. Now God's watching over you like that financially. He's watching over you medically...physically. He's watching over you relationally and emotionally. So, no matter how it may look right now, you are safe!
When a category five tornado tore through Rock Creek, Alabama, some of God's children experienced a dramatic example of what it means to have your Heavenly Father watching over you. Sixty people were inside the Open Door Church that Wednesday night, practicing for their Easter program. They actually huddled in a hallway while outside the twister cleared the parking lot of cars, dumped them in a ravine 300 yards away. The two-story church collapsed in on itself, but two supporting walls held firm - the ones that held up the hallway. The only injuries were a few broken bones. One nurse said, "I felt like God's hand just went in that hallway and He just protected us."
That's the same Heavenly Father who is looking out for you. Now you might say, "But Christians sometimes don't survive. God doesn't rescue them." That's right. In the last chapter of Scripture that Paul wrote before his execution, he said, "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:18). In other words, the Lord will rescue you every time except one time - your time to come home to Him.
Isn't it great to know that your safety and security has nothing to do with your situation or your surroundings? Your safety depends on one thing and one thing alone - the watch care of your Father in heaven! So if you are where God wants you to be, you're just as safe as you would be on a battlefield when you're in your living room. You're as secure on an operating table as you are in your backyard because your Lord is watching over you both places.
Sure, like Nehemiah said; he said, "I prayed to the God of heaven and I posted a guard." You take common sense precautions, but ultimately it is your Heavenly Father that is your safety.
So, why waste time worrying about your welfare and stressing over the outcome? Our kids could splash around without any fear for their safety because they knew they had a mother who was always watching over them. You've got better than that. You have an all-powerful Heavenly Father!
