Max Lucado Daily: WE EXIST FOR GOD - September 21, 2023
God does not exist for us; we exist for God. God does not exist to make a big deal out of Max; Max exists to make a big deal out of God. So, can we appreciate the folly in thinking we have anything to offer God that he does not already have? Can we applaud the stunning, surprising patience of God? Jacob thought his allegiance was so valuable that God would meet his terms in order to receive it. Monstrous self-exaltation.
Yet God always responds with grace. Psalm 103:13 says, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.” God hears our prayers. You are obedient when you ask for help. But please be careful – prayer is not asking God to do what you want; it’s trusting God to do what is best. God never gives up on you.
2 Chronicles 9
The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s reputation and came to Jerusalem to put his reputation to the test, asking all the tough questions. She made a showy entrance—an impressive retinue of attendants and camels loaded with perfume and much gold and precious stones. She emptied her heart to Solomon, talking over everything she cared about. And Solomon answered everything she put to him—nothing stumped him. When the queen of Sheba experienced for herself Solomon’s wisdom and saw with her own eyes the palace he had built, the meals that were served, the impressive array of court officials, the sharply dressed waiters, the cupbearers, and then the elaborate worship extravagant with Whole-Burnt-Offerings at The Temple of God, it all took her breath away.
5–8 She said to the king, “It’s all true! Your reputation for accomplishment and wisdom that reached all the way to my country is confirmed. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself; they didn’t exaggerate! Such wisdom and elegance—far more than I could ever have imagined. Lucky the men and women who work for you, getting to be around you every day and hear your wise words firsthand! And blessed be your God who has taken such a liking to you, making you king. Clearly, God’s love for Israel is behind this, making you king to keep a just order and nurture a God-pleasing people.”
9–11 She then gave the king four and a half tons of gold and sack after sack of spices and precious stones. There hasn’t been a cargo of spices like the shipload the queen of Sheba brought to King Solomon. The ships of Hiram also imported gold from Ophir along with fragrant sandalwood and expensive gems. The king used the sandalwood for fine cabinetry in The Temple of God and the royal palace, and for making harps and dulcimers for the musicians. Nothing like that shipment of sandalwood has been seen since.
12 King Solomon, for his part, gave the queen of Sheba all her heart’s desire—everything she asked for. She took away more than she brought. Satisfied, she returned home with her train of servants.
13–14 Solomon received twenty-five tons of gold annually. This was above and beyond the taxes and profit on trade with merchants and traders. All kings of Arabia and various and assorted governors also brought silver and gold to Solomon.
15–16 King Solomon crafted two hundred body-length shields of hammered gold—about fifteen pounds of gold to each shield—and about three hundred small shields about half that size. He stored the shields in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
17–19 The king made a massive throne of ivory with a veneer of gold. The throne had six steps leading up to it with an attached footstool of gold. The armrests on each side were flanked by lions. Lions, twelve of them, were placed at either end of the six steps. There was no throne like it in any other kingdom.
20 King Solomon’s chalices and tankards were made of gold, and all the dinnerware and serving utensils in the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver; silver was considered common and cheap in the time of Solomon.
21 The king’s ships, manned by Hiram’s sailors, made a round trip to Tarshish every three years, returning with a cargo of gold, silver, and ivory, apes and peacocks.
22–24 King Solomon was richer and wiser than all the kings of the earth—he surpassed them all. Kings came from all over the world to be with Solomon and get in on the wisdom God had given him. Everyone who came brought gifts—artifacts of gold and silver, fashionable robes and gowns, the latest in weapons, exotic spices, horses, and mules—parades of visitors, year after year.
25–28 Solomon collected horses and chariots. He had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen in barracks in the chariot-cities and in Jerusalem. He ruled over all the kings from the River Euphrates in the east, throughout the Philistine country, and as far west as the border of Egypt. The king made silver as common as rocks and cedar as common as the fig trees in the lowland hills. He carried on a brisk horse-trading business with Egypt and other places.
29–31 The rest of Solomon’s life and rule, from start to finish, one can read in the records of Nathan the prophet, the prophecy of Ahijah of Shiloh, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat. Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. Solomon died and was buried in the City of David his father. His son Rehoboam was the next king.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, September 21, 2023
Today's Scripture
John 8:1–11
To Throw the Stone
1–2 8 Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them.
3–6 The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.
6–8 Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.
9–10 Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. “Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?”
11 “No one, Master.”
“Neither do I,” said Jesus. “Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin.”
Insight
In John 7, we learn that Jesus was teaching and healing in Galilee and staying out of Judea “because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him” (v. 1). Whether out of fear, jealousy, or something else, they wanted Him gone. Yet when the Feast of Tabernacles approached, Christ traveled to Jerusalem in Judea to observe the weeklong festival. During the festival, the Jewish leaders attempted to have Jesus seized (vv. 30, 43–44). Instead of heading home after the festival, He stayed in Judea (7:53–8:1). He went to the temple to preach, and there the teachers of the law and Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery (8:3-8). However, their attempt to entrap Jesus failed (v. 9). By: Alyson Kieda
God Covers Our Sin
“Neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” John 8:11
When one single mother had to find work to take care of her family in the 1950s, she took on typing jobs. The only issue was that she wasn’t a very good typist and kept making mistakes. She looked for ways to cover up her errors and eventually created what’s known as Liquid Paper, a white correction fluid used to cover up typing errors. Once it dries, you can type over the cover-up as if there were no errors.
Jesus offers us an infinitely more powerful and important way to deal with our sin—no cover-up but complete forgiveness. A good example of this shows up in the beginning of John 8 in the story of a woman who was caught in adultery (vv. 3–4). The teachers of the law wanted Jesus to do something about the woman and her sins. The law said she should be stoned, but Christ didn’t bother to entertain what the law did or didn’t say. He simply offered a reminder that all have sinned (see Romans 3:23) and told anyone who hadn’t sinned to “throw a stone at” the woman (John 8:7). Not one rock was tossed.
Jesus offered her a fresh start. He said He didn’t condemn her and instructed that she “leave [her] life of sin” (v. 11). Christ gave her the solution to forgive her sin and “type” a new way of living over her past. That same offer is available to us by His grace.
By: Katara Patton
Reflect & Pray
How has Jesus and the forgiveness of sin He provides written a new story in your life? How will this change how you treat others who’ve also sinned?
Jesus, thank You for cleansing me of my sins. Help me to live a renewed life in You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 21, 2023
The Missionary’s Predestined Purpose
Now the Lord says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant… —Isaiah 49:5
The first thing that happens after we recognize our election by God in Christ Jesus is the destruction of our preconceived ideas, our narrow-minded thinking, and all of our other allegiances— we are turned solely into servants of God’s own purpose. The entire human race was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Sin has diverted the human race onto another course, but it has not altered God’s purpose to the slightest degree. And when we are born again we are brought into the realization of God’s great purpose for the human race, namely, that He created us for Himself. This realization of our election by God is the most joyful on earth, and we must learn to rely on this tremendous creative purpose of God. The first thing God will do is force the interests of the whole world through the channel of our hearts. The love of God, and even His very nature, is introduced into us. And we see the nature of Almighty God purely focused in John 3:16— “For God so loved the world….”
We must continually keep our soul open to the fact of God’s creative purpose, and never confuse or cloud it with our own intentions. If we do, God will have to force our intentions aside no matter how much it may hurt. A missionary is created for the purpose of being God’s servant, one in whom God is glorified. Once we realize that it is through the salvation of Jesus Christ that we are made perfectly fit for the purpose of God, we will understand why Jesus Christ is so strict and relentless in His demands. He demands absolute righteousness from His servants, because He has put into them the very nature of God.
Beware lest you forget God’s purpose for your life.
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: Ecclesiastes 7-9; 2 Corinthians 13
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 21, 2023
The Name on Your Heaven Reservation - #9574
Sometimes it's just fun to surprise people. But not when you're trying to check into a hotel. It didn't work out so well for me in Houston. Chuck had contacted me on behalf of an organization to fly to Houston and film a training video. He told me what hotel to go to, and I strolled in with my suitcase. I was confident I'd be greeted with a room number and a key. Instead I was greeted with, "Uh, I never heard of you." They had no record of me! Well, finally, after some frustration I tried one more thing. I gave them Chuck's name. Bingo! The reservation was not in my name; it was in the name of the one who was paying for it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Name on Your Heaven Reservation."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts 4:12 - very important words. "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." And the name referred to two verses earlier is "the name of Jesus Christ, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead."
The verse starts out with the word "salvation is found in no one else." What is this salvation thing? Well, obviously it implies that someone needs rescuing. Well, you and I do, because we have messed up the greatest life-or-death choice there is. We have decided the wrong person will run our lives. According to the Bible, the One who gave you your life is supposed to run your life. But, no, each of us has defied our Creator. We've have and I have.
The Bible says, "All of us have sinned and come short of God's glorious ideal." We've chosen to do what we want to do with our body, our mind, our sexuality, our future, our money, etc. God's diagnostic name for that rebellion is sin. And it's terminal. We're away from God; we're separated by a wall of sin, which you can probably feel in your soul - that separation. If we die like this, we literally get the hell of never-ending separation from God and His love.
Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death." But then there's good news; the best news. "But the gift of God is eternal life." The Bible says there's only one name in which you can get that - the name of Jesus. See, you and I are going to keep our appointment with God someday. We all hope we're going to go to heaven. But if the reservation is in your name, you're not getting in. The reservation has to be in Jesus' name, because He paid for it. He paid for you to go there.
There are going to be some tragic surprises on Judgment Day. Someone will walk up to God and give their name and say, "Hey, look at all the good things I've done, Lord. Here are my references; all the people who will vouch for me." That's not going to be enough to get you in. Or, "Maybe, Lord, it's in my church's name, or my husband's name, or my wife's name. They're real good Christians. My parent's name." And then will come the agony of realizing that we've been depending on a name that cannot get us into heaven.
Only the name of Jesus Christ can get you in, because it took His death on the cross to do it. He's the only Savior there is. There are other religious teachers, there are religious systems. There are a lot of good works. None of which can satisfy a perfect God. Only Jesus paid the price with His life. And God says, "What will you do with Him? Salvation is in no other name." So we need to walk up to God and say, "Lord, look under Jesus. I know that He died on that cross for me. I've accepted His death for me as my only hope. I've made Him my Savior and my Lord. My reservation is in Jesus' name."
If you've been depending on anything else to get you to heaven, this is your day to pin all your hopes on the only one who can take you there. That is God's Son, Jesus. Get this settled. Tomorrow is never guaranteed. I'd love to help you get this settled. Would you go to our website, it's what it's there. It's ANewStory.com.
I'll tell you, if your heaven reservation is in Jesus' name, I'll tell you what you're going to hear from God, "Welcome home!"