Max Lucado Daily: IT’S THE FATHER - June 13, 2024
One of my favorite childhood memories is greeting my father as he came home from work. My brother and I would take our positions on the couch and watch cartoons, always keeping one ear alert to the driveway. Even the best “Daffy Duck” would be abandoned when we heard his car.
I’d run to meet Dad and get swept up in his big arms. He’d put his big-brimmed straw hat on my head, and for a moment I’d be a cowboy. When we went indoors and opened his lunch pail, any leftover snacks—which he always seemed to have—were for my brother and me to split. What more could a five-year-old want?
But suppose my dad, rather than coming home, just sent some things home. No deal. That wouldn’t work. Even a five-year-old knows it’s the person, not the presents. It’s not the frills; it’s the father!
Titus 1
I, Paul, am God’s slave and Christ’s agent for promoting the faith among God’s chosen people, getting out the accurate word on God and how to respond rightly to it. My aim is to raise hopes by pointing the way to life without end. This is the life God promised long ago—and he doesn’t break promises! And then when the time was ripe, he went public with his truth. I’ve been entrusted to proclaim this Message by order of our Savior, God himself. Dear Titus, legitimate son in the faith: Receive everything God our Father and Jesus our Savior give you!
A Good Grip on the Message
5–9 I left you in charge in Crete so you could complete what I left half-done. Appoint leaders in every town according to my instructions. As you select them, ask, “Is this man well-thought-of? Is he committed to his wife? Are his children believers? Do they respect him and stay out of trouble?” It’s important that a church leader, responsible for the affairs in God’s house, be looked up to—not pushy, not short-tempered, not a drunk, not a bully, not money-hungry. He must welcome people, be helpful, wise, fair, reverent, have a good grip on himself, and have a good grip on the Message, knowing how to use the truth to either spur people on in knowledge or stop them in their tracks if they oppose it.
10–16 For there are a lot of rebels out there, full of loose, confusing, and deceiving talk. Those who were brought up religious and ought to know better are the worst. They’ve got to be shut up. They’re disrupting entire families with their teaching, and all for the sake of a fast buck. One of their own prophets said it best:
The Cretans are liars from the womb,
barking dogs, lazy bellies.
He certainly spoke the truth. Get on them right away. Stop that diseased talk of Jewish make-believe and made-up rules so they can recover a robust faith. Everything is clean to the clean-minded; nothing is clean to dirty-minded unbelievers. They leave their dirty fingerprints on every thought and act. They say they know God, but their actions speak louder than their words. They’re real creeps, disobedient good-for-nothings.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Today's Scripture
Matthew 24:36-44
“But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven’s angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows.
37–39 “The Arrival of the Son of Man will take place in times like Noah’s. Before the great flood everyone was carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ark. They knew nothing—until the flood hit and swept everything away.
39–44 “The Son of Man’s Arrival will be like that: Two men will be working in the field—one will be taken, one left behind; two women will be grinding at the mill—one will be taken, one left behind. So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up. But you do know this: You know that if the homeowner had known what time of night the burglar would arrive, he would have been there with his dogs to prevent the break-in. Be vigilant just like that. You have no idea when the Son of Man is going to show up.
Insight
Jesus addressed the topic of His return in Matthew 24, where He makes two points. First, it will be unexpected. It will be “as it was in the days of Noah. . . . They knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (vv. 37, 39). People will be “eating and drinking [and] marrying” (v. 38) and engaged in the mundane activities of life—working in a field or grinding at a mill (vv. 40-41). Second, because Jesus’ return will be unexpected, we’re to “keep watch” (v. 42). This isn’t a watchfulness that expects something to happen in the immediate future; rather, it’s being prepared for whatever may come. It’s the same watchfulness—being awake and alert—that Jesus asked of His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane: “Keep watch with me” (26:38, 40; see 43-46). By: J.R. Hudberg
Expecting Jesus
You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Matthew 24:44
My friend Paul was awaiting the arrival of a technician to repair his refrigerator when he saw a text on his phone from the appliance company. It read: “Jesus is on his way and is expected to arrive at approximately 11:35 a.m.” Paul soon discovered the technician’s name was indeed Jesús (hay-SOOS).
But when can we expect Jesus the Son of God to arrive? When He came as a man two thousand years ago and suffered the penalty of our sin, He said that He’d be back—but only the Father knew the precise “day or hour” of His return (Matthew 24:36). What difference might it make in our day-to-day priorities if we did know the moment our Savior is coming back to earth? (John 14:1-3).
Jesus cautioned us to be ready for His return: “the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Matthew 24:44). He reminded us to “keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (v. 42).
On the day of Christ’s return, we won’t get an alert on our phone to give us a heads-up. So, through the power of the Spirit working through us, let’s live each day with a perspective of eternity, serving God and taking advantage of every opportunity to share His message of love and hope with others. By: Cindy Hess Kasper
Reflect & Pray
How are you motivated by Jesus’ imminent return? What can you expect when He comes again?
Father, as I patiently wait, please help me to obey You, pursue holiness, and to live in expectation of Christ’s return.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Consecrated to Him
Come, follow me. — Mark 1:17
One of the greatest barriers in coming to Jesus is the excuse we make of our temperament. We allow our natural inclinations—our likes and our dislikes, our affinities and our prejudices—to keep us from the Lord. The first thing we realize when we come to Jesus is that he pays no attention to what we prefer. We have the idea that we can choose what to consecrate to God, that we can offer him our gifts. But we can’t consecrate what isn’t ours. There is only one thing we can consecrate to God, and that is our right to ourselves.
If you give God your right to yourself, he will make a holy experiment out of you—and God’s experiments always succeed. The one mark of a disciple is the moral originality, the spontaneous obedience to the Spirit, which comes from abandonment to Jesus Christ. In the life of a disciple, there is an amazing wellspring of originality all the time; the Spirit of God is a deep well, bubbling up, always new, always fresh. If we are drawing from this inexhaustible source, we know that it is God who engineers our circumstances. We never grumble or whine about what we have to face; we simply take what- ever comes with a reckless abandonment to Jesus.
If you want to count yourself as Jesus’s disciple, let God be as original with other people as he is with you. Don’t make a general rule out of your personal experience. If you abandon to Jesus when he says “Come,” he will continually say “Come” through you to others. You’ll go out into life echoing his invitation: “Come, follow me.” That is the result in every soul who has come to Jesus.
Have I come to Jesus? Will I come now?
Ezra 6-8; John 21
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed.
So Send I You, 1330 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 13, 2024
When You've Been Hurt - #9764
I should have realized I was never going to make it as a tennis player. Oh, I played the most with my son. And, I think I had a decent serve for a beginner. But I had trouble returning my son's shots. Now, I think you'll agree that is a basic skill for succeeding in tennis. You do have to get it back to the other guy. For example: volleyball - you lose the point when you can't return the shot; ping-pong - oh, you know, there are a lot of places where that's important. In fact, in most arenas returning the shot - well, that's an important skill to be cultivated. In one arena it's a skill to be eliminated.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You've Been Hurt."
Well, our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Peter 2. I'll be reading verse 21. "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps." Now let's stop for just a minute here. Peter is saying that this world needs more of Jesus. And there are a lot of people around you who are desperate to have Jesus walk among them, and He can. He can walk into your office. He can walk into your school. He can be in your family through you, because He's in you.
Now, the Bible here says that Christ is our example, and the Greek word that's used there talks about a copy head on a school child's slate. And as they were learning their alphabet - alpha, beta, gamma, delta...the Greek alphabet - they would just simply copy the letter at the top and try to make their letter as much like the letter at the top as they could - an exact copy. Now, this says that Christ is our copy head. He's the one we're trying to make an exact replica of. We're trying to be as much like Him in our life as possible so that when people come in contact with us, they come in contact with Him.
Now, when is it hardest to follow that example? When is it hardest to be like Jesus? Well, when it's most important to be. Verse 23: "When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate. When He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly."
The real proof that shows a person's real character is what he does when he's being shot at. Now, you notice what happened to Jesus here? He was insulted, but there was no retaliation.
They hurt Him and yet there were no threats coming back. Our Master was abusively, horribly treated. He was deeply hurt. And boy did He have the power to hurt back like you and I never will, and He chose not to!
Now, when are you most likely to sin? Well, probably when someone is really attacking you, criticizing you, coming after you, when they're firing something at you. Maybe you've been betrayed recently, or you've been deeply wounded verbally, or maybe you've even been hurt physically. Everything in you cries out, "I'll fix him!" "I'll fix her!" Your mind starts racing through ways that you can retaliate, ways you can even the score. And now here comes the Jesus test. Does knowing Christ make any difference when it really counts?
In Romans 12 the Apostle Paul says, "Do not repay anyone evil for evil; do not take revenge, but leave room for God's wrath." Let God even the score - He's much better at it than you are. Jesus turned to His Father for justice. An eye for an eye is not the way of Jesus. Even from His cross He says of those who have nailed Him to that cross, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." That's the example for us. When you refuse to return the shot, you refuse to shrink to the level of your attackers, you refuse to let them control you. And more importantly, you rise to the level of your Lord, who gives you the grace not to hurt back.
Life isn't tennis. In Christ you win if you don't return the shot. So, hold your fire!