Max Lucado Daily: HOW MUCH JUSTICE IS ENOUGH?
Picture your enemy tied to a whipping post. How many lashes? How much justice is enough? As your foe slumps to the ground you walk away. Are you happy now? But soon another memory will surface, another lash will be needed. When does it all stop? It stops when you take seriously the words of Jesus: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15).
You see, God will treat you the way you treat others. Would you like some peace? Then quit giving your neighbor such a hassle. Want to enjoy God’s generosity? Then let others enjoy yours. Would you like assurance that God forgives you? I think you know what you need to do.
Ezekiel 10
The Temple, Filled with the Presence of God
When I next looked, oh! Above the dome over the heads of the cherubim-angels was what looked like a throne, sky-blue, like a sapphire!
2-5 God said to the man dressed in linen, “Enter the place of the wheels under the cherubim-angels. Fill your hands with burning coals from beneath the cherubim and scatter them over the city.”
I watched as he entered. The cherubim were standing on the south side of the Temple when the man entered. A cloud filled the inside courtyard. Then the Glory of God ascended from the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the Temple. The cloud filled the Temple. Court and Temple were both filled with the blazing presence of the Glory of God. And the sound! The wings of the cherubim were audible all the way to the outer court—the sound of the voice was like The Strong God in thunder.
6-8 When God commanded the man dressed in linen, “Take fire from among the wheels, from between the cherubim,” he went in and stood beside a wheel. One of the cherubim reached into the fire, took some coals, and put them in the hands of the man dressed in linen. He took them and went out. Something that looked like a human hand could be seen under the wings of the cherubim.
9-13 And then I saw four wheels beside the cherubim, one beside each cherub. The wheels radiating were sparkling like diamonds in the sun. All four wheels looked alike, each like a wheel within a wheel. When they moved, they went in any of the four directions but in a perfectly straight line. Where the cherubim went, the wheels went straight ahead. The cherubim were full of eyes in their backs, hands, and wings. The wheels likewise were full of eyes. I heard the wheels called “wheels within wheels.”
14 Each of the cherubim had four faces: the first, of an angel; the second, a human; the third, a lion; the fourth, an eagle.
15-17 Then the cherubim ascended. They were the same living creatures I had seen at the Kebar River. When the cherubim moved, the wheels beside them moved. When the cherubim spread their wings to take off from the ground, the wheels stayed right with them. When the cherubim stopped, the wheels stopped. When the cherubim rose, the wheels rose, because the spirit of the living creatures was also in the wheels.
18-19 Then the Glory of God left the Temple entrance and hovered over the cherubim. I watched as the cherubim spread their wings and left the ground, the wheels right with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Temple. The Glory of the God of Israel was above them.
20-22 These were the same living creatures I had seen previously beneath the God of Israel at the Kebar River. I recognized them as cherubim. Each had four faces and four wings. Under their wings were what looked like human hands. Their faces looked exactly like those I had seen at the Kebar River. Each went straight ahead.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, November 23, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Mark 3:13–19
Jesus Appoints the Twelve
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve[a] that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Insight
Jesus prayerfully and selectively appointed twelve men whom He designated as apostles (Luke 6:12–18) for two specific purposes: to “be with him” and “to send them out to preach” (Mark 3:14). The Greek word apo´stolos means, “one who is sent, an ambassador.”
The Gospels tell of the conversion stories for some of them: Simon Peter and Andrew (sons of John) and James and John (sons of Zebedee) were fishermen (Matthew 4:18–22; Mark 1:16–20; Luke 5:1–11; John 1:35-42). Philip and Nathanael (scholars say Nathanael is the same person as Bartholomew), were from the fishing town of Bethsaida and were likely fishermen as well (John 1:43–51). Matthew [Levi] was a tax-collector from Capernaum (Mark 2:1, 14; Luke 5:27–28). We don’t know the conversion stories of the others: Thomas (John 20:24–25); James, son of Alphaeus (Mark 3:18); Thaddaeus (scholars equate him with Judas son of James, 3:18; Luke 6:16); Simon the Zealot (Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13); and Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, who betrayed Jesus (John 6:71).
Space for Me
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. Mark 3:13
He was an aging military veteran, rough-edged and given to even rougher language. One day a friend cared enough about him to inquire about his spiritual beliefs. The man’s dismissive response came quickly: “God doesn’t have space for someone like me.”
Perhaps that was just part of his “tough-guy” act, but his words couldn’t be further from the truth! God creates space especially for the rough, the guilt-ridden, and the excluded to belong and thrive in His community. This was obvious from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, when He made some surprising choices for His disciples. First, He chose several fishermen from Galilee—the “wrong side of the tracks” from the perspective of those in Jerusalem. He also selected a tax collector, Matthew, whose profession included extorting from his oppressed countrymen. Then, for good measure, Jesus invited the “other” Simon—“the Zealot” (Mark 3:18).
We don’t know much about this Simon (he isn’t Simon Peter), but we do know about the Zealots. They hated traitors like Matthew, who got rich by collaborating with the despised Romans. Yet with divine irony, Jesus chose Simon along with Matthew, brought them together, and blended them into His team.
Don’t write anyone off as too “bad” for Jesus. After all, He said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). He has plenty of space for the tough cases—people like you and me. By: Tim Gustafson
Reflect & Pray
Who do you know that you think is unlikely to give their life to Jesus? How might you invite them to consider who Christ is and the space He has for them?
Dear Father, thank You that salvation is available to anyone who puts their faith in Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 23, 2020
The Distraction of Contempt
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt. —Psalm 123:3
What we must beware of is not damage to our belief in God but damage to our Christian disposition or state of mind. “Take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously” (Malachi 2:16). Our state of mind is powerful in its effects. It can be the enemy that penetrates right into our soul and distracts our mind from God. There are certain attitudes we should never dare to indulge. If we do, we will find they have distracted us from faith in God. Until we get back into a quiet mood before Him, our faith is of no value, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is what rules our lives.
Beware of “the cares of this world…” (Mark 4:19). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by “the cares of this world.”
Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, “O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.” Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul’s faith in God. Don’t say, “I must explain myself,” or, “I must get people to understand.” Our Lord never explained anything— He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves.
When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 20-21; James 5
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, November 23, 2020
The Loneliest "Lonely" of All - #8836
Like many children her age, our little granddaughter had 101 tricks to delay going to bed at night: a drink of water, another story, monsters in the closet, whatever! Once she did, she was usually gone for the night. But every once in a while, her parents would be in the living room, suddenly hear this sound, distraught crying. Their little darling just woke up in the dark. She found herself all alone, and it's scary.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Loneliest 'Lonely' of All."
Even big people like us know that feeling. There are times in our life when we feel like we're all alone in the dark, and it is scary. Maybe you know about those times. Maybe you're in one of those dark, lonely stretches right now.
It would be cheap for me to say, "I know how you feel." Honestly, probably I don't. But I know someone who does - who really does. That would be Jesus. In fact, no one on earth has ever experienced the depth of loneliness He went through. And that's one of the reasons you can trust Him in a way that you can trust nobody else in your life.
Let me take you for a minute back to the darkest day in human history; the day the Son of God was nailed to a Roman cross. The Bible says He was "crushed" and "pierced" and beaten beyond recognition (Isaiah 53:5; 52:14). His back had been ripped open by merciless whippings, His head was ripped open by a crown made out of thorns, and a spear was driven into His side as He hung on that cross, suspended by three nails. But as horrific as that pain must have been, that's not what made Him cry out on the cross. It was a far greater pain that ripped apart His soul.
It's recorded in our word for today from the Word of God. "About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:51) He could take the thorns, He could take the nails, He could take the spear, but He couldn't stand being cut off from God. God the Father and God the Son had never had a moment apart through all eternity until that day. In Jesus' darkest moment, He could not see His Father's face. His Father had turned away from Him. Why?
The Bible says of God, "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil" (Habakkuk 1:13). An all-holy God cannot look at sin, and that's what was all over His Son that day. The Bible tells us that "He bore our sins in His (own) body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). Whose sins made God turn away from His one and only Son? Your sins. My sins. Jesus was all alone - more alone than any man has ever been - and it was horribly dark.
Look at what it took to pay for your sin. Look at what it took to forgive your sin. How can we think there's anything we could ever do that would pay for our sin or get us into heaven? Only the One who died for your sin can remove your sin. That was your hell, your separation from God He was taking on that cross. Now He's offering to you what He died for you to have. Either you reach out to Him in total trust as your only hope of being rescued spiritually, or you walk away from Him.
I believe there's someone who's listening right now, and you are feeling in your soul the tug of Jesus. He shows you your sin, He shows you how He loved you enough to die for your sin, and He stirs your heart to give yourself to Him. If you've never done that, you can do it right now; you can do it where you are. Just tell Him, "Jesus, You're my only hope, and beginning right here and right now, I'm Yours." At that moment, God will erase every sin from His book and give you eternal life in heaven. Don't you want this?
Well, tell Him you want to belong to Him beginning today. And go to our website where we tell you how that all happens. That's ANewStory.com. Just don't walk away from this without responding to Jesus' invitation.
The biggest mistake you could ever make would be to turn your back on Him.
From my daily reading of the bible, Our Daily Bread Devotionals, My Utmost for His Highest and Ron Hutchcraft "A Word with You" and occasionally others.