Max Lucado Daily: Study Your Children
Crankcase oil coursed my dad's veins. He repaired engines for a living. Dad loved machines.
But God gave my dad a mechanical moron, a son who couldn't differentiate between a differential and a brake disc. Dad tried to teach me. I tried to learn. Honestly, I did. Machines anesthetized me. But books fascinated me. What does a mechanic do with a son who loves books?
He gives him a library card. Buys him a few volumes for Christmas. Places a lamp by his bed so he can read at night. Pays tuition so his son can study college literature in high school. My dad did that. You know what he didn't do? Never once did he say: "Why can't you be a mechanic like your dad and granddad?"
Study your children while you can. The greatest gift you can give your child is not your riches, but revealing to them their own!
From The Lucado Inspirational Reader
Ezekiel 33
You Are the Watchman
1–5 33 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, speak to your people. Tell them, ‘If I bring war on this land and the people take one of their citizens and make him their watchman, and if the watchman sees war coming and blows the trumpet, warning the people, then if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet and ignores it and war comes and takes him off, it’s his own fault. He heard the alarm, he ignored it—it’s his own fault. If he had listened, he would have saved his life.
6 “ ‘But if the watchman sees war coming and doesn’t blow the trumpet, warning the people, and war comes and takes anyone off, I’ll hold the watchman responsible for the bloodshed of any unwarned sinner.’
7–9 “You, son of man, are the watchman. I’ve made you a watchman for Israel. The minute you hear a message from me, warn them. If I say to the wicked, ‘Wicked man, wicked woman, you’re on the fast track to death!’ and you don’t speak up and warn the wicked to change their ways, the wicked will die unwarned in their sins and I’ll hold you responsible for their bloodshed. But if you warn the wicked to change their ways and they don’t do it, they’ll die in their sins well-warned and at least you will have saved your own life.
10 “Son of man, speak to Israel. Tell them, ‘You’ve said, “Our rebellions and sins are weighing us down. We’re wasting away. How can we go on living?” ’
11 “Tell them, ‘As sure as I am the living God, I take no pleasure from the death of the wicked. I want the wicked to change their ways and live. Turn your life around! Reverse your evil ways! Why die, Israel?’
12–13 “There’s more, son of man. Tell your people, ‘A good person’s good life won’t save him when he decides to rebel, and a bad person’s bad life won’t prevent him from repenting of his rebellion. A good person who sins can’t expect to live when he chooses to sin. It’s true that I tell good people, “Live! Be alive!” But if they trust in their good deeds and turn to evil, that good life won’t amount to a hill of beans. They’ll die for their evil life.
14–16 “ ‘On the other hand, if I tell a wicked person, “You’ll die for your wicked life,” and he repents of his sin and starts living a righteous and just life—being generous to the down-and-out, restoring what he had stolen, cultivating life-nourishing ways that don’t hurt others—he’ll live. He won’t die. None of his sins will be kept on the books. He’s doing what’s right, living a good life. He’ll live.
17–19 “ ‘Your people say, “The Master’s way isn’t fair.” But it’s the way they’re living that isn’t fair. When good people turn back from living good lives and plunge into sin, they’ll die for it. And when a wicked person turns away from his wicked life and starts living a just and righteous life, he’ll come alive.
20 “ ‘Still, you keep on saying, “The Master’s way isn’t fair.” We’ll see, Israel. I’ll decide on each of you exactly according to how you live.’ ”
21 In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a survivor from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city’s fallen.”
22 The evening before the survivor arrived, the hand of God had been on me and restored my speech. By the time he arrived in the morning I was able to speak. I could talk again.
23–24 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, those who are living in the ruins back in Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man and he owned the whole country. But there are lots of us. Our ownership is even more certain.’
25–26 “So tell them, ‘God the Master says, You eat flesh that contains blood, you worship no-god idols, you murder at will—and you expect to own this land? You rely on the sword, you engage in obscenities, you indulge in sex at random—anyone, any time. And you still expect to own this land?’
27–28 “Tell them this, Ezekiel: ‘The Message of God, the Master. As sure as I am the living God, those who are still alive in the ruins will be killed. Anyone out in the field I’ll give to wild animals for food. Anyone hiding out in mountain forts and caves will die of disease. I’ll make this country an empty wasteland—no more arrogant bullying! Israel’s mountains will become dangerously desolate. No one will dare pass through them.’
29 “They’ll realize that I am God when I devastate the country because of all the obscenities they’ve practiced.
30–32 “As for you, son of man, you’ve become quite the talk of the town. Your people meet on street corners and in front of their houses and say, ‘Let’s go hear the latest news from God.’ They show up, as people tend to do, and sit in your company. They listen to you speak, but don’t do a thing you say. They flatter you with compliments, but all they care about is making money and getting ahead. To them you’re merely entertainment—a country singer of sad love songs, playing a guitar. They love to hear you talk, but nothing comes of it.
33 “But when all this happens—and it is going to happen!—they’ll realize that a prophet was among them.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Today's Scripture
1 Corinthians 15:12-22
Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection.
16–20 If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.
21–28 There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ.
Insight
When Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 15 around ad 53-55, there were various erroneous views about the resurrection of the dead (see Acts 23:8; 26:8; 2 Timothy 2:17-18). Refuting false teachers who said there wasn’t any resurrection, the apostle affirms the resurrection of Christ and the future resurrection of believers as the cornerstone of faith in Him (1 Corinthians 15:12-19). At the heart of the gospel is Jesus’ atoning death and bodily resurrection: “Christ died for our sins . . . , he was raised on the third day” (vv. 3-4). His resurrection affirms the sufficiency of His sacrifice. God accepted Jesus’ payment for our sins by raising Him from the dead: “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25; see 6:4-11). Paul warns, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). By: K. T. Sim
“Ain’t No Grave”
If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 1 Corinthians 15:14
Even as country music legend Johnny Cash was approaching death, he was determined to keep making music. His final album, American VI: Ain’t No Grave, was recorded in the final months of his life. The title song, Cash’s version of a hymn by Claude Ely, gives insight into his final thoughts as we hear him sing of his hope of the resurrection. His famously deep voice, though weakened by his declining health, declares a powerful testimony of faith.
Johnny’s hope wasn’t simply in the fact that Jesus was resurrected on Easter Sunday morning; he believed that one day his own physical body would also be resurrected, and he’d rise again.
It’s an important truth to affirm because even in the days of the apostle Paul, people denied a future physical resurrection. Paul strongly critiqued their argument when he wrote, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14).
Just as the grave couldn’t hold Jesus’ body, one day all those who have faith that He was resurrected “will be made alive” (v. 22). And in our resurrected bodies, we’ll enjoy all eternity with Him on a new earth. That’s reason to sing! By: Lisa M. Samra
Reflect & Pray
What comfort does the hope of physical resurrection bring to you? How’s it an expression of faith?
Jesus, thank You for giving me the amazing hope of a future in heaven with You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, September 15, 2024
What to Renounce
We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. — 2 Corinthians 4:2
Have you renounced all secret and shameful ways, all thoughts and behaviors that your sense of honor won’t allow to come to light? You know you can easily keep them hidden. Is there a thought in your heart about another person that you wouldn’t want revealed? Renounce it as soon as it springs up. Renounce all such thoughts, until there is nothing hidden or dishonest or cunning about you. Envy, jealousy, strife—these things don’t necessarily arise from your sinful disposition, but rather from the makeup of your body, which was used for this kind of thing in days gone by. “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin” (1 Peter 4:1). Maintain a continual watchfulness over your flesh, so that nothing shameful arises in your life.
“Not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully . . .” (2 Corinthians 4:2 kjv). To renounce craftiness is to give up the kind of sly, cunning arguments that will allow you to make your point. Craftiness is a great trap. You know that God will let you work in one way only—complete honesty and adherence to the gospel. Never try to catch people in any other way; God’s judgment will be upon you if you do.
Never blunt your sense of doing your utmost for God’s highest, and never compare yourself to others. Others may be operating in ways that are perfectly all right for them, but which for you would be sly and cunning. If you were to engage in these methods, it would mean using craftiness to achieve an end other than his highest, blunting the motive God gave you. Remember that God has given you a different point of view—his. Many have backed down because they are afraid of looking at things from God’s viewpoint.
Proverbs 22-24; 2 Corinthians 8
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Is He going to help Himself to your life, or are you taken up with your conception of what you are going to do? God is responsible for our lives, and the one great keynote is reckless reliance upon Him.
Approved Unto God, 10 R
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