Max Lucado Daily: KEEP ROWING - April 6, 2023
Consider these phrases from Mathew’s gospel: Jesus made his disciples get into the boat, he went to pray, and the boat was buffeted by the winds.
Jesus wasn’t in the boat with his disciples because he had gone to the hills to pray. Jesus prayed – that’s remarkable. It’s even more remarkable that Jesus did not stop praying when his disciples were struggling. Why? Well two possible answers. Either he didn’t care, or he believed in prayer. I think you know the correct choice.
So while Jesus is praying and we are in the storm, what are we to do? Simple. We just do what the disciples did. We row. Much of life is spent rowing. Getting out of bed. Turning in assignments. Changing diapers. Paying bills. But don’t lay down the oars! He is too wise to forget you, too loving to hurt you. And when you can’t see him, trust him. He is praying a prayer that he himself will answer.
Acts 15:22-41
Everyone agreed: apostles, leaders, all the people. They picked Judas (nicknamed Barsabbas) and Silas—they both carried considerable weight in the church—and sent them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas with this letter:
From the apostles and leaders, your friends, to our friends in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:
Hello!
24-27 We heard that some men from our church went to you and said things that confused and upset you. Mind you, they had no authority from us; we didn’t send them. We have agreed unanimously to pick representatives and send them to you with our good friends Barnabas and Paul. We picked men we knew you could trust, Judas and Silas—they’ve looked death in the face time and again for the sake of our Master Jesus Christ. We’ve sent them to confirm in a face-to-face meeting with you what we’ve written.
28-29 It seemed to the Holy Spirit and to us that you should not be saddled with any crushing burden, but be responsible only for these bare necessities: Be careful not to get involved in activities connected with idols; avoid serving food offensive to Jewish Christians (blood, for instance); and guard the morality of sex and marriage.
These guidelines are sufficient to keep relations congenial between us. And God be with you!
Barnabas and Paul Go Their Separate Ways
30-33 And so off they went to Antioch. On arrival, they gathered the church and read the letter. The people were greatly relieved and pleased. Judas and Silas, good preachers both of them, strengthened their new friends with many words of courage and hope. Then it was time to go home. They were sent off by their new friends with laughter and embraces all around to report back to those who had sent them.
35 Paul and Barnabas stayed on in Antioch, teaching and preaching the Word of God. But they weren’t alone. There were a number of teachers and preachers at that time in Antioch.
36 After a few days of this, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit all our friends in each of the towns where we preached the Word of God. Let’s see how they’re doing.”
37-41 Barnabas wanted to take John along, the John nicknamed Mark. But Paul wouldn’t have him; he wasn’t about to take along a quitter who, as soon as the going got tough, had jumped ship on them in Pamphylia. Tempers flared, and they ended up going their separate ways: Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus; Paul chose Silas and, offered up by their friends to the grace of the Master, went to Syria and Cilicia to put grit in those congregations.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, April 06, 2023
Today's Scripture
John 13:3–15
Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, “Master, you wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.”
8 Peter persisted, “You’re not going to wash my feet—ever!”
Jesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing.”
9 “Master!” said Peter. “Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!”
10-12 Jesus said, “If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you’re clean. But not every one of you.” (He knew who was betraying him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you.”) After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.
12-17 Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.
Insight
In biblical times, foot-washing was a task reserved for the most menial servant. For a superior to wash the feet of an inferior was virtually unheard of (John 13:6–8, 13–16).
But John begins his thirteenth chapter by saying Jesus loved His own—even to the end. Christ adopted the role of the servant to wash the very feet that would abandon Him just a few hours later (Mark 14:50). To love like Jesus means humbly serving even those who fail us. It is, after all, how He loves us. By: Jed Ostoich
The Challenge to Serve
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. Matthew 20:28
Although just thirteen years old, DeAvion took up a challenge to serve others. He and his mom had heard a story about a man who called on kids to mow fifty lawns for free during their summer break. Their focus was to assist veterans, single moms, people with disabilities—or anyone who just needed help. The founder (who had mowed fifty lawns in fifty states) created the challenge to teach the importance of work ethic and giving back to the community. Despite the heat and the availability of other activities a teenager could pursue in the summer, DeAvion chose to serve others and completed the challenge.
The challenge to serve comes to believers in Jesus as well. The evening before He would die for all people, Jesus ate dinner with His friends (John 13:1–2). He was well aware of the suffering and death He would soon encounter, yet He got up from the meal, wrapped a towel around Himself, and began to wash His disciples’ feet (vv. 3–5). “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet,” He said (v. 14).
Jesus, the humble Servant and our example, cared for people: He healed the blind and sick, taught the good news of His kingdom, and gave His life for His friends. Because Christ loves you, ask Him who He wants you to serve this week. By: Anne Cetas
Reflect & Pray
What about God’s love and compassion means the most to you? How can you use your gifts and talents to serve others?
Dear God, show me how to love others with the same love You have for me.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, April 06, 2023
The Collision of God and Sin
…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree… —1 Peter 2:24
The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin. Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.
The Cross was not something that happened to Jesus— He came to die; the Cross was His purpose in coming. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the Cross. Beware of separating “God was manifested in the flesh…” from “…He made Him…to be sin for us…” (1 Timothy 3:16 ; 2 Corinthians 5:21). The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh to take sin away, not to accomplish something for Himself. The Cross is the central event in time and eternity, and the answer to all the problems of both.
The Cross is not the cross of a man, but the Cross of God, and it can never be fully comprehended through human experience. The Cross is God exhibiting His nature. It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there.
The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much. The Cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….” So Send I You, 1325 R
Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 4-6; Luke 9:1-17
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, April 06, 2023
SO RICH, SO NEEDY - #9454
A close friend of ours was in China on family business. In the process, he had a wonderful opportunity to worship with some Chinese believers in a Sunday church service. It was a not-to-be-forgotten experience. They pointed him to something he didn't know existed in China - a Christian bookstore. It was the only one in this large city, and it's hard to find. It's stuffed into this very small space on the fourth floor of a nondescript building - but it's a Christian bookstore in China. Our friend commented in an email about the small number of Christian books that were available there in Chinese. In addition to books, they also had a small selection of Christian bookmarks and refrigerator magnets with verses or inspirational thoughts on them. And there was one fridge magnet that our friend absolutely could not, and cannot, get out of his mind. Here in the midst of this great city in this great land where Christians have paid such a price to follow Jesus was a magnet that simply said, "Pray for America." The only comment our friend had was this: "How humbling." I guess.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "So Rich, So Needy."
If you're an American Christian, you probably think of China as a place we need to pray for - and it is. But in China, apparently they think they need to pray for us, and indeed they do. Their faith is passionate there; ours is often so casual, so powerless. What for Chinese believers is a passion is for too many of us a profession, a bunch of religious activities or a religious business. We have so much, and yet in terms of spiritual power and passion, some think we seem to have so little. They have so little and yet, in many ways, they have so much. I'm glad and I'm humbled that they're praying for us.
If you're an American Christian, I hope you're praying for us, too. It's hard to read the description of the Laodicean church in Revelation 3 and not see us American believers in these words: "You are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm...I am about to spit you out of My mouth," Jesus said. "You say, 'I am rich'...but you do not realize you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked."
See, we live amid the greatest spiritual wealth in the history of the Christian church. We've got Christian everything. We've got Christian books, videos, conferences, websites, seminars, celebrities, and buildings. And yet with the largest Christian subculture in the history of the Church, we have lost our culture for Christ. And we are the "12:48 People" who live under the judgment of our Master's words in Luke 12:48, "To whom much is given, much is required."
So, the call of 2 Chronicles 7:14, our word for today from the Word of God, must be a call to you and me. "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." The destiny of a nation depends on what God's people do. Not the politicians, not the secular humanists or the abortionists.
As we go, so goes our nation. And we need to be going to our knees for ourselves, repenting of our proud self-reliance, of our apathy; abandoning the faith we have in programs and depending on prayer instead; seeking to know God - to touch His face - not just to know more about God; and to admit our compromises and our sin and abandon it.
From there, we have to realize the responsibility we each have as a Christian from the strongest, richest, most resourced Church in our world. For God has always judged the true righteousness of His people by their love and commitment to three groups of people: the poor, the victims, and the lost. Is that what we're about? Is that what you're about?
Somewhere in China today, they're praying for us. Let's be part of the answer to their prayers!