Max Lucado Daily: LIVE IN PEACE - June 24, 2024
We used to have a backyard trampoline. One afternoon all three of our girls were bouncing on it. Like all siblings, they don’t always get along. But for some reason, that afternoon they were one another’s biggest fans. When one jumped, the other two applauded. My chest swelled with pride. After a few moments, you know what I did? I joined them. I couldn’t resist. Their alliance pleased me.
Our alliance pleases Christ. Jesus promised, “When two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there” (Matthew 18:20). Do you desire power of Jesus in your life? Paul said in Romans 12:18 that it will come as you “do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible.” Work through your conflicts. Forgive offenses. Resolve disputes. Scripture says, “Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, bind yourselves together with peace” (Ephesians 4:3).
Philemon
Every movement we make in response to God has a ripple effect, touching family, neighbors, friends, community. Belief in God alters our language. Love of God affects daily relationships. Hope in God enters into our work. Also their opposites—unbelief, indifference, and despair. None of these movements and responses, beliefs and prayers, gestures and searches, can be confined to the soul. They spill out and make history. If they don’t, they are under suspicion of being fantasies at best, hypocrisies at worst.
Christians have always insisted on the historicity of Jesus—an actual birth, a datable death, a witnessed resurrection, locatable towns. There is a parallel historicity in the followers of Jesus. As they take in everything Jesus said and did—all of it a personal revelation of God in time and place—it all gets worked into local history, eventually into world history.
Philemon and Onesimus, the slave owner and slave who figure prominently in this letter from Paul, had no idea that believing in Jesus would involve them in radical social change. But as the two of them were brought together by this letter, it did. And it still does.
Philemon
1–3 I, Paul, am a prisoner for the sake of Christ, here with my brother Timothy. I write this letter to you, Philemon, my good friend and companion in this work—also to our sister Apphia, to Archippus, a real trooper, and to the church that meets in your house. God’s best to you! Christ’s blessings on you!
4–7 Every time your name comes up in my prayers, I say, “Oh, thank you, God!” I keep hearing of the love and faith you have for the Master Jesus, which brims over to other believers. And I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do, and that people recognize Christ in all of it. Friend, you have no idea how good your love makes me feel, doubly so when I see your hospitality to fellow believers.
To Call the Slave Your Friend
8–9 In line with all this I have a favor to ask of you. As Christ’s ambassador and now a prisoner for him, I wouldn’t hesitate to command this if I thought it necessary, but I’d rather make it a personal request.
10–14 While here in jail, I’ve fathered a child, so to speak. And here he is, hand-carrying this letter—Onesimus! He was useless to you before; now he’s useful to both of us. I’m sending him back to you, but it feels like I’m cutting off my right arm in doing so. I wanted in the worst way to keep him here as your stand-in to help out while I’m in jail for the Message. But I didn’t want to do anything behind your back, make you do a good deed that you hadn’t willingly agreed to.
15–16 Maybe it’s all for the best that you lost him for a while. You’re getting him back now for good—and no mere slave this time, but a true Christian brother! That’s what he was to me—he’ll be even more than that to you.
17–20 So if you still consider me a comrade-in-arms, welcome him back as you would me. If he damaged anything or owes you anything, chalk it up to my account. This is my personal signature—Paul—and I stand behind it. (I don’t need to remind you, do I, that you owe your very life to me?) Do me this big favor, friend. You’ll be doing it for Christ, but it will also do my heart good.
21–22 I know you well enough to know you will. You’ll probably go far beyond what I’ve written. And by the way, get a room ready for me. Because of your prayers, I fully expect to be your guest again.
23–25 Epaphras, my cellmate in the cause of Christ, says hello. Also my coworkers Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke. All the best to you from the Master, Jesus Christ!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 24, 2024
Today's Scripture
Exodus 20:18-21
All the people, experiencing the thunder and lightning, the trumpet blast and the smoking mountain, were afraid—they pulled back and stood at a distance. They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we’ll listen, but don’t have God speak to us or we’ll die.”
20 Moses spoke to the people: “Don’t be afraid. God has come to test you and instill a deep and reverent awe within you so that you won’t sin.”
21 The people kept their distance while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.
Insight
Two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they came to the wilderness of Sinai (Exodus 19:1-2). Mount Sinai, also called Mount Horeb (3:1; 33:6), was the place where Moses first got to know who God was at the burning bush (3:1-12). Now the whole nation would get to know the “I am” (vv. 14-15). Their arrival is a fulfillment of verse 12: “When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” It marked the beginning of their privileged status as God’s covenant people—“a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (19:6). It’s here that God gave them His laws—instructions for how to relate to God and worship Him (20:1-11) and how to live as His holy people (vv. 12-17). They camped at the foot of Mount Sinai for about a year (Numbers 10:11). Their stay in the Sinai wilderness is told in Exodus 19 through Numbers 10. By: K. T. Sim
In Awe of God
Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you. Exodus 20:20
A phobia is defined as the “irrational fear” of certain things or situations. Arachnophobia is a fear of spiders (though some might argue that’s a perfectly rational thing to be afraid of!). Then there’s globophobia and xocolatophobia. These and some four hundred other phobias are real and documented. It seems we can become afraid of most anything.
The Bible tells of the Israelites’ fear after receiving the Ten Commandments: “When the people saw the thunder and lightning . . . they trembled with fear” (Exodus 20:18). Moses comforted them, offering this most interesting statement: “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you” (v. 20). Moses seems to contradict himself: “Don’t be afraid but be afraid.” In fact, the Hebrew word for “fear” contains at least two meanings—a trembling terror of something or a reverent awe of God.
We may laugh to learn that globophobia is the fear of balloons and xocolatophobia is a fear of chocolate. The more serious bottom line about phobias is that we can be afraid of all kinds of things. Fears creep into our lives like spiders, and the world can be a scary place. As we struggle with phobias and fears, we do well to be reminded that our God is an awesome God, offering us His present comfort in the midst of darkness. By: Kenneth Petersen
Reflect & Pray
What in your life are you afraid of? How does God’s love help you overcome those fears?
Dear God, I find myself afraid of so many things. Please comfort my heart, and help me to rest in Your love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 24, 2024
Reconciling Yourself to the Fact of Sin
But this is your hour—when darkness reigns. — Luke 22:53
Not being reconciled to the fact that sin exists is what produces all the disasters in life. We talk about the nobility of human nature, but something in human nature laughs in the face of our ideals. If we refuse to accept that there is wickedness and self-seeking in human beings, something downright spiteful and wrong, we’ll compromise with sin and say there’s no use battling against it when it shows up in our lives.
Have you made allowance for the hour “when darkness reigns” in you? Or do you have a conception of yourself that leaves out sin? In your friendships and physical relationships, are you caught off guard by sinful impulses, or do you reconcile yourself in advance to the reality of sin? If you do, you’ll recognize danger the instant it appears; you’ll know ahead of time what engaging in sinful behavior would mean. Recognizing that sin exists doesn’t destroy human relationships; it establishes a mutual regard founded on the fact that the basis of life is tragic.
Always beware of an estimate of human nature that doesn’t take the existence of sin into account. Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet he was never cynical, never suspicious. He trusted absolutely in what God could do.
The pure person, not the innocent person, is the safeguarded person. Innocence is the quality of the child. You are never safe with an innocent man or woman; God demands that we be pure and virtuous. It is a blameworthy thing not to be reconciled to the fact of sin.
Job 1-2; Acts 7:22-43
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Jesus Christ reveals, not an embarrassed God, not a confused God, not a God who stands apart from the problems, but One who stands in the thick of the whole thing with man.
Disciples Indeed, 388 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 24, 2024
How Suffering Improves Your Vision - #9771
Have you ever been to the mall and seen one of those mall walkers? They're going at a steady clip, getting their mile or their three miles for the day. One of those mall walkers actually made the national news a few years back. He was power walking, which means "Don't get in my way! I am coming fast." He must have looked away for a moment, because he walked full-speed into a metal pole in the middle of the mall. Now, why would a collision with a pole be news? The man has not had any sight in his left eye for years. Suddenly, after running into that pole, he sees light in that eye. That collision turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to him! It suddenly helped him see.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Suffering Improves Your Vision."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from the book of Job, whose name is associated with human suffering. He symbolizes suffering probably more than anybody else in all the literature in the world. He really had some painful collisions in his life. He lost his wealth, he lost his health, and he lost his children.
Job 42:5 - his final conclusion on the really hard things he had run into. He says this to God, "My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You." Job says, "I can now see God as I never saw him before because of the pain I've been through." Before he ran into those awful losses he knew a lot about God. Because of running into those ordeals, he says now he really knows God.
Actually, that's been the experience of so many hurting people over the years. They ran into something hard, but the collision was what helped them to be able to see things they had missed before like that man at the mall.
Our son would tell you that his personal idol in junior high and early high school was football. Then came the day his knee got seriously injured. I was in the doctor's office when he was told he would never play football again. That day he cried as I had never seen him cry before. And he'll tell you now he understands that not just as the day his dream died. It was the day that his god died - the god of sports.
Not long after that he surrendered his life to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Running into that injury and that depressing news was the hardest thing he had ever run into at that point. But because of it, he saw what he'd never seen before - how losable our idols are, how worth it it is to live for Jesus and he became a missionary to Native America.
Maybe you've run into some hard things and it hurts. It's confusing, maybe even depressing. But consider what God might be trying to do in this collision. Could it be He's helping you be able to see? Maybe He wants to use the collision to expose the presence of an idol in your life or to let that other god die on you. Or He may want to open your eyes to your neglect of your family, or your neglect of Him. Or to show you that your schemes are not the answer. Or that the eternal things are the only things that really matter.
You know, for so many people it's when we hit a wall, when you run into something we can't fix or we can't control, or we can't change that we begin to consider "Who can I turn to? I am not enough." And at that moment God uses that to open our eyes to a man named Jesus, whose love was proven by His death for you on the cross. Taking your place, your death penalty for your sin. Whose power was proven by walking out of His grave. And He's ready to walk into your life today.
The purpose of the pain may have been a wakeup call from God to bring you into a relationship with Him so you could be with Him forever. And if you've never said, "Jesus, I'm yours," let this be the day. I'd love to help you with that. Just go to our website ANewStory.com.
For a child of God, the good news is there's never a collision without meaning. Open your eyes and let your Heavenly Father help you see what you might never have seen without the collision.