MaxLucado.com: Crazy Idea?
My family consisted of me, two sisters and a brother. We were siblings because we came from the same family. I’m sure there have been times when they did not want to call me their brother, but they didn’t have that choice. Nor do we. When I see someone calling God Father and Jesus Savior, I meet a brother or a sister—regardless of the name of their church or denomination.
What would happen—I know this is a crazy thought—but what would happen if all the churches agreed, on a given day, to change their names to simply “church?” What if reference to any denomination were removed and we were all just Christians? Then we Christians wouldn’t be known for what divides us; instead we’d be known for what unites us—our common Father.
Crazy idea? Perhaps. But I think God would like it. It was his to begin with.
“Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God.” (Rom. 15:7)
From A Gentle Thunder
Revelation 7
The Servants of God
1 7 Immediately I saw Four Angels standing at the four corners of earth, standing steady with a firm grip on the four winds so no wind would blow on earth or sea, not even rustle a tree.
2–3 Then I saw another Angel rising from where the sun rose, carrying the seal of the Living God. He thundered to the Four Angels assigned the task of hurting earth and sea, “Don’t hurt the earth! Don’t hurt the sea! Don’t so much as hurt a tree until I’ve sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads!”
4–8 I heard the count of those who were sealed: 144,000! They were sealed out of every Tribe of Israel: 12,000 sealed from Judah, 12,000 from Reuben, 12,000 from Gad, 12,000 from Asher, 12,000 from Naphtali, 12,000 from Manasseh, 12,000 from Simeon, 12,000 from Levi, 12,000 from Issachar, 12,000 from Zebulun, 12,000 from Joseph, 12,000 sealed from Ben-jamin.
9–12 I looked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb and heartily singing:
Salvation to our God on his Throne!
Salvation to the Lamb!
All who were standing around the Throne—Angels, Elders, Animals—fell on their faces before the Throne and worshiped God, singing:
Oh, Yes!
The blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving,
The honor and power and strength,
To our God forever and ever and ever!
Oh, Yes!
13–14 Just then one of the Elders addressed me: “Who are these dressed in white robes, and where did they come from?” Taken aback, I said, “O Sir, I have no idea—but you must know.”
14–17 Then he told me, “These are those who come from the great tribulation, and they’ve washed their robes, scrubbed them clean in the blood of the Lamb. That’s why they’re standing before God’s Throne. They serve him day and night in his Temple. The One on the Throne will pitch his tent there for them: no more hunger, no more thirst, no more scorching heat. The Lamb on the Throne will shepherd them, will lead them to spring waters of Life. And God will wipe every last tear from their eyes.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, November 16, 2024
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
1 Samuel 17:17-26, 32
One day, Jesse told David his son, “Take this sack of cracked wheat and these ten loaves of bread and run them down to your brothers in the camp. And take these ten wedges of cheese to the captain of their division. Check in on your brothers to see whether they are getting along all right, and let me know how they’re doing—Saul and your brothers, and all the Israelites in their war with the Philistines in the Oak Valley.”
20–23 David was up at the crack of dawn and, having arranged for someone to tend his flock, took the food and was on his way just as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the army was moving into battle formation, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines moved into position, facing each other, battle-ready. David left his bundles of food in the care of a sentry, ran to the troops who were deployed, and greeted his brothers. While they were talking together, the Philistine champion, Goliath of Gath, stepped out from the front lines of the Philistines, and gave his usual challenge. David heard him.
24–25 The Israelites, to a man, fell back the moment they saw the giant—totally frightened. The talk among the troops was, “Have you ever seen anything like this, this man openly and defiantly challenging Israel? The man who kills the giant will have it made. The king will give him a huge reward, offer his daughter as a bride, and give his entire family a free ride.”
Five Smooth Stones
26 David, who was talking to the men standing around him, asked, “What’s in it for the man who kills that Philistine and gets rid of this ugly blot on Israel’s honor? Who does he think he is, anyway, this uncircumcised Philistine, taunting the armies of God-Alive?”
32 “Master,” said David, “don’t give up hope. I’m ready to go and fight this Philistine.”
Today's Insights
The Israelites and the Philistines agreed that their battle was to be decided by two representative warriors (1 Samuel 17:8-11). Goliath was a fearsome Philistine champion, nine feet nine inches tall and heavily armored (vv. 4-7). He dwarfed Saul, who “was a head taller than anyone else” in Israel (9:2), possibly six feet tall. For forty days, no Israelites answered Goliath’s challenge (17:16) until David was providentially sent to the battlefront on a food run for his three brothers (vv. 17-19). With no military experience or armor, David slayed Goliath with a sling and a stone in the name of the God of Israel (vv. 45-50).
Delivering Help
Your servant will go and fight him. -1 Samuel 17:32
Today's Devotional
When Heather’s job took her to Tim’s house to deliver his take-out meal, he asked her to help him untie the knot in the food bag. Tim had suffered a stroke a few years prior and no longer had the ability to untie the knot himself. Heather cheerfully obliged. Throughout the rest of her day, Heather’s thoughts returned to Tim frequently and she was inspired to assemble a care package for him. When Tim later found the hot cocoa and red blanket she’d left at his door with an encouraging note, he was moved to tears.
Heather’s delivery became much more significant than she originally anticipated. The same was true when Jesse sent his young son David to supply his brothers with food when the Israelites “drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines” (1 Samuel 17:2). When David arrived with the bread and cheese, he learned Goliath had been instilling fear in God’s people with his daily taunting (vv. 8-10, 16, 24). David was incensed by Goliath’s defiance of “the armies of the living God” (v. 26) and was moved to respond, saying to King Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him” (v. 32).
God sometimes uses the circumstances of our daily lives to put us in places where He wants to use us. Let’s keep our eyes (and hearts!) open to see where and how He might want us to serve someone. By Kirsten Holmberg
Reflect & Pray
When has God supplied your needs through another person? How might He want to use you today in the life of another?
Father, please open my eyes to see where You might use me today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, November 16, 2024
Still Human!
Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. —1 Corinthians 10:31
The great marvel of the incarnation slips into ordinary childhood. The great marvel of the transfiguration vanishes into the demon-possessed valley. The great glory of the resurrection descends into breakfast on the seashore. The flow of these events is not an anticlimax; it is a great revelation of God.
We have the tendency to look for marvels in our experience. We mistake a sense of the heroic for being heroes. It’s one thing to go boldly through a crisis and another to go through every day glorifying God when there’s no limelight and no one to impress. If we don’t want halos about our heads, we at least want someone to say, “What a wonderful man of prayer he is! What a devoted woman of God she is!” If we were rightly related to Jesus Christ, we’d have reached the sublime height where no one even thinks of noticing us. All they’d notice in our presence is the power of God, coming through us all the time.
It takes the almighty God incarnate in us to enable us to do menial duties to his glory. It takes God’s Spirit inside us to make us so absolutely, humanly his that we are utterly unnoticeable. The test of the life of a saint is not success; it’s living faithfully in human life as it actually is. We tend to hold up success in Christian work as the goal. The goal is to manifest the glory of God, to live the life hid with Christ in God in human conditions. Our human relationships are the actual conditions in which the ideal life of God is to be exhibited.
Ezekiel 3-4; Hebrews 11:20-40
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus.
We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed.