Max Lucado Daily: Important But Not Essential
Do you want to snatch a day from the grip of boredom? Do overly generous deeds, acts beyond reimbursement. Kindness without compensation. Here’s another idea…Get over yourself!
Sound too harsh?
Well, Moses did. Numbers 12:3 says, he was a “very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.”
Mary did. When Jesus called her womb His home, she did not boast; she simple confessed: “I am the Lord’s maid, ready to serve.”
Most of all–Jesus did. Jesus chose the servants’ quarters. Can’t we?
We’re important but not essential, valuable but not indispensable. We have a song to sing, but we’re not the featured act. God is!
He did well before our births; he’ll do fine after our deaths. He started it all, sustains it all, and will bring it all to a glorious climax!
From Great Day Every Day
Ezekiel 2
It said, “Son of man, stand up. I have something to say to you.”
2 The moment I heard the voice, the Spirit entered me and put me on my feet. As he spoke to me, I listened.
3–7 He said, “Son of man, I’m sending you to the family of Israel, a rebellious nation if there ever was one. They and their ancestors have fomented rebellion right up to the present. They’re a hard case, these people to whom I’m sending you—hardened in their sin. Tell them, ‘This is the Message of God, the Master.’ They are a defiant bunch. Whether or not they listen, at least they’ll know that a prophet’s been here. But don’t be afraid of them, son of man, and don’t be afraid of anything they say. Don’t be afraid when living among them is like stepping on thorns or finding scorpions in your bed. Don’t be afraid of their mean words or their hard looks. They’re a bunch of rebels. Your job is to speak to them. Whether they listen is not your concern. They’re hardened rebels.
8 “Only take care, son of man, that you don’t rebel like these rebels. Open your mouth and eat what I give you.”
9–10 When I looked he had his hand stretched out to me, and in the hand a book, a scroll. He unrolled the scroll. On both sides, front and back, were written lamentations and mourning and doom.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, July 13, 2024
Today's Scripture
Ezra 3:1-6
The Building Begun: “The Foundation of the Temple Was Laid”
1–2 3 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled into their towns, the people assembled together in Jerusalem. Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brother priests, along with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and his relatives, went to work and built the Altar of the God of Israel to offer Whole-Burnt-Offerings on it as written in The Revelation of Moses the man of God.
3–5 Even though they were afraid of what their non-Israelite neighbors might do, they went ahead anyway and set up the Altar on its foundations and offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings on it morning and evening. They also celebrated the Festival of Booths as prescribed and the daily Whole-Burnt-Offerings set for each day. And they presented the regular Whole-Burnt-Offerings for Sabbaths, New Moons, and God’s Holy Festivals, as well as Freewill-Offerings for God.
6 They began offering Whole-Burnt-Offerings to God from the very first day of the seventh month, even though The Temple of God’s foundation had not yet been laid.
Insight
The book of Ezra is one of the post-exilic books in the Old Testament, meaning it recounts events following the exile of Judah to Babylon. After seventy years in captivity, when the people were allowed to return to the land of their forefathers, they found Jerusalem a mere shadow of its former glory. With both the impact of Babylon’s attack and the seven decades of neglect having taken its toll, the city needed to be rebuilt. However, the people also needed to be rebuilt in their relationship with God as His covenant people. Described as a teacher of the law (Ezra 7:6, 10), Ezra reestablished the law of Moses and called the people to worship the God their ancestors had forsaken—which had prompted the exile in the first place. Ezra was also of the priestly line, descending from Seraiah, the last chief priest to serve in Solomon’s temple (2 Kings 25:18). By: Bill Crowder
Worship First
They began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid.
Ezra 3:6
I’d never planned to start a non-profit organization about adult friendship, and when I felt called to do so, I had so many questions. How would the charity be financed, and who should help me build it? My greatest help on these matters ended up coming not from a business book, but a biblical one.
The book of Ezra is essential reading for anyone called by God to build something. Recounting how the Jews rebuilt Jerusalem after their exile, it shows how God provided funds through public donations and government grants (Ezra 1:4-11; 6:8-10), and how both volunteers and contractors did the work (1:5; 3:7). It shows the importance of preparation time, with rebuilding not beginning until the second year of the Jews’ return (3:8). It shows how opposition may come (ch. 4). But one thing in the story particularly stood out to me. A whole year before any building began, the Jews erected the altar (3:1-6). The people worshiped “though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid” (v. 6). Worship came first.
Is God calling you to start something new? Ezra’s principle is poignant whether you’re starting a charity, a Bible study, a creative project, or some new task at work. Even a God-given project can take our attention away from Him, so let’s focus on God first. Before we work, we worship. By: Sheridan Voysey
Reflect & Pray
Why do you think the Jews built the altar first? How could worship fit into your workflow today?
Heavenly Father, I worship You as Lord of all, including the tasks You’ve given me to do today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, July 13, 2024
The Price of Vision
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. —Isaiah 6:1
Our soul’s history with God is frequently the history of the passing of the hero. Over and over again, God has to remove our King Uzziahs—our friends and personal heroes—so that he can take his rightful place in our lives. Often when this happens, we faint and fail and get discouraged.
Take it to heart: In the year I lost the person who held the place of God in my life, what did I do? Did I give up on everything? Did I become sick and disheartened? Or did I see the Lord?
My ability to see God depends upon the state of my character. Character determines revelation. Before I can say, “I saw the Lord,” there must be something corresponding to God in my character, something I received when I was born again in the Spirit. Until I am born again and begin to see the kingdom of God, I see through the cloud of my own prejudices. I need an internal purification as well as the surgical operation of external events. It must be God first, God second, and God third, until my life is faced steadily with God and no one else is of any importance.
Whom seek they or whom find? for in all the world
There is none but thee, my God, there is none but thee.
—Frederic W. H. Myers
Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing to seek none but him.
Psalms 7-9; Acts 18
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
No one could have had a more sensitive love in human relationship than Jesus; and yet He says there are times when love to father and mother must be hatred in comparison to our love for Him.
So Send I You, 1301 L
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