Max Lucado Daily: He Calls You His Child
You may know what it's like to carry a stigma. Each time your name is mentioned, your calamity follows.
"Have you heard from John lately? You know, the fellow who got divorced?"
"We got a letter from Jerry. Remember him, the alcoholic?"
"I saw Melissa today. I don't know why she can't keep a job."
Like a pesky sibling, your past follows you wherever you go. Isn't there anyone who sees you for who you are and not what you did? Yes, there is One who does, your king. When God speaks of you, he doesn't mention your plight, pain, or problem; he lets you share in His glory. He calls you His child.
God proved His love for us by sacrificing His Son. Psalm 103:12 says, He has "taken our sins away from us as far as the east is from the west." Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
From In the Grip of Grace
2 Chronicles 11
When Rehoboam got back to Jerusalem he called up the men of the tribes of Judah and Ben-jamin, 180,000 of their best soldiers, to go to war against Israel and recover the kingdom.
2–4 At the same time the word of God came to Shemaiah, a holy man, “Tell this to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, along with all the Israelites in Judah and Ben-jamin, This is God’s word: Don’t march out; don’t fight against your brothers the Israelites. Go back home, every last one of you; I’m in charge here.” And they did it; they did what God said and went home.
5–12 Rehoboam continued to live in Jerusalem but built up a defense system for Judah all around: in Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth Zur, Soco, Adullam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron—a line of defense protecting Judah and Ben-jamin. He beefed up the fortifications, appointed commanders, and put in supplies of food, olive oil, and wine. He installed arms—large shields and spears—in all the forts, making them very strong. So Judah and Ben-jamin were secure for the time.
13–17 The priests and Levites from all over Israel came and made themselves available to Rehoboam. The Levites left their pastures and properties and moved to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had dismissed them from the priesthood of God and replaced them with his own priests to preside over the worship centers at which he had installed goat and calf demon-idols. Everyone from all the tribes of Israel who determined to seek the God of Israel migrated with the priests and Levites to Jerusalem to worship there, sacrificing to the God of their ancestors. That gave a tremendous boost to the kingdom of Judah. They stuck with Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years, loyal to the ways of David and Solomon for this period.
18–21 Rehoboam married Mahalath daughter of Jerimoth, David’s son, and Abihail daughter of Eliab, Jesse’s son. Mahalath bore him Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. Then he married Maacah, Absalom’s daughter, and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. Maacah was Rehoboam’s favorite wife; he loved her more than all his other wives and concubines put together (and he had a lot—eighteen wives and sixty concubines who produced twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters!).
22–23 Rehoboam designated Abijah son of Maacah as the “first son” and leader of the brothers—he intended to make him the next king. He was shrewd in deploying his sons in all the fortress cities that made up his defense system in Judah and Ben-jamin; he kept them happy with much food and many wives.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, September 24, 2023
Today's Scripture
Colossians 3:12–14
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.
Insight
The word translated “compassion” in Colossians 3:12 combines two Greek words splanchnon (bowels) and oiktirmos (mercies). The King James Version translates these words as “bowels of mercies.” Literally, the words refer to bowels, intestines, or inner organs (heart, lungs, liver, etc.). Figuratively, they refer to tender emotions that compel kind, merciful, compassionate responses. As Christ’s representatives (v. 17), believers in Jesus are urged to “clothe” themselves “with compassion” (v. 12), along with other Christlike characteristics (vv. 12–14). The verb form (splanchnizomai) is used only in the Gospels to describe divine action (of God [or a figure representing Him] and Christ). “When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were . . . like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). In Luke 15:20, the father represents God: “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son . . . and kissed him.” By: Arthur Jackson
Compassion in Action
Clothe yourselves with compassion. Colossians 3:12
Building benches isn’t James Warren’s job. He started building them, however, when he noticed a woman in Denver sitting in the dirt while waiting for a bus. That’s “undignified,” Warren worried. So, the twenty-eight-year-old workforce consultant found some scrap wood, built a bench, and placed it at the bus stop. It quickly got used. Realizing many of the nine thousand bus stops in his city lacked seating, he made another bench, then several more, inscribing “Be Kind” on each one. His goal? “To make people’s lives just a little bit better, in any way I can,” Warren said.
Compassion is another way of describing such action. As practiced by Jesus, compassion is a feeling so strong that it leads us to take action to meet another’s need. When crowds of desperate people pursued Jesus, “he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). He turned that compassion into action by healing their sick (Matthew 14:14).
We too should “clothe [ourselves] with compassion,” Paul urged (Colossians 3:12). The benefits? As Warren says, “It fills me up. It’s air in my tires.”
All around us are needs, and God will bring them to our attention. Those needs can motivate us to put our compassion into action, and those actions will encourage others as we show them the love of Christ. By: Patricia Raybon
Reflect & Pray
When did you see a hurt or need that, with compassion, you helped solve? How did your compassion make you feel?
As I see pain and need, Loving God, soften my heart to act with Christlike compassion.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, September 24, 2023
The “Go” of Preparation
If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. —Matthew 5:23-24
It is easy for us to imagine that we will suddenly come to a point in our lives where we are fully prepared, but preparation is not suddenly accomplished. In fact, it is a process that must be steadily maintained. It is dangerous to become settled and complacent in our present level of experience. The Christian life requires preparation and more preparation.
The sense of sacrifice in the Christian life is readily appealing to a new Christian. From a human standpoint, the one thing that attracts us to Jesus Christ is our sense of the heroic, and a close examination of us by our Lord’s words suddenly puts this tide of enthusiasm to the test. “…go your way. First be reconciled to your brother….” The “go” of preparation is to allow the Word of God to examine you closely. Your sense of heroic sacrifice is not good enough. The thing the Holy Spirit will detect in you is your nature that can never work in His service. And no one but God can detect that nature in you. Do you have anything to hide from God? If you do, then let God search you with His light. If there is sin in your life, don’t just admit it— confess it. Are you willing to obey your Lord and Master, whatever the humiliation to your right to yourself may be?
Never disregard a conviction that the Holy Spirit brings to you. If it is important enough for the Spirit of God to bring it to your mind, it is the very thing He is detecting in you. You were looking for some big thing to give up, while God is telling you of some tiny thing that must go. But behind that tiny thing lies the stronghold of obstinacy, and you say, “I will not give up my right to myself”— the very thing that God intends you to give up if you are to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” We all have faith in good principles, in good management, in good common sense, but who amongst us has faith in Jesus Christ? Physical courage is grand, moral courage is grander, but the man who trusts Jesus Christ in the face of the terrific problems of life is worth a whole crowd of heroes. The Highest Good, 544 R
Bible in a Year: Song of Solomon 4-5; Galatians 3
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