Max Lucado Daily: You Have a Place in My Heart - October 20, 2021
Some time ago my wife and I had the opportunity to drive through my hometown and visit the grave site of my mom and dad. It’d been ten years since our last visit. Their burial spot is the only one in the cemetery with a live oak tree. My dad planted it three and a half decades ago. Today the trunk is as thick as a man’s torso. But it wasn’t the size of the tree that impressed me; it was what my dad had carved. A heart. He etched the design and scraped out the bark. As the tree has grown, so has the carving. He knew we would need a reminder of his love. You have a place in my heart.
Friend, your Father did the same. Not with a live oak tree, but with a cross. Not with a carving, but with the crimson blood of Christ. You have a place in the heart of God.
Exodus 24
He said to Moses, “Climb the mountain to God, you and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. They will worship from a distance; only Moses will approach God. The rest are not to come close. And the people are not to climb the mountain at all.”
3 So Moses went to the people and told them everything God had said—all the rules and regulations. They all answered in unison: “Everything God said, we’ll do.”
4-6 Then Moses wrote it all down, everything God had said. He got up early the next morning and built an Altar at the foot of the mountain using twelve pillar-stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he directed young Israelite men to offer Whole-Burnt-Offerings and sacrifice Peace-Offerings of bulls. Moses took half the blood and put it in bowls; the other half he threw against the Altar.
7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it as the people listened. They said, “Everything God said, we’ll do. Yes, we’ll obey.”
8 Moses took the rest of the blood and threw it out over the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has made with you out of all these words I have spoken.”
* * *
9-11 Then they climbed the mountain—Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel—and saw the God of Israel. He was standing on a pavement of something like sapphires—pure, clear sky-blue. He didn’t hurt these pillar-leaders of the Israelites: They saw God; and they ate and drank.
12-13 God said to Moses, “Climb higher up the mountain and wait there for me; I’ll give you tablets of stone, the teachings and commandments that I’ve written to instruct them.” So Moses got up, accompanied by Joshua his aide. And Moses climbed up the mountain of God.
14 He told the elders of Israel, “Wait for us here until we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you; if there are any problems, go to them.”
15-17 Then Moses climbed the mountain. The Cloud covered the mountain. The Glory of God settled over Mount Sinai. The Cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called out of the Cloud to Moses. In the view of the Israelites below, the Glory of God looked like a raging fire at the top of the mountain.
18 Moses entered the middle of the Cloud and climbed the mountain. Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Today's Scripture
Psalm 32:1–5
;
Matthew 7:1–5
(NIV)
Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.a
2 Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord does not count against themb
and in whose spirit is no deceit.c
3 When I kept silent,d
my bones wasted awaye
through my groaningf all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavyg on me;
my strength was sappedh
as in the heat of summer.b
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.i
I said, “I will confessj
my transgressionsk to the Lord.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.l
Matthew 7:1–5
The New International Version
Judging Others
7:3–5pp—Lk 6:41,42
7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.o 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.p
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Insight
As mentioned in Psalm 32, the confession of sin can set us free. David explains that his unconfessed sin had physical effects on his body: “my bones wasted away” (v. 3); “my strength was sapped” (v. 4). At the time, many believed physical pain, problems, and sickness were always the result of sin. Even though this isn’t the case, we know that our mental and emotional state can impact our physical well-being. The three words for sin this psalm presents—transgressions (disobedience), sins (missing the mark), and iniquity (distorted character)—are contrasted with three expressions of forgiveness—forgiven, covered, and not counted against. When we confess our sin, we’re forgiven and released from the emotional weight of a guilty conscience. By: Julie Schwab
Crumbled from Within
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Psalm 32:5
When I was a teenager, my mom painted a mural on our living room wall, which stayed there for several years. It showed an ancient Greek scene of a ruined temple with white columns lying on their sides, a crumbling fountain, and a broken statue. As I looked at the Hellenistic architecture that had once held great beauty, I tried to imagine what had destroyed it. I was curious, especially when I began studying about the tragedy of once great and thriving civilizations that had decayed and crumbled from within.
The sinful depravity and wanton destruction we see around us today can be troubling. It’s natural for us to try to explain it by pointing to people and nations that have rejected God. But shouldn’t we be casting our gaze inwardly as well? Scripture warns us about being hypocrites when we call out others to turn from their sinful ways without also taking a deeper look inside our own hearts (Matthew 7:1–5).
Psalm 32 challenges us to see and confess our own sin. It’s only when we recognize and confess our personal sin that we can experience freedom from guilt and the joy of true repentance (vv. 1–5). And as we rejoice in knowing that God offers us complete forgiveness, we can share that hope with others who are also struggling with sin. By: Cindy Hess Kasper
Reflect & Pray
What’s the first step in identifying sin in your life? Why is it vital that you confess your sin to God?
Father God, I thank You for the gift of Your forgiveness that eliminates the guilt of my sin. Help me to first examine my own heart before I concern myself with the sins of others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Is God’s Will My Will?
This is the will of God, your sanctification… —1 Thessalonians 4:3
Sanctification is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me— is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me everything that has been made possible through the atonement of the Cross of Christ? Am I willing to let Jesus become sanctification to me, and to let His life be exhibited in my human flesh? (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). Beware of saying, “Oh, I am longing to be sanctified.” No, you are not. Recognize your need, but stop longing and make it a matter of action. Receive Jesus Christ to become sanctification for you by absolute, unquestioning faith, and the great miracle of the atonement of Jesus will become real in you.
All that Jesus made possible becomes mine through the free and loving gift of God on the basis of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound, humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness). It is a holiness based on agonizing repentance, a sense of inexpressible shame and degradation, and also on the amazing realization that the love of God demonstrated itself to me while I cared nothing about Him (see Romans 5:8). He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification. No wonder Paul said that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
Sanctification makes me one with Jesus Christ, and in Him one with God, and it is accomplished only through the magnificent atonement of Christ. Never confuse the effect with the cause. The effect in me is obedience, service, and prayer, and is the outcome of inexpressible thanks and adoration for the miraculous sanctification that has been brought about in me because of the atonement through the Cross of Christ.
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
The truth is we have nothing to fear and nothing to overcome because He is all in all and we are more than conquerors through Him. The recognition of this truth is not flattering to the worker’s sense of heroics, but it is amazingly glorifying to the work of Christ. Approved Unto God, 4 R
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 59-61; 2 Thessalonians 3
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Hands to Hold a Torch - #9073
I think barbers ought to get, like you know, honorary degrees in psychology. They end up listening to everyone's problems and oftentimes they end up giving counsel. Every once in a while I get to hear some of a barber's feelings, and that's when you kind of get the psychology degree. You see, we sort of turn the tables, or the chair as the case may be in the barber shop.
One day my barber was sounding his very frequent lament. He was telling me that no one wants to learn barbering any more. The hours are too long, the pay isn't enough, you've got to be on your feet all day, and it requires a skill that takes time to learn. He said, "When this generation of hair cutters dies off, there won't be many young barbers to take their place." Well, if that happens, we'll probably figure out something to do with our hair - I mean what's left of it - and some of us will solve the problem by losing it so we don't need a barber any more. Well, the barber was worried about not having the next generation of hair cutters. Well, let me tell you, there's a much greater concern that's life-or-death.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hands to Hold the Torch."
Our word for today from the Word of God, Ezekiel 22:30. "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before Me in the gap on behalf of the land, so I would not have to destroy it." And then these sad words, "But I found none."
A century ago, D. L. Moody would say, "God is looking for gap men." And I would say the same thing today. God says, "I'm looking for men and women who will stand in My gap on behalf of the lost." I hope He doesn't have to say, "I found none."
It was 1956, and five American missionaries landed by the Curaray River in Ecuador in their missionary plane. Nate Saint was their pilot. Their objective was to take Christ to the unreached Auca or now we know Waodani Indians, known for their murderous ways. No one had ever really survived being with them. And those missionaries never came back. They were murdered by the very people they were trying to reach; martyred by them; their bodies left in the river. The news flashed around the world.
The quotation of Jim Elliott, who was one of those martyred missionaries, has now come down to our day, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." That story was told and retold again and again, and hundreds of young people like myself gave ourselves to Christian service. And that generation has reached who knows how many people for Christ across the years. And perhaps the greatest miracle of all is that all of the men who murdered those missionaries came to know Christ as their Savior, and one of them even baptized one of those missionaries' sons. Virtually their whole tribe was reached.
The sister of one of those martyrs, Nate Saint, was Rachel Saint. She continued her brother's work with the Waodani. She passed away in 1994 at the age of 80 and one of the things she was most concerned about and was very emotional about was, "Who will carry on the work?" You know, that's the cry from aging missionaries around the world. They're dying or retiring, and there just aren't enough to take their place. The torch is about to be dropped in places where some have given their lives to establish a beachhead for Christ.
Other religions in certain parts of the world grow much faster than Christianity. And we can feel Christ's return in the air sometimes. Could it be that God is calling you to be a gap person, to pick up the torch; maybe your child or maybe your grandchild? Don't stand in their way.
Charles Spurgeon said, "If God has called you to be a missionary, don't stoop to be a king." There's a gap. I even know Christian parents who are discouraging their children from going into God's service today. But God is asking, "Who will carry on My work in these days before My Son returns?"
Maybe it's time for your heart to say, "Well, send me, Lord. If you want me, you've got me."