Max Lucado Daily: GOD USES FAILURES - July 23, 2024
Failure finds us all. Failure is so universal that we must wonder why more self-help gurus don’t address it. Bookstores overflow with volumes on how to succeed, but you’ll look a long time before you find a section called “How to Succeed at Failing.”
Maybe no one knows what to say. But God does. His book is written for failures. It is full of folks who were foul-ups and flops but got a second chance. David was a moral failure, yet he became a man after God’s own heart. Jonah was in the belly of a fish when he prayed his most honest prayer and then saw revival in Nineveh.
Perfect people? No. Perfect messes? You bet. Yet God used them all. A surprising and welcome discovery of the Bible is this: God uses failures.
Ezekiel 3
Warn These People
1 3 He told me, “Son of man, eat what you see. Eat this book. Then go and speak to the family of Israel.”
2–3 As I opened my mouth, he gave me the scroll to eat, saying, “Son of man, eat this book that I am giving you. Make a full meal of it!”
So I ate it. It tasted so good—just like honey.
4–6 Then he told me, “Son of man, go to the family of Israel and speak my Message. Look, I’m not sending you to a people who speak a hard-to-learn language with words you can hardly pronounce. If I had sent you to such people, their ears would have perked up and they would have listened immediately.
7–9 “But it won’t work that way with the family of Israel. They won’t listen to you because they won’t listen to me. They are, as I said, a hard case, hardened in their sin. But I’ll make you as hard in your way as they are in theirs. I’ll make your face as hard as rock, harder than granite. Don’t let them intimidate you. Don’t be afraid of them, even though they’re a bunch of rebels.”
10–11 Then he said, “Son of man, get all these words that I’m giving you inside you. Listen to them obediently. Make them your own. And now go. Go to the exiles, your people, and speak. Tell them, ‘This is the Message of God, the Master.’ Speak your piece, whether they listen or not.”
12–13 Then the Spirit picked me up. Behind me I heard a great commotion—“Blessed be the Glory of God in his Sanctuary!”—the wings of the living creatures beating against each other, the whirling wheels, the rumble of a great earthquake.
14–15 The Spirit lifted me and took me away. I went bitterly and angrily. I didn’t want to go. But God had me in his grip. I arrived among the exiles who lived near the Kebar River at Tel Aviv. I came to where they were living and sat there for seven days, appalled.
16 At the end of the seven days, I received this Message from God:
17–19 “Son of man, I’ve made you a watchman for the family of Israel. Whenever you hear me say something, warn them for me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You are going to die,’ and you don’t sound the alarm warning them that it’s a matter of life or death, they will die and it will be your fault. I’ll hold you responsible. But if you warn the wicked and they keep right on sinning anyway, they’ll most certainly die for their sin, but you won’t die. You’ll have saved your life.
20–21 “And if the righteous turn back from living righteously and take up with evil when I step in and put them in a hard place, they’ll die. If you haven’t warned them, they’ll die because of their sins, and none of the right things they’ve done will count for anything—and I’ll hold you responsible. But if you warn these righteous people not to sin and they listen to you, they’ll live because they took the warning—and again, you’ll have saved your life.”
22 God grabbed me by the shoulder and said, “Get up. Go out on the plain. I want to talk with you.”
23 So I got up and went out on the plain. I couldn’t believe my eyes: the Glory of God! Right there! It was like the Glory I had seen at the Kebar River. I fell to the ground, prostrate.
24–26 Then the Spirit entered me and put me on my feet. He said, “Go home and shut the door behind you.” And then something odd: “Son of man: They’ll tie you hand and foot with ropes so you can’t leave the house. I’ll make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so you won’t be able to talk and tell the people what they’re doing wrong, even though they are a bunch of rebels.
27 “But then when the time is ripe, I’ll free your tongue and you’ll say, ‘This is what God, the Master, says: …’ From then on it’s up to them. They can listen or not listen, whichever they like. They are a bunch of rebels!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Today's Scripture
Luke 15:11-13, 17-24
The Story of the Lost Son
11–12 Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’
12–16 “So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had.
“That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father.
20–21 “When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’
22–24 “But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.
Insight
In the background of Jesus’ parable of a father’s embrace of his returned son are the religious leaders grumbling that Christ “welcomes sinners” (Luke 15:2; see also 5:30; 7:34). Yet it was “tax collectors and sinners” who “gather[ed] around to hear Jesus” (15:1). Listening to Christ and responding appropriately is a theme in Luke’s gospel (6:27, 47; 8:8; 9:35; 10:16; 11:28-31). Before this parable, Jesus told two others—of a “lost sheep” (15:4) and a “lost coin” (v. 9). In both parables, the theme is “rejoicing in heaven” (v. 7) over sinners returning. By: Monica La Rose
Time to Party
Let’s have a feast and celebrate. Luke 15:23
Our former church in Virginia held baptisms in the Rivanna River where often the sunshine is warm, but the water is frigid. After our Sunday service, we’d load into our cars and caravan to a city park where neighbors tossed Frisbees and kids mobbed the playground. We were quite a spectacle, traipsing to the river’s edge. Standing in the icy water, I would offer Scripture and immerse those being baptized into this tangible expression of God’s love. As they emerged, soaked to the bone, cheers and clapping erupted. Climbing up the bank, friends and family enveloped the newly baptized in hugs—everyone getting drenched. We had cake, drinks, and snacks. The neighbors watching didn’t always understand what was happening, but they knew it was a celebration.
In Luke 15, Jesus’ story of the prodigal son (vv. 11-32) reveals that it’s cause for celebration whenever someone returns home to God. Anytime someone says yes to God’s invitation, it’s time to party. When the son who’d abandoned his father returned, the father immediately insisted on showering him with a designer robe, a shiny ring, and new shoes. “Bring the fattened calf,” he said. “Let’s have a feast and celebrate” (v. 23). A massive, exuberant party including whoever would join the revelry was a fitting way “to celebrate” (v. 24). By: Winn Collier
Reflect & Pray
Where have you seen transformation and healing happen? What could celebration in these moments look like?
Dear God, I have much to celebrate, and this joy flows from You and Your work in my life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
The Life Side of Sanctification
. . . Christ Jesus, who has become for us . . . our righteousness, holiness and redemption. —1 Corinthians 1:30
The mystery of sanctification is that the perfections of Jesus Christ are imparted to me instantly—not gradually, but at the very instant when, by faith, Jesus Christ realizes sanctification in me. Sanctification is nothing less than the holiness of Jesus made manifestly mine.
Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation. The one secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus but in letting his perfections manifest themselves in my physical body. Sanctification is “Christ in me.” It is Christ’s own wonderful life that is imparted to me by faith as a sovereign gift of God’s grace. Am I willing for God to make sanctification as real in me as it is in his word?
Sanctification means that Jesus gives me his patience, his love, his holiness, his faith, his purity, and his godliness. All these are manifested in and through every sanctified soul. Sanctification isn’t drawing the power to be holy from Jesus; it’s drawing his own holiness from him. It’s having the very same holiness that was manifested in him manifested in me.
The perfection of everything is in Jesus Christ. The mystery of sanctification is that all the perfections of Jesus are made available to me and, slowly but surely, I begin to live a life of indescribable order and sanity and holiness, a life “shielded by God’s power” (1 Peter 1:5).
Psalms 33-34; Acts 24
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word.
Disciples Indeed, 386 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
When God's Promises Turn Into Life Preservers - #9792
There's bad plaque and there's good plaque. The bad kind is that substance that builds up on your teeth that you see in all the toothpaste commercials. They're going to help you get rid of that. Oh, and then there's good plaque; that's the kind we have hanging on walls all over our house.
They're good plaques because they have different promises on them from God's Word. Right as you come into our house there's been a plaque on the wall that says, "All your children will be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of your children." That's Isaiah 54:13. And most homes have God's promises on plaques on the wall, or churches do. But plaques like that are meant to do more than hang on walls; they're actually meant to float.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When God's Promises Turn Into Life Preservers."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 119. I'm going to read verse 50. David says, "My comfort in my suffering is this: 'Your promise preserves my life.'" I love that. "Your promise preserves my life."
Not long ago I was talking to some friends of ours who had lost a relative in a tragic auto accident. I said to them, "Was His grace enough?" You know, one of the great promises of God in 2 Corinthians 12:9 is, "His grace is sufficient." There'll always be enough grace.
And they said, "Oh yeah, it sure was." And then together we began to remember some of those promises that make good wall plaques, like "Underneath are the everlasting arms." And then it dawned on me, those promises of God are nice words, but when a storm hits and you're sinking - like when a loved one dies for example - the promise of God becomes a lot more than a plaque. It becomes your life preserver, like someone drowning in the ocean, hanging on for dear life, and the promise is all you've got to hang onto.
David said, "My comfort in suffering is this, 'Your promise preserves my life.'" All you've got to hang on to. And the more you hold on to that promise, the more you live as if the promise is true and the more you can handle. We've got to have those promises in our heart so we can rip them off the wall and hang onto them when that sudden storm hits.
I talked not long ago to a burned out Christian leader. He's hanging on to a promise from the 23rd Psalm, "He restores my soul." I talked to a family who was recently hit by five medical blows within as many weeks. They're hanging on to Deuteronomy 33:25, "Your strength will equal your days." When my wife got ill and was sick with hepatitis, in bed for nine months, I wondered, "How in the world am I going to do it without my partner?" I hung on to that verse. Every day I said, "Your strength will equal your days, Ron. Your strength will equal your days." It did! It got me through.
So, learn those promises. They're your source of strength. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." That means you'll have everything you need. Maybe you need Philippians 4:19, "My God will supply all your needs." Or maybe that plaque that becomes a life preserver is 1 Corinthians 10:13, "God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted more than you are able." Or are you hanging onto Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." How many times have I hung onto Jeremiah 33:3, "Call to Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things you do not know."
Learn those promises, and then learn to lean on those promises. When your feelings are lying to you, when your world is upside down, grab a promise off the wall of your heart and rest all your weight on it. The promises of God are life preservers.