Max Lucado Daily: A Mustard Seed Confession - February 24, 2022
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.…Do you believe this Martha?” (John 11:25-26 NLT). Look to whom Jesus asked this question: a bereaved, heartbroken sister. Look at where Jesus stood as he asked this question: a cemetery. Look at when Jesus asked this question: Lazarus, his friend, was four days buried.
Martha replied, “Yes, Lord…I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God” (John 11:27 NLT).
Martha wasn’t ready to say Jesus could raise the dead. Even so, she gave him a triple tribute: the Messiah, the Son of God, and the one who has come into the world. She mustered a mustard-seed confession. Her expression of belief was enough for Christ. Yours is too.
Deuteronomy9 1-2 Attention, Israel!
This very day you are crossing the Jordan to enter the land and oust nations that are much bigger and stronger than you are. You’re going to find huge cities with sky-high fortress-walls and gigantic people, descendants of the Anakites—you’ve heard all about them; you’ve heard the saying, “No one can stand up to an Anakite.”
3 Today know this: God, your God, is crossing the river ahead of you—he’s a consuming fire. He will destroy the nations, he will put them under your power. You will oust them and very quickly wipe them out, just as God promised you would.
4-5 But when God pushes them out ahead of you, don’t start thinking to yourselves, “It’s because of all the good I’ve done that God has brought me in here to dispossess these nations.” Actually it’s because of all the evil these nations have done. No, it’s nothing good that you’ve done, no record for decency that you’ve built up, that got you here; it’s because of the vile wickedness of these nations that God, your God, is dispossessing them before you so that he can keep his promised word to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
6-10 Know this and don’t ever forget it: It’s not because of any good that you’ve done that God is giving you this good land to own. Anything but! You’re stubborn as mules. Keep in mind and don’t ever forget how angry you made God, your God, in the wilderness. You’ve kicked and screamed against God from the day you left Egypt until you got to this place, rebels all the way. You made God angry at Horeb, made him so angry that he wanted to destroy you. When I climbed the mountain to receive the slabs of stone, the tablets of the covenant that God made with you, I stayed there on the mountain forty days and nights: I ate no food; I drank no water. Then God gave me the two slabs of stone, engraved with the finger of God. They contained word for word everything that God spoke to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.
11-12 It was at the end of the forty days and nights that God gave me the two slabs of stone, the tablets of the covenant. God said to me, “Get going, and quickly. Get down there, because your people whom you led out of Egypt have ruined everything. In almost no time at all they have left the road that I laid out for them and gone off and made for themselves a cast god.”
13-14 God said, “I look at this people and all I see are hardheaded, hardhearted rebels. Get out of my way now so I can destroy them. I’m going to wipe them off the face of the map. Then I’ll start over with you to make a nation far better and bigger than they could ever be.”
15-17 I turned around and started down the mountain—by now the mountain was blazing with fire—carrying the two tablets of the covenant in my two arms. That’s when I saw it: There you were, sinning against God, your God—you had made yourselves a cast god in the shape of a calf! So soon you had left the road that God had commanded you to walk on. I held the two stone slabs high and threw them down, smashing them to bits as you watched.
18-20 Then I flung myself down before God, just as I had at the beginning of the forty days and nights. I ate no food; I drank no water. I did this because of you, all your sins, sinning against God, doing what is evil in God’s eyes and making him angry. I was terrified of God’s furious anger, his blazing anger. I was sure he would destroy you. But once again God listened to me. And Aaron! How furious he was with Aaron—ready to destroy him. But I prayed also for Aaron at that same time.
21 But that sin-thing that you made, that calf-god, I took and burned in the fire, pounded and ground it until it was crushed into a fine powder, then threw it into the stream that comes down the mountain.
22 And then there was Camp Taberah (Blaze), Massah (Testing-Place), and Camp Kibroth Hattaavah (Graves-of-the-Craving)—more occasions when you made God furious with you.
23-24 The most recent was when God sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, ordering you: “Go. Possess the land that I’m giving you.” And what did you do? You rebelled. Rebelled against the clear orders of God, your God. Refused to trust him. Wouldn’t obey him. You’ve been rebels against God from the first day I knew you.
25-26 When I was on my face, stretched out before God those forty days and nights after God said he would destroy you, I prayed to God for you, “My Master, God, don’t destroy your people, your inheritance whom, in your immense generosity, you redeemed, using your enormous strength to get them out of Egypt.
27-28 “Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; don’t make too much of the stubbornness of this people, their evil and their sin, lest the Egyptians from whom you rescued them say, ‘God couldn’t do it; he got tired and wasn’t able to take them to the land he promised them. He ended up hating them and dumped them in the wilderness to die.’
29 “They are your people still, your inheritance whom you powerfully and sovereignly rescued.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, February 24, 2022
Today's Scripture
1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1
(NIV)
The Believer’s Freedom
23 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial.z “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 24 No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.a
25 Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience,b 26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”f c
27 If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before youd without raising questions of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience.e 29 I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedomf being judged by another’s conscience? 30 If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?g
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.h 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble,i whether Jews, Greeks or the church of Godj—33 even as I try to please everyone in every way.k For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many,l so that they may be saved.m
11 Follow my example,n as I follow the example of Christ.o
Insight
In addition to today’s passage (1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1), Paul also dealt with the topic of conscience and freedom in Romans 14. There he upheld the great privilege of freedom in Christ. Yet in both passages, he warned against causing others to stumble. In Romans he wrote, “Make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister” (14:13). And 1 Corinthians 10:24 says, “No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.” Our overarching guide should be our love for our neighbors and for God.By: Tim Gustafson
Follow the Leader
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1
No words. Just music and moving. During a twenty-four-hour Zumba marathon amid the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of people from around the globe worked out together and virtually followed instructors from India, China, Mexico, America, South Africa, parts of Europe, and several other places. These diverse individuals were able to move together without any language barriers. Why? Because instructors of the exercise craze Zumba, created in the mid-1990s by a Colombian aerobics instructor, utilize nonverbal cues to communicate. Class instructors move, and students follow their lead. They follow with no words uttered or shouted.
Words can sometimes get in the way and create barriers. They may cause confusion such as the Corinthians experienced, as noted in Paul’s first letter to them. It was confusion brought about by differing views of disputable matters pertaining to the eating of particular foods (1 Corinthians 10:27–30). But our actions can transcend barriers and even confusion. As Paul says in today’s passage, we should show people how to follow Jesus through our actions—seeking “the good of many” (10:32–33). We invite the world to believe in Him as we “follow the example of Christ” (11:1).
As someone once said, “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words when necessary.” As we follow Jesus’ lead, may He guide our actions to cue others to the reality of our faith. And may our words and actions be done “all for the glory of God” (10:31).
Reflect & Pray
What nonverbal faith cues are you showing others through your actions? How are people able to see Christ in your words and actions?
Father God, thank You for the example of Jesus. Show me how to follow Him in actions and in words every day.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, February 24, 2022
The Delight of Sacrifice
I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls… —2 Corinthians 12:15
Once “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” we deliberately begin to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ’s interests and purposes in others’ lives (Romans 5:5). And Jesus has an interest in every individual person. We have no right in Christian service to be guided by our own interests and desires. In fact, this is one of the greatest tests of our relationship with Jesus Christ. The delight of sacrifice is that I lay down my life for my Friend, Jesus (see John 15:13). I don’t throw my life away, but I willingly and deliberately lay it down for Him and His interests in other people. And I do this for no cause or purpose of my own. Paul spent his life for only one purpose— that he might win people to Jesus Christ. Paul always attracted people to his Lord, but never to himself. He said, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).
When someone thinks that to develop a holy life he must always be alone with God, he is no longer of any use to others. This is like putting himself on a pedestal and isolating himself from the rest of society. Paul was a holy person, but wherever he went Jesus Christ was always allowed to help Himself to his life. Many of us are interested only in our own goals, and Jesus cannot help Himself to our lives. But if we are totally surrendered to Him, we have no goals of our own to serve. Paul said that he knew how to be a “doormat” without resenting it, because the motivation of his life was devotion to Jesus. We tend to be devoted, not to Jesus Christ, but to the things which allow us more spiritual freedom than total surrender to Him would allow. Freedom was not Paul’s motive at all. In fact, he stated, “I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren…” (Romans 9:3). Had Paul lost his ability to reason? Not at all! For someone who is in love, this is not an overstatement. And Paul was in love with Jesus 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: Numbers 9-11; Mark 5:1-20
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, February 24, 2022
God's Strange Road to Power - #9164
He's got a black belt in three different martial arts. That's the highest level of achievement in a martial art. Of course, I told him I have a black belt, too. I wear it with my dark suit. He didn't seem to be impressed by that, but I decided I definitely wanted him on my side. He told me that his training gives him the ability to fight back and defend himself from any position he's in. Well, except one - face down on the ground. He said that is the one position in which he is totally powerless.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God's Strange Road to Power."
Being in a powerless position makes you so weak, so vulnerable, so unable to do anything about the situation. But it is also, in the strange ways of God, the most powerful position on earth. Just ask General Joshua from the book in the Old Testament that bears his name.
In Joshua 5, beginning with verse 13, Joshua is in what may be the most intimidating, potentially fearful situation of his life at that point. He has bravely led God's people into Canaan, only to be confronted with the massive walled city of Jericho, looming before God's people as a seemingly impossible obstacle between them and the land that God has promised them. As their commanding General, Joshua has gone to scout out his mission impossible.
The Bible says: "Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and he saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, 'Are you for us or for our enemies?' 'Neither,' he replied, 'but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.' Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence" - see, there it is. That's that position of total powerlessness. "And (he) asked him, 'What message does my Lord have for his servant?' The commander of the Lord's army replied, 'Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.' And Joshua did so."
Many Bible scholars believe this Commander of the Lord's forces is actually the Son of God making one of His several pre-Bethlehem appearances in Old Testament times. No angel would have accepted worship, and Joshua calls him "my Lord." And Joshua falls on the ground, facedown. This is a guy who was very competent, very successful, very skilled. He'd never surrendered to anybody. But this day he surrenders. That's going to turn out to be the secret of winning. From this moment of total surrender, of total powerlessness before the Lord, comes God's unusual plan for conquering Jericho. But before there could be the conquest of Jericho, there had to be the conquest of Joshua.
And before there can be the conquest of the Jericho that looms before you right now, there's got to be the conquest of you. God allows things into our life that will bring us to the end of ourselves where all your experience, our wisdom, our connections, our persuasion are useless in getting an answer. Maybe God's brought you to this moment of total helplessness, not so you would give up, but so you would give over the controls to Him unconditionally. There is no condition God can do more with than our admission of powerlessness. Now you're out of the way finally, and now you can see what God can do!
And as you stand facing the walls of your Jericho that you can't possibly conquer, it's time for your unconditional surrender to your Lord. Admit your powerlessness. Don't be afraid to be broken. Often it's the breaking of a man that is the making of a man. Let God shine His holy light on the dark corners of you that you've never let Him touch.
And tear up that contract you want God to sign; the one with all the ways you've wanted things to be. Give Him a blank piece of paper, pre-signed by you to do whatever He writes on it. You're at the end of your power, but you're at the beginning of His. Surrendering is the way to winning, and powerlessness is the most powerful position in the world.
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.