Max Lucado Daily: Stand Out and Assist - October 14, 2021
1 Peter chapter 2, verses 9 and12 read, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God…Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God.”
How do God’s people live in a godless society? Do they blend in and assimilate? No, this is the time to stand out and assist. We were made for this moment. This is no time to play around. You were made for more than social media and flashy parties. You were made to serve the almighty God and be a temple of his Holy Spirit. Society offers nothing. Hollywood can’t satisfy your needs. Madison Avenue makes big promises but leaves people naked of hope. Godless living is no life to live.
Exodus 20
God spoke all these words:
I am God, your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of a life of slavery.
3 No other gods, only me.
4-6 No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim. Don’t bow down to them and don’t serve them because I am God, your God, and I’m a most jealous God, punishing the children for any sins their parents pass on to them to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation of those who hate me. But I’m unswervingly loyal to the thousands who love me and keep my commandments.
7 No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.
8-11 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God. Don’t do any work—not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. For in six days God made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day.
12 Honor your father and mother so that you’ll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you.
13 No murder.
14 No adultery.
15 No stealing.
16 No lies about your neighbor.
17 No lusting after your neighbor’s house—or wife or servant or maid or ox or donkey. Don’t set your heart on anything that is your neighbor’s.
* * *
18-19 All the people, experiencing the thunder and lightning, the trumpet blast and the smoking mountain, were afraid—they pulled back and stood at a distance. They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we’ll listen, but don’t have God speak to us or we’ll die.”
20 Moses spoke to the people: “Don’t be afraid. God has come to test you and instill a deep and reverent awe within you so that you won’t sin.”
21 The people kept their distance while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.
22-26 God said to Moses, “Give this Message to the People of Israel: ‘You’ve experienced firsthand how I spoke with you from Heaven. Don’t make gods of silver and gods of gold and then set them alongside me. Make me an earthen Altar. Sacrifice your Whole-Burnt-Offerings, your Peace-Offerings, your sheep, and your cattle on it. Every place where I cause my name to be honored in your worship, I’ll be there myself and bless you. If you use stones to make my Altar, don’t use dressed stones. If you use a chisel on the stones you’ll profane the Altar. Don’t use steps to climb to my Altar because that will expose your nakedness.’”
* * *
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, October 14, 2021
Today's Scripture
Romans 6:16–23
(NIV)
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obeyy—whether you are slaves to sin,z which leads to death,a or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to Godb that, though you used to be slaves to sin,c you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teachingd that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sine and have become slaves to righteousness.f
19 I am using an example from everyday lifeg because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousnessh leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin,i you were free from the control of righteousness.j 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!k 22 But now that you have been set free from sinl and have become slaves of God,m the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.n 23 For the wages of sin is death,o but the gift of God is eternal lifep inb Christ Jesus our Lord.
Insight
Writing to believers in Jesus at Rome, some of whom may have been slaves, Paul says, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (6:16). The word Paul uses for slave is doulos. It refers to “someone who belongs to another; a bond-slave, without any ownership rights of their own.” This word is derived from another word that means “to tie or bind, to ensnare or capture.” Paul is telling the Roman believers that they don’t serve themselves; they serve the one they’re bound to. They’re either owned by sin or owned by God.
A Beginner’s Guide to Life
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
After my mother’s sudden death, I was motivated to start blogging. I wanted to write posts that would inspire people to use their minutes on earth to create significant life moments. So I turned to a beginner’s guide to blogging. I learned what platform to use, how to choose titles, and how to craft compelling posts. And in 2016, my first blog post was born.
Paul wrote a “beginner’s guide” that explains how to obtain eternal life. In Romans 6:16–18, he contrasts the fact that we’re all born in rebellion to God (sinners) with the truth that Jesus can help us be “set free from [our] sin” (v. 18). Paul then describes the difference between being a slave to sin and a slave to God and His life-giving ways (vv. 19–20). He continues by stating that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life” (v. 23). Death means being separated from God forever. This is the devastating outcome we face when we reject Christ. But God has offered us a gift in Jesus—new life. It’s the kind of life that begins on earth and continues forever in heaven with Him.
Paul’s beginner’s guide to eternal life leaves us with two choices—choosing sin, which leads to death, or choosing Jesus’ gift, which leads to eternal life. May you receive His gift of life, and if you’ve already accepted Christ, may you share this gift with others today! By: Marvin Williams
Reflect & Pray
How would you describe what it means to receive the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ? What’s the difference between being a slave to sin and a slave to God and His life-giving ways?
Jesus, thank You for loving me and forgiving me. You paid a debt I couldn’t pay and gave me a gift I couldn’t buy.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 14, 2021
Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…" —Matthew 28:18-19
The key to the missionary’s work is the authority of Jesus Christ, not the needs of the lost. We are inclined to look on our Lord as one who assists us in our endeavors for God. Yet our Lord places Himself as the absolute sovereign and supreme Lord over His disciples. He does not say that the lost will never be saved if we don’t go— He simply says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations….” He says, “Go on the basis of the revealed truth of My sovereignty, teaching and preaching out of your living experience of Me.”
“Then the eleven disciples went…to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them” (Matthew 28:16). If I want to know the universal sovereignty of Christ, I must know Him myself. I must take time to worship the One whose name I bear. Jesus says, “Come to Me…”— that is the place to meet Jesus— “all you who labor and are heavy laden…” (Matthew 11:28)— and how many missionaries are! We completely dismiss these wonderful words of the universal Sovereign of the world, but they are the words of Jesus to His disciples meant for here and now.
“Go therefore….” To “go” simply means to live. Acts 1:8 is the description of how to go. Jesus did not say in this verse, “Go into Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria,” but, “…you shall be witnesses to Me in [all these places].” He takes upon Himself the work of sending us.
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you…” (John 15:7)— that is the way to keep going. Where we are placed is then a matter of indifference to us, because God sovereignly engineers our goings.
“None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus…” (Acts 20:24). That is how to keep going until we are gone from this life.
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves. The Place of Help, 1051 L
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 43-44; 1 Thessalonians 2
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 14, 2021
Very Away and Very Alone - #9069
I used to think that the more I got on planes and went places the easier it would get. Wrong! It always got tougher to be away from home.
I remember one major trip I took to South Africa. I knew I'd be gone for like two and a half weeks, and as the family took me to the airport, we said a quick goodbye. We figure quick goodbyes are the easiest. And I remember as I walked through the door and left them behind and I got out of their sight, I was choking back tears. And I said, "Boy, I'm not like this very often." But honestly it hurt to leave them.
Now, I was really busy in South Africa. I was very blessed while I was there, but I was really lonely away from them. Frankly, it's really hard to be away from someone you love, right? But there is a kind of away that I have never experienced, and I never will. You might, but you don't have to.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Very Away and Very Alone."
We're going to turn for our word for today from the Word of God to Matthew 27:45-46. It will take us on a visit through the winding streets of Old Jerusalem, outside the city gate to a hill that's a garbage dump. It's also a place of execution. It's a place to be avoided by anyone who lives inside the law. And there we will find on a cross, the carpenter from Nazareth - Jesus. He's God's only Son. Remember that as I read this to you.
God's only Son - He has for all of eternity had an unbroken, uninterrupted relationship with God, the Father. But listen to His cry in Matthew 27. "From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" And in this moment, that eternally unbroken relationship between God the Father and God the Son is ripped apart and broken by my sin.
I said that's a kind of away I've never been. Oh, I've missed the people I love when I've been away, but what an away this is - God the Father turning His back on His only Son. God the Son is totally cut off in this moment. This is the moment Jesus tried to avoid in the Garden of Gethsemane when He said, "Father, take this away from Me if it is possible." But on that cross He is very away from God. He is very alone. Why?
The Old Testament prophet, Habakkuk, told us that God is of purer eyes than to look on sin. You say, "But Jesus didn't commit any." No, He didn't; but I have, and you have. And voluntarily Jesus Christ is suffering the penalty you and I should pay. He is being cut off from God so you don't ever have to be. See, that's what hell would be. Everything good, pure, loving, and beautiful on earth is because of God. And hell is total "away-ness" from God with no party, no friends, no music, no money to drown out that awful emptiness. Jesus was suffering that hell for you and me on the cross.
You can't pay your own bill to God or Jesus would never have gone through all that. If you know Him, live for Him with a new appreciation for what He paid for you. And if you're not sure you know Him, if you're not sure there's been a time you began a relationship with Him, get to that cross. Give Him what He paid for; who He paid for. God turned His back on His own Son so He wouldn't have to turn His back on you.
And now, maybe for our visit together, He's come. He's stirring your heart, and that tug in your heart is Jesus saying, "Let Me in." And maybe for all your religion, there's never been a moment you've done that. Would you do that today where you are? And say, "Jesus, I'm Yours. You died for me, You came out of Your grave - You're alive! I'm not running things any more; I am Yours."
Our website has been a big help to people who have wanted to be sure that they have begun this relationship with Jesus. I want to invite you to check it out as soon as you can today. I hope you meet us at that website. It's ANewStory.com.
See, Jesus was on that cross very away and very alone so you don't ever have to be again.
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.