Max Lucado Daily: Come to Me
How does a person get relief from shame, embarrassment, anger?
In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said, "Come to Me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Accept my teachings and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives. . ."
I can see you shaking your head. I've tried that. I've read the Bible. I've sat on the pew-but I've never received relief. Could it be you went to religion and you didn't go to God? Could it be you went to a church, but never saw Christ?
"Come to Me" the verse reads. Jesus is the solution for weariness of the soul. Go to Him. Admit you have soul secrets you've never dealt with. He already knows what they are.
Go to Him! He's just waiting for you to ask Him to help!
From When God Whispers Your Name
Ezekiel 42
The man led me north into the outside courtyard and brought me to the rooms that are in front of the open space and the house facing north. The length of the house on the north was one hundred seventy-five feet, and its width eighty-seven and a half feet. Across the thirty-five feet that separated the inside courtyard from the paved walkway at the edge of the outside courtyard, the rooms rose level by level for three stories. In front of the rooms on the inside was a hallway seventeen and a half feet wide and one hundred seventy-five feet long. Its entrances were from the north. The upper rooms themselves were narrower, their galleries being wider than on the first and second floors of the building. The rooms on the third floor had no pillars like the pillars in the outside courtyard and were smaller than the rooms on the first and second floors. There was an outside wall parallel to the rooms and the outside courtyard. It fronted the rooms for eighty-seven and a half feet. The row of rooms facing the outside courtyard was eighty-seven and a half feet long. The row on the side nearest the Sanctuary was one hundred seventy-five feet long. The first-floor rooms had their entrance from the east, coming in from the outside courtyard.
10–12 On the south side along the length of the courtyard’s outside wall and fronting on the Temple courtyard were rooms with a walkway in front of them. These were just like the rooms on the north—same exits and dimensions—with the main entrance from the east leading to the hallway and the doors to the rooms the same as those on the north side. The design on the south was a mirror image of that on the north.
13–14 Then he said to me, “The north and south rooms adjacent to the open area are holy rooms where the priests who come before God eat the holy offerings. There they place the holy offerings—grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. These are set-apart rooms, holy space. After the priests have entered the Sanctuary, they must not return to the outside courtyard and mingle among the people until they change the sacred garments in which they minister and put on their regular clothes.”
15–16 After he had finished measuring what was inside the Temple area, he took me out the east gate and measured it from the outside. Using his measuring stick, he measured the east side: eight hundred seventy-five feet.
17 He measured the north side: eight hundred seventy-five feet.
18 He measured the south side: eight hundred seventy-five feet.
19 Last of all he went to the west side and measured it: eight hundred seventy-five feet.
20 He measured the wall on all four sides. Each wall was eight hundred seventy-five feet. The walls separated the holy from the ordinary.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, September 28, 2024
Today's Scripture
Galatians 1:1-5
I, Paul, and my companions in faith here, send greetings to the Galatian churches. My authority for writing to you does not come from any popular vote of the people, nor does it come through the appointment of some human higher-up. It comes directly from Jesus the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. I’m God-commissioned. So I greet you with the great words, grace and peace! We know the meaning of those words because Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we’re in by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. God’s plan is that we all experience that rescue. Glory to God forever! Oh, yes!
Insight
In Galatians, Paul refers to Jesus as our rescuer (1:3-5) and deliverer (5:1). The apostle uses a variety of terms in his other writings to describe what Christ accomplished in His rescue mission. He provides “peace with God” (Romans 5:1); He’s “our Passover lamb” (1 Corinthians 5:7), our “Savior” (Ephesians 5:23), and redeemer (Titus 2:14). The author of Hebrews describes Him as our “great high priest” (Hebrews 4:14). The common thread of these images and metaphors is that Jesus rectifies something that’s wrong. The parables that He told in Luke 15 of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (more commonly known as the prodigal son) have a similar theme of rescue. Christ described His own work by saying, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (19:10). By: J.R. Hudberg
Search and Rescue
[Jesus] gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age. Galatians 1:4
Some friends went boating in the English Channel, hoping the forecast for stormy weather would change. But the winds rose, and the waves became choppy, threatening the safety of their vessel, so they radioed for help to the RNLI (the Royal National Lifeboat Institution). After some tense moments, they spotted their rescuers in the distance and realized with relief they’d soon be safe. As my friend reflected gratefully afterward, “Whether or not people ignore the rules of the sea, the RNLI still comes to the rescue.”
As he recounted the story, I thought about how Jesus leads God’s search-and-rescue mission. He came to earth to become a man, living as one of us. Through His death and resurrection, He provided us with a rescue plan when our sin and disobedience separated us from God. This truth is emphasized by Paul, when writing to the church at Galatia: “The Lord Jesus Christ . . . gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age” (Galatians 1:3-4). Paul reminded the Galatians of the gift of new life they received through Jesus’ death so that they would honor God day by day.
Jesus, our rescuer, willingly died to save us from being lost. Because He did, we have life in the kingdom of God, and in gratitude we can share the life-saving news with those in our community. By: Amy Boucher Pye
Reflect & Pray
How do you express thanks for your rescue? With whom can you share the good news?
Dear Jesus, You give the gift of life and salvation. Please help me to receive Your love and give it to others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, September 28, 2024
The “Go” of Unconditional Identification
“One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” — Mark 10:21
The rich young ruler in this verse was driven by a passion to be perfect. When he saw the personal holiness of Jesus Christ, the ruler wanted to be like him. But personal holiness is never what our Lord puts first when he calls a disciple. What he puts first is the absolute annihilation of my right to myself in favor of my identification with him. Jesus Christ wants me to be in a relationship with him in which there is no other relationship. That is why he says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother . . . such a person cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Discipleship has nothing to do with perfection, nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. It has everything to do with unconditional identification with Jesus Christ. This is what our Lord was expressing when he told the ruler to go and sell everything. Very few of us understand this absolute “go” of abandonment.
“Jesus looked at him and loved him” (Mark 10:21). To receive the look of Jesus is to have a heart broken forever from allegiance to anyone or anything else. Has Jesus ever looked at you? His look transforms and transfixes. Where I am soft with God is where the Lord has looked at me. If instead I am hard and vindictive, insistent on my own way, certain that the other person is in the wrong, it’s a sign that whole regions of my nature have never been transformed by his gaze.
“One thing you lack . . .” The only good thing, from Jesus Christ’s point of view, is union with himself, and nothing in between.
“Sell everything you have.” I must reduce myself until I’m a mere conscious being. I must renounce possessions of all kinds. I do this not to save my soul (only one thing saves me: absolute reliance on Jesus Christ), but to follow my Lord.
“Come, follow me.”
Isaiah 5-6; Ephesians 1
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God.
Not Knowing Whither, 903 R