Max Lucado Daily: RECEIVE GOD’S INVITATION - August 15, 2023
You’re invited. Jesus gives the invitation in Revelation 3:20: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.”
To know God is to receive his invitation. Not just to hear it, not just to study it, not just to acknowledge it, but to receive it. It’s possible to learn much about God’s invitation and never respond to it personally.
His invitation is clear and non-negotiable. He gives all and we give him all. Simple and absolute. Isn’t it incredible that God leaves this choice to us? Think about it. We can’t choose the weather. We can’t control the economy. But we can choose where we spend eternity.
The big choice, God leaves to us. The critical decision is ours. What are you doing with God’s invitation? What are you doing with his personal request that you live with him forever?
Psalm 49
Listen, everyone, listen—
earth-dwellers, don’t miss this.
All you haves
and have-nots,
All together now: listen.
3–4 I set plainspoken wisdom before you,
my heart-seasoned understandings of life.
I fine-tuned my ear to the sayings of the wise,
I solve life’s riddle with the help of a harp.
5–6 So why should I fear in bad times,
hemmed in by enemy malice,
Shoved around by bullies,
demeaned by the arrogant rich?
7–9 Really! There’s no such thing as self-rescue,
pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
The cost of rescue is beyond our means,
and even then it doesn’t guarantee
Life forever, or insurance
against the Black Hole.
10–11 Anyone can see that the brightest and best die,
wiped out right along with fools and dunces.
They leave all their prowess behind,
move into their new home, The Coffin,
The cemetery their permanent address.
And to think they named counties after themselves!
12 We aren’t immortal. We don’t last long.
Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.
13–15 This is what happens to those who live for the moment,
who only look out for themselves:
Death herds them like sheep straight to hell;
they disappear down the gullet of the grave;
They waste away to nothing—
nothing left but a marker in a cemetery.
But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death,
he reaches down and grabs me.
16–19 So don’t be impressed with those who get rich
and pile up fame and fortune.
They can’t take it with them;
fame and fortune all get left behind.
Just when they think they’ve arrived
and folks praise them because they’ve made good,
They enter the family burial plot
where they’ll never see sunshine again.
20 We aren’t immortal. We don’t last long.
Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, August 15, 2023
Today's Scripture
Hebrews 2:10–18
It makes good sense that the God who got everything started and keeps everything going now completes the work by making the Salvation Pioneer perfect through suffering as he leads all these people to glory. Since the One who saves and those who are saved have a common origin, Jesus doesn’t hesitate to treat them as family, saying,
I’ll tell my good friends, my brothers and sisters,
all I know about you;
I’ll join them in worship and praise to you.
Again, he puts himself in the same family circle when he says,
Even I live by placing my trust in God.
And yet again,
I’m here with the children God gave me.
14–15 Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.
16–18 It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.
Insight
Hebrews 2:5–18 explains why Jesus being fully human is so significant. The author of Hebrews quotes from Psalm 8 to show that God from the beginning intended humanity to rule over creation. Although we’re not yet ruling fully as God intended, the resurrected Christ has been crowned king of creation, and someday we too will reign with Him. Hebrews 2:12 quotes Psalm 22:22, which describes Jesus celebrating in worship with His brothers and sisters. Because Jesus isn’t only our Lord but also our fully human “brother,” we’ll someday rule alongside Him. By: Monica La Rose
Jesus Our Brother
Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. Hebrews 2:11
Bridger Walker was only six when a menacing dog lunged at his younger sister. Instinctively, Bridger jumped in front of her, shielding her from the dog’s ferocious attack. After receiving emergency care and ninety stitches to his face, Bridger explained his actions. “If someone had to die, I thought it should be me.” Thankfully, plastic surgeons have helped Bridger’s face heal. But his brotherly love, evidenced in recent pictures where he’s seen hugging his sister, remains strong as ever.
Ideally, family members watch over us and care for us. True brothers step in when we’re in trouble and come alongside us when we’re afraid or alone. In reality, even our best brothers are imperfect; some even wound us. We have one brother, however, who’s always on our side, Jesus. Hebrews tells us that Christ, as an act of humble love, joined the human family, sharing our “flesh and blood” and becoming like us, “fully human in every way” (2:14, 17). As a result, Jesus is our truest brother, and He delights in calling us His “brothers and sisters” (v. 11).
We refer to Jesus as our Savior, Friend, and King—and each of these are true. However, Jesus is also our brother who has experienced every human fear and temptation, every despair or sadness. Our brother stands alongside us—always. By: Winn Collier
Reflect & Pray
What’s been your experience with human brothers? How do you see Jesus as your true brother?
Dear Jesus, I’m astounded to think of You as my brother. Walk with me. Love me. Teach me. Show me Your way.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, August 15, 2023
The Evidence of the New Birth
You must be born again. —John 3:7
The answer to Nicodemus’ question, “How can a man be born when he is old?” is: Only when he is willing to die to everything in his life, including his rights, his virtues, and his religion, and becomes willing to receive into himself a new life that he has never before experienced (John 3:4). This new life exhibits itself in our conscious repentance and through our unconscious holiness.
“But as many as received Him…” (John 1:12). Is my knowledge of Jesus the result of my own internal spiritual perception, or is it only what I have learned through listening to others? Is there something in my life that unites me with the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior? My spiritual history must have as its underlying foundation a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. To be born again means that I see Jesus.
“…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ” (John 3:3). Am I seeking only for the evidence of God’s kingdom, or am I actually recognizing His absolute sovereign control? The new birth gives me a new power of vision by which I begin to discern God’s control. His sovereignty was there all the time, but with God being true to His nature, I could not see it until I received His very nature myself.
“Whoever has been born of God does not sin…” (1 John 3:9). Am I seeking to stop sinning or have I actually stopped? To be born of God means that I have His supernatural power to stop sinning. The Bible never asks, “Should a Christian sin?” The Bible emphatically states that a Christian must not sin. The work of the new birth is being effective in us when we do not commit sin. It is not merely that we have the power not to sin, but that we have actually stopped sinning. Yet 1 John 3:9 does not mean that we cannot sin— it simply means that if we will obey the life of God in us, that we do not have to sin.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 558 L
Bible in a Year: Psalms 91-93; Romans 15:1-13
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, August 15, 2023
Prayer That Changes Things - #9547
One sure way to finally be successful is to write a book about success. It doesn't have to be a book about your success. You can just study what made major corporations or some other leaders successful, and you can write about their success. It probably would be a bestseller.
Everywhere you look today there are seminars, and workshops, and books, and websites, and all kinds of stuff; formulas about how to be a winner in what you do.
But all the books and seminars are missing the major determining factor in personal success. Now I can't offer you what one book did. It was called The One Minute Manager. I can't do it quite that quickly; this will take just a little longer than that, but maybe it will be a little better too.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Prayer That Changes Things."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God, Genesis 24. It's about Abraham's trusted servant Eliezer. Now he's gotten to be an old man, and so has Abraham. And he gets his biggest assignment, which is to go find Isaac (who in a sense is almost like the prince of what will one day be Israel. They've got this great family, and this great little empire they've built.) Well, the prince needs a princess; he needs a wife. And so Eliezer is sent to find the woman who will be in that first generation of Jews; in a sense to be the mother of that generation. And of course, Eliezer wants to succeed. So he goes back to the land from which Abraham came so he can get a believing wife for Isaac.
And here's how the Bible describes his prayer. "Then he prayed, 'O Lord, God of my master Abraham, give me success today.'" Now we know that he really meant that prayer, because after he got the success and found Rebekah and did a bang-up job of getting his goal accomplished, here's what it says, "I bowed down and worshiped the Lord; I praised the Lord." You know, success is rooted in a prayer like this. Now, you may not find it in the books or the seminars or the workshops. But when you say, "Lord, give me success today," that's the key to getting it done.
Three factors, I think, in that prayer. One is dailyness. Eliezer recognizes here that success happens in 24-hour periods; that you have to have a good day. "Lord, give me success in this 24-hour period. Not this month, not this year; not for the rest of my life. Help me to succeed today." It's a daily prayer.
Secondly, there's a concept of destiny here. He's recognizing that there is someone already picked out for him to find - recognition that there is a plan. He's going to walk into a divine plan. See, success is fitting into God's plan. From God's perspective, it means being the right person at the right place at the right time, doing it the right way, and God will bring the goal to you.
And then there's dependency here. Praying through your day; making your calls His calls; your exam, His exam; your appointments, His appointments; your contest, your challenges, your problems - they're His. And you can tell by Eliezer's response that he's not bragging; he's praising after he gets what he was after, because he knows (and this is important to remember) that success is ultimately not so much an achievement as it is a gift of God. You don't achieve it, you receive it.
There's a much larger, more lasting success than you could possibly construct. Ultimately, your success is not the result of your degree, or your plan, or your intelligence, or your hard work. It's the result of the blessing of Almighty God - those few minutes in the morning when you say, "Oh Lord, give me success today."