Max Lucado Daily: RECEIVE FIRST - February 1, 2024
If you’ve never received love, how can you love others? In other words, we can’t give what we’ve never received. But oh how we try! Our typical strategy? Try harder. “I don’t care how much it hurts, I’m going to be nice to that bum.” So we try. Teeth clenched, jaw firm.
Could it be we’re missing a step? Could it be that the first step of love is not toward them but toward Him? In 1 John 4:19 (NIV) the apostle writes, “We love, because he first loved us.” Long to be more loving? Then consider how you’ve been forgiven. Paul said in Ephesians 4:32 (NIV), “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
We want to. We long to. But how can we? By living loved. By following the principle: receive first, love second.
Isaiah 65
The People Who Bothered to Reach Out to God
1–7 65 “I’ve made myself available
to those who haven’t bothered to ask.
I’m here, ready to be found
by those who haven’t bothered to look.
I kept saying ‘I’m here, I’m right here’
to a nation that ignored me.
I reached out day after day
to a people who turned their backs on me,
People who make wrong turns,
who insist on doing things their own way.
They get on my nerves,
are rude to my face day after day,
Make up their own kitchen religion,
a potluck religious stew.
They spend the night in tombs
to get messages from the dead,
Eat forbidden foods
and drink a witch’s brew of potions and charms.
They say, ‘Keep your distance.
Don’t touch me. I’m holier than thou.’
These people gag me.
I can’t stand their stench.
Look at this! Their sins are all written out—
I have the list before me.
I’m not putting up with this any longer.
I’ll pay them the wages
They have coming for their sins.
And for the sins of their parents lumped in,
a bonus.” God says so.
“Because they’ve practiced their blasphemous worship,
mocking me at their hillside shrines,
I’ll let loose the consequences
and pay them in full for their actions.”
8–10 God’s Message:
“But just as one bad apple doesn’t ruin the whole bushel,
there are still plenty of good apples left.
So I’ll preserve those in Israel who obey me.
I won’t destroy the whole nation.
I’ll bring out my true children from Jacob
and the heirs of my mountains from Judah.
My chosen will inherit the land,
my servants will move in.
The lush valley of Sharon in the west
will be a pasture for flocks,
And in the east, the valley of Achor,
a place for herds to graze.
These will be for the people
who bothered to reach out to me, who wanted me in their lives,
who actually bothered to look for me.
11–12 “But you who abandon me, your God,
who forget the holy mountains,
Who hold dinners for Lady Luck
and throw cocktail parties for Sir Fate,
Well, you asked for it. Fate it will be:
your destiny, Death.
For when I invited you, you ignored me;
when I spoke to you, you brushed me off.
You did the very things I exposed as evil;
you chose what I hate.”
13–16 Therefore, this is the Message from the Master, God:
“My servants will eat,
and you’ll go hungry;
My servants will drink,
and you’ll go thirsty;
My servants will rejoice,
and you’ll hang your heads.
My servants will laugh from full hearts,
and you’ll cry out heartbroken,
yes, wail from crushed spirits.
Your legacy to my chosen
will be your name reduced to a cussword.
I, God, will put you to death
and give a new name to my servants.
Then whoever prays a blessing in the land
will use my faithful name for the blessing,
And whoever takes an oath in the land
will use my faithful name for the oath,
Because the earlier troubles are gone and forgotten,
banished far from my sight.
New Heavens and a New Earth
17–25 “Pay close attention now:
I’m creating new heavens and a new earth.
All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain
are things of the past, to be forgotten.
Look ahead with joy.
Anticipate what I’m creating:
I’ll create Jerusalem as sheer joy,
create my people as pure delight.
I’ll take joy in Jerusalem,
take delight in my people:
No more sounds of weeping in the city,
no cries of anguish;
No more babies dying in the cradle,
or old people who don’t enjoy a full lifetime;
One-hundredth birthdays will be considered normal—
anything less will seem like a cheat.
They’ll build houses
and move in.
They’ll plant fields
and eat what they grow.
No more building a house
that some outsider takes over,
No more planting fields
that some enemy confiscates,
For my people will be as long-lived as trees,
my chosen ones will have satisfaction in their work.
They won’t work and have nothing come of it,
they won’t have children snatched out from under them.
For they themselves are plantings blessed by God,
with their children and grandchildren likewise God-blessed.
Before they call out, I’ll answer.
Before they’ve finished speaking, I’ll have heard.
Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow,
lion and ox eat straw from the same trough,
but snakes—they’ll get a diet of dirt!
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill
anywhere on my Holy Mountain,” says God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, February 01, 2024
Today's Scripture
Philippians 2:1–8
He Took on the Status of a Slave
1–4 2 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
5–8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
Insight
Philippians 2:5-11 describes what Jesus gave up by coming to earth and becoming a man, and it’s spawned much debate over the centuries. Verse 6 affirms that prior to His incarnation, Christ was equal to the Father in every way. But in coming to earth, He “made himself nothing” (v. 7) or “emptied Himself” (nasb) of something. The key issue is found in the word emptied (Greek kenoo). Some have said that He emptied Himself of His deity, but, if so, how could His sacrifice fully atone for our sins? The most satisfying view is that He retained His deity and all His attributes but set aside the right to use those powers for His own benefit. Instead, He chose to submit to the Father’s will and purpose.
Examine the evidence that God became a man. By: Bill Crowder
All-Star Humility
[Jesus] made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant. Philippians 2:7
After a game, a college basketball star stayed behind to help workers throw out empty cups and food wrappers. When a fan posted a video of him in action, more than eighty thousand people viewed it. One person commented, “[The young man] is one of the most humble guys you will ever meet in your life.” It would’ve been easier for the basketball player to leave with his teammates and celebrate his role in the team’s victory. Instead, he volunteered for a thankless job.
The ultimate spirit of humility is seen in Jesus, who left His high position in heaven to take the role of a servant on earth (Philippians 2:7). He didn’t have to do it, but He willingly humbled Himself. His ministry on earth included teaching, healing, and loving all people—and dying and rising to save them.
Although Christ’s example can inspire us to sweep a floor, pick up a hammer, or dish up food, it may be most powerful when it finds its way into our attitude toward others. True humility is an inner quality that not only changes our actions but also changes what’s important to us. It motivates us to “value others above [ourselves]” (v. 3).
Author and preacher Andrew Murray said, “Humility is the bloom and the beauty of holiness.” May our lives reflect this beauty as, through the power of His Spirit, we reflect the heart of Christ (vv. 2–5). By: Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Reflect & Pray
How has Jesus’ humility affected you? In what areas are you tempted to be prideful?
Dear Jesus, thank You for humbling Yourself for me. Help me to follow Your example of valuing others’ needs above my own.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, February 01, 2024
The Call of God
Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel… —1 Corinthians 1:17
Paul states here that the call of God is to preach the gospel. But remember what Paul means by “the gospel,” namely, the reality of redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are inclined to make sanctification the goal of our preaching. Paul refers to personal experiences only by way of illustration, never as the end of the matter. We are not commissioned to preach salvation or sanctification— we are commissioned to lift up Jesus Christ (see John 12:32). It is an injustice to say that Jesus Christ labored in redemption to make me a saint. Jesus Christ labored in redemption to redeem the whole world and to place it perfectly whole and restored before the throne of God. The fact that we can experience redemption illustrates the power of its reality, but that experience is a byproduct and not the goal of redemption. If God were human, how sick and tired He would be of the constant requests we make for our salvation and for our sanctification. We burden His energies from morning till night asking for things for ourselves or for something from which we want to be delivered! When we finally touch the underlying foundation of the reality of the gospel of God, we will never bother Him anymore with little personal complaints.
The one passion of Paul’s life was to proclaim the gospel of God. He welcomed heartbreak, disillusionment, and tribulation for only one reason— these things kept him unmovable in his devotion to the gospel of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;… The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L
Bible in a Year: Exodus 27-28; Matthew 21:1-22
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, February 01, 2024
Man's Forest and Woman's Trees - #9669
I don't think this is going to come as a news flash to anybody who's been around very long, but the differences between men and women aren't just biological. For example, the difference between how a man and woman tell a story or relate an incident. The man sort of skims the surface; gives you the 30,000 feet view of things, and usually he can't even remember a lot of details. I often had to ask my wife, "When did that happen? Where were we? Who were we with again?"
Now, when a woman tells the same story, oh, we get the color of the drapes, the weather forecast for the day, the expressions people had on their faces. And the man's going, "Okay, so what's the point? Where's this going?" Actually, this underscores an important difference between men and women; one that I think God designed. And the sooner we understand it, the sooner we'll really appreciate each other.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Man's Forest and Woman's Trees."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God goes back to the very creation of man and woman, Genesis 2:15. Notice what man's assignment was. "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Adam, run the garden! That's no small job; he's got a big challenge. God has set him up to deal with the big picture.
Now notice the creation of woman only a few verses later. It says, "The man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the air, the beasts of the field." Okay, he's busy running the big operation. "But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman..." I personally am very glad He did. And it says, "He made her from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man."
Notice, He's created Eve now; not to run the garden, but with a focused concern. In this case, her concern is to be, largely, Adam. He would care about the big picture; she would care about the details. He would see the forest (or the garden); she would see the trees. And, you know, it's still that way today and we really need each other's perspective!
See, if a man doesn't have a woman's perspective, he tends to trample over people without even knowing it while he's pursuing his conquest, his big deal. And the man without a woman, he misses the journey because all he can see is the destination. He doesn't see the problems until they are a crisis; maybe too late to deal with. A woman tends to see them sooner and soon enough to solve them.
But see, if a woman doesn't have a man's perspective, she could be overwhelmed with worry over the details. She could tend to overreact to a bad situation because she's so close to it. To panic, maybe even make short-sighted decisions. But, man, it's dynamite when you put the two perspectives together. A man has this objective distance, and he's able to say, "Honey, come over here and let's look at the whole forest and we'll probably make a better decision and better choices." Created by God for that big picture, and there's nothing wrong with that.
But then you put that with a woman's sensitive closeness, where she says, "Honey, come over here. Did you notice that there are trees dying and falling down in the forest? You've got to come and look at the smaller picture with me, because if more of these trees die there ain't going to be no forest anymore." See, put us together; we've got the whole story. The genius of our Creator.
Let's celebrate the fact that we're different. She needs to see his forest, and he needs to see her trees.