Ezekiel 18, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: EYES OF FAITH - August 23, 2024

hrist could come at any moment. I believe that with all my heart—not just because of what I read in the Scriptures, but also because of what I read in the news.

To be clear, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36 BSB). The exact time remains hidden. While we cannot know the day or hour, we can know the signs. Wouldn’t you agree that the signs of our day warrant our vigilance?

We have a choice. We can view the future through the eyes of fear or faith. The eyes of fear see little reason for hope and ample reason for anxiety. The eyes of faith see history inching closer and closer to a new era, a heavenly destiny.

What Happens Next

Ezekiel 18

Judged According to the Way You Live

1–2  18 God’s Message to me: “What do you people mean by going around the country repeating the saying,

The parents ate green apples,

The children got the stomachache?

3–4  “As sure as I’m the living God, you’re not going to repeat this saying in Israel any longer. Every soul—man, woman, child—belongs to me, parent and child alike. You die for your own sin, not another’s.

5–9  “Imagine a person who lives well, treating others fairly, keeping good relationships—

doesn’t eat at the pagan shrines,

doesn’t worship the idols so popular in Israel,

doesn’t seduce a neighbor’s spouse,

doesn’t indulge in casual sex,

doesn’t bully anyone,

doesn’t pile up bad debts,

doesn’t steal,

doesn’t refuse food to the hungry,

doesn’t refuse clothing to the ill-clad,

doesn’t exploit the poor,

doesn’t live by impulse and greed,

doesn’t treat one person better than another,

But lives by my statutes and faithfully

honors and obeys my laws.

This person who lives upright and well

shall live a full and true life.

Decree of God, the Master.

10–13  “But if this person has a child who turns violent and murders and goes off and does any of these things, even though the parent has done none of them—

eats at the pagan shrines,

seduces his neighbor’s spouse,

bullies the weak,

steals,

piles up bad debts,

admires idols,

commits outrageous obscenities,

exploits the poor

“—do you think this person, the child, will live? Not a chance! Because he’s done all these vile things, he’ll die. And his death will be his own fault.

14–17  “Now look: Suppose that this child has a child who sees all the sins done by his parent. The child sees them, but doesn’t follow in the parent’s footsteps—

doesn’t eat at the pagan shrines,

doesn’t worship the popular idols of Israel,

doesn’t seduce his neighbor’s spouse,

doesn’t bully anyone,

doesn’t refuse to loan money,

doesn’t steal,

doesn’t refuse food to the hungry,

doesn’t refuse to give clothes to the ill-clad,

doesn’t live by impulse and greed,

doesn’t exploit the poor.

He does what I say;

he performs my laws and lives by my statutes.

17–18  “This person will not die for the sins of the parent; he will live truly and well. But the parent will die for what the parent did, for the sins of—

oppressing the weak,

robbing brothers and sisters,

doing what is dead wrong in the community.

19–20  “Do you need to ask, ‘So why does the child not share the guilt of the parent?’

“Isn’t it plain? It’s because the child did what is fair and right. Since the child was careful to do what is lawful and right, the child will live truly and well. The soul that sins is the soul that dies. The child does not share the guilt of the parent, nor the parent the guilt of the child. If you live upright and well, you get the credit; if you live a wicked life, you’re guilty as charged.

21–23  “But a wicked person who turns his back on that life of sin and keeps all my statutes, living a just and righteous life, he’ll live, really live. He won’t die. I won’t keep a list of all the things he did wrong. He will live. Do you think I take any pleasure in the death of wicked men and women? Isn’t it my pleasure that they turn around, no longer living wrong but living right—really living?

24  “The same thing goes for a good person who turns his back on an upright life and starts sinning, plunging into the same vile obscenities that the wicked person practices. Will this person live? I don’t keep a list of all the things this person did right, like money in the bank he can draw on. Because of his defection, because he accumulates sin, he’ll die.

25–28  “Do I hear you saying, ‘That’s not fair! God’s not fair!’?

“Listen, Israel. I’m not fair? You’re the ones who aren’t fair! If a good person turns away from his good life and takes up sinning, he’ll die for it. He’ll die for his own sin. Likewise, if a bad person turns away from his bad life and starts living a good life, a fair life, he will save his life. Because he faces up to all the wrongs he’s committed and puts them behind him, he will live, really live. He won’t die.

29  “And yet Israel keeps on whining, ‘That’s not fair! God’s not fair.’

“I’m not fair, Israel? You’re the ones who aren’t fair.

30–32  “The upshot is this, Israel: I’ll judge each of you according to the way you live. So turn around! Turn your backs on your rebellious living so that sin won’t drag you down. Clean house. No more rebellions, please. Get a new heart! Get a new spirit! Why would you choose to die, Israel? I take no pleasure in anyone’s death. Decree of God, the Master.

“Make a clean break! Live!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, August 23, 2024

Today's Scripture

Jeremiah 4:1-4

“If you want to come back, O Israel,

you must really come back to me.

You must get rid of your stinking sin paraphernalia

and not wander away from me anymore.

Then you can say words like, ‘As God lives …’

and have them mean something true and just and right.

And the godless nations will get caught up in the blessing

and find something in Israel to write home about.”

3–4  Here’s another Message from God

to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:

“Plow your unplowed fields,

but then don’t plant weeds in the soil!

Yes, circumcise your lives for God’s sake.

Plow your unplowed hearts,

all you people of Judah and Jerusalem.

Prevent fire—the fire of my anger—

for once it starts it can’t be put out.

Your wicked ways

are fuel for the fire.

Insight

“Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns” (Jeremiah 4:3) is an agricultural reference readily grasped by Jeremiah’s contemporary audience. Modern readers, however, may not fully comprehend it. Just as a farmer wouldn’t plant his crops on unplowed ground, neither would he sow seed in a field without first clearing it of thistles and briars. So, too, God won’t plant His life-giving message of salvation in a heart that doesn’t repent of wrongdoing.

The reference in verse 4 to circumcision (“circumcise your hearts”) is also more easily understood by ancient Jewish culture. Circumcision was a physical sign of being set apart as God’s people—an integral part of His covenant with Abraham fifteen hundred years earlier (Genesis 17:10-14). God is far more interested in an inward change of attitude than in our outward religious symbolism and rituals. By: Tim Gustafson

A Repentant Heart

“If you, Israel, will return, then return to me,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 4:1

A friend had violated the vows of his marriage. It was painful to watch him destroy his family. As he sought reconciliation with his wife, he asked my counsel. I told him he needed to offer more than words; he needed to be proactive in loving his wife and removing any patterns of sin. 

The prophet Jeremiah offered similar advice to those who’d broken their covenant with God and followed other gods. It wasn’t enough to return to Him (Jeremiah 4:1), though that was the right start. They also needed to align their actions with what they were saying. That meant getting rid of their “detestable idols” (v. 1). Jeremiah said that if they made commitments “in a truthful, just and righteous way,” then God would bless the nations (v. 2). The problem was the people were making empty promises. Their heart wasn’t in it.

God doesn’t want mere words; He wants our hearts. As Jesus said, “The mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12:34). That’s why Jeremiah goes on to encourage those who would listen to break up the unplowed ground of their heart and not sow among the thorns (Jeremiah 4:3).

Sadly, like so many people, my friend didn’t heed sound biblical counsel and consequently lost his marriage. When we sin, we must confess and turn from it. God doesn’t want empty promises; He desires a life that’s truly aligned with Him.  By:  Matt Lucas

Reflect & Pray

In what areas of your life do your words not match your actions? What patterns do you need to change?

Father, please forgive me when my actions fail to match what I profess to believe.

For further study, read Part of the Problem—Understanding the Power of Words.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, August 23, 2024

Prayer Choice and Prayer Conflict

When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father . . . who sees what is done in secret. — Matthew 6:6

Jesus didn’t say, “Daydream about your Father.” He said, “Pray to your Father.” Prayer is an effort of will. The most difficult thing to do after we’ve gone into our room and shut the door is to actually pray. We struggle to get our minds into working order; we struggle to rein in our wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is overcoming this indulgence in aimless daydreaming. We have to discipline our minds and learn to concentrate on willful prayer.

We take care to select a specific place for prayer, but when we get there the plague of flies begins. Thoughts about all the things we have to do go buzzing through our minds. “Close the door,” Jesus says. To enter a secret silence is to deliberately shut the door on emotions and anxieties and open the door to God. God sees us in the secret place. He does not see us as other people see us, nor as we see ourselves. When we live in the secret place, it becomes impossible for us to doubt him. We become more certain of him than of anything else.

Your Father, Jesus says, is unseen; he “sees what is done in secret.” You can enter the secret place no matter where you are. Even in the hustle and bustle of daily life, you will always find God. Get into the habit of going to him about everything and learn to start every day in his presence. Unless you fling the door to your mind wide and let God enter in your first waking moment, you will work on a wrong level all day long. But if at first light, you swing the door open and pray to your Father in secret, everything you do in public for the rest of the day will be stamped with his presence.

Psalms 113-115; 1 Corinthians 6

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

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, August 23, 2024

Virgin Treasure - #9815

My son was a shrewd and wise baseball card collector. There are certain ones he kept really really well in these plastic folders. He would let anybody get near them. Why? Well, he said, "Dad when they're in mint condition they're really the most valuable and then they're really rare. And rare means valuable."

You know, there's a word that's becoming increasingly rare in our societies and our culture today. It's the word "virgin." A cable news network once posed this question to their viewers: "Why are we so obsessed with virginity?"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Virgin Treasure."

There was a foray into virgin territory that was triggered by an HBO interview years ago with Olympian Lolo Jones. She had won gold medals at the World Indoor Championship twice and has been regarded as one of the best hurdlers in the world. But it was a Twitter mention of being a virgin that started the buzz and made this interview news. After all, she was attractive... a star athlete...she was fit - and hadn't had sex? What?

She said, "It's just something, a gift that I want to give to my husband." There's a young woman who understood making sacrifices and working hard to get to a prize. Oh, and she understood the hurdles between her and that finish line. "Please understand" she said, "this journey has been hard. It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, harder than training for the Olympics, harder than graduating from college. I've been tempted. I've had guys tell me 'if you have sex, it will help you run faster.'" Really?

One gutsy woman - with a seriously tested but uncompromised conviction - again, unintentionally, put virginity back in the national conversation. Years ago, NFL quarterback Tim Tebow did too when he revealed he was saving sex for one person - his wife.

The good news for Lolo and Tim and every man or woman who guards their virginity as a treasure not to be violated is this: you've got God on your side. That's God, as in the Inventor of sex; the Designer of human sexuality, of man, of woman. Cultures change. But you can't change the Creator's plan for His creation.

Jesus said this about sex: "At the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate" (Mark 10:6-9). So here's God's plan: One man with one woman in a lifetime covenant before God. That's how sex was designed to be. Anything else is outside of God's plan.

God really cares what we do with His incredible love gift called sex. In Hebrews 13:4 - "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure. For God will judge...all the sexually immoral." That's our Word for today from the Word of God. See, God's put a fence around sex. It's called marriage and He says there's judgment for those who violate the fence. I didn't say that. God did.

My friend Mel has the most amazing vegetable garden and he's got a fence around it. "He doesn't want people to enjoy it, I know." That's not why. He wants to keep it a garden so that everyone can enjoy it. The fence is there to keep out the things that would ruin it. That's why God put a fence around sex called marriage. To protect us from ruining something beautiful. A garden is where beautiful things grow if it's kept safe.

So virginity is a treasure but it's one that you can look back and go, "You know what, I wish I'd made that choice." There are less virgins than ever but they're more valuable than ever.

But do you know one of the most powerful words in God's vocabulary is the word "forgive" because it carries with it the promise that we can be clean and have a whole new start. In the Bible's words you are a "new creation in Christ." You say, "Ron, I didn't get this right." Well right now Jesus stands there with open arms to say, "I died on a cross to forgive every sin, including that." And if you're thinking about what you wish you hadn't done, that can be erased from God's Book forever if you'll embrace the new beginning Jesus gives at His cross.

Our website will tell you how to begin that relationship - ANewStory.com. The good news for you is that today is a new beginning.

2 Timothy 2 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A MILESTONE MOMENT - August 22, 2024

Prior to 1948 Jews were dispersed to more than seventy countries for more than twenty centuries. Yet since 1948 we have seen them return. For the first time since AD 135, there are more Jews living in Israel than any other place on earth. The Bible repeatedly presents the regathering of the Jewish people as a watershed event that must occur before other end times events take place.

We’ve always had wars, always had disasters, and deceptions. But now that the milestone moment has happened and Israel is restored, the other signs progressively signal the impending end. We have entered the last days. So, let us be looking, and let us be declaring: the end is near.

What Happens Next

2 Timothy 2

Doing Your Best for God

1–7  2 So, my son, throw yourself into this work for Christ. Pass on what you heard from me—the whole congregation saying Amen!—to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others. When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did. A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. It’s the diligent farmer who gets the produce. Think it over. God will make it all plain.

8–13  Fix this picture firmly in your mind: Jesus, descended from the line of David, raised from the dead. It’s what you’ve heard from me all along. It’s what I’m sitting in jail for right now—but God’s Word isn’t in jail! That’s why I stick it out here—so that everyone God calls will get in on the salvation of Christ in all its glory. This is a sure thing:

If we die with him, we’ll live with him;

If we stick it out with him, we’ll rule with him;

If we turn our backs on him, he’ll turn his back on us;

If we give up on him, he does not give up—

for there’s no way he can be false to himself.

14–18  Repeat these basic essentials over and over to God’s people. Warn them before God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just wears everyone out. Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple. Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they’re not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul. Hymenaeus and Philetus are examples, throwing believers off stride and missing the truth by a mile by saying the resurrection is over and done with.

19  Meanwhile, God’s firm foundation is as firm as ever, these sentences engraved on the stones:

god knows who belongs to him.

spurn evil, all you who name god as god.

20–21  In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.

22–26  Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God’s servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil’s trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, August 22, 2024

Today's Scripture

Psalm 55:16-23

 I call to God;

God will help me.

At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh

deep sighs—he hears, he rescues.

My life is well and whole, secure

in the middle of danger

Even while thousands

are lined up against me.

God hears it all, and from his judge’s bench

puts them in their place.

But, set in their ways, they won’t change;

they pay him no mind.

20–21  And this, my best friend, betrayed his best friends;

his life betrayed his word.

All my life I’ve been charmed by his speech,

never dreaming he’d turn on me.

His words, which were music to my ears,

turned to daggers in my heart.

22–23  Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—

he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out.

He’ll never let good people

topple into ruin.

But you, God, will throw the others

into a muddy bog,

Cut the lifespan of assassins

and traitors in half.

And I trust in you.

Insight

David describes in deep anguish and emotional distress how he’s being venomously attacked—not by an enemy but by “my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship” (Psalm 55:13-14). Some scholars say this trusted friend was likely Ahithophel, David’s counselor who switched sides and actively advised and emboldened Absalom, David’s son, to usurp the throne and pursue and kill David (2 Samuel 15:12; 16:20-17:3).

At first, the psalmist pictures himself as a dove escaping, isolating, and detaching himself from the conflict to seek respite and security in the desert (Psalm 55:6-8). But he found sustenance and rest in God instead. David says to “cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken” (v. 22; see 1 Peter 5:7). Some scholars say that Ahithophel’s betrayal of David foreshadowed Judas’ betrayal of Jesus (Luke 22:47-48). Interestingly, both Ahithophel and Judas hanged themselves (2 Samuel 17:23; Matthew 27:5). By: K. T. Sim

Place It on God’s Plate

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. Psalm 55:22

For years, a mother prayed as she helped her adult daughter navigate the healthcare system and find counseling and the best medications. Her extreme highs and deep lows weighed on her mama’s heart day after day. Often exhausted from sadness, she realized she had to take care of herself too. A friend suggested writing out her worries and things she couldn’t control on small pieces of paper and placing them on “God’s plate” at her bedside. This simple practice didn’t eliminate all stress, but seeing that plate reminds her those concerns are on God’s plate, not hers.

In a way, many of David’s psalms were his way of listing his troubles and laying them on God’s plate (Psalm 55:1, 16-17). If the coup attempt by his son Absalom is what’s being described, David’s “close friend” Ahithophel had indeed betrayed him and was involved in the plot to kill him (2 Samuel 15-16). So “evening, morning and noon [David cried] out in distress,” and God heard his prayer (Psalm 55:1-2, 16-17). He chose to “cast [his] cares on the Lord” and experienced His care (v. 22).

We can authentically acknowledge that worries and fears affect us all. We may even have thoughts like David’s: “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest” (v. 6). God is near and is the only one who has the power to change situations. Place it all on His plate. By:  Anne Cetas

Reflect & Pray

Where are your worries—on God’s plate or yours? What will you give to Him right now?

I often have concerns on my heart, dear God. I relinquish them all to You again. I’m emptying my plate and filling Yours.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, August 22, 2024

I Indeed . . . but He

I indeed baptize you with water . . . but he . . . shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. — Matthew 3:11 kjv

Have I ever come to a place in my experience where I can say, “I indeed . . . but he”? Until that moment comes, I will never know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit means. It means that “I indeed” am at an end; I can do nothing more. “But he” begins right there—he does what no one else can do.

“But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry” (Matthew 3:11). Am I prepared for his coming? Jesus cannot come to me as long as there’s something inside me blocking his way. It doesn’t matter whether the thing is bad or good, sin or something I consider a personal quality. When he comes, I must be prepared for him to drag everything into the light. Wherever I know I am unclean, he will put his feet. Wherever I think I am clean, he will withdraw them. Repentance doesn’t bring a sense of sin but a sense of total unworthiness. When I repent, I realize that I am completely helpless; I know that no part of me is worthy even to carry his sandals. Have I repented like that? Or do I have a lingering urge to defend myself? The reason God cannot come into my life is because I haven’t entered completely into repentance.

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). John doesn’t speak of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience. He speaks of it as a work performed by Jesus Christ. The only conscious experience those who are baptized with the Holy Spirit ever have is a sense of being absolutely unworthy.

“I indeed” was unworthy, “but he” came, and a marvelous thing happened. Get to the place in the margin where he does everything.

Psalms 110-112; 1 Corinthians 5

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….” 

So Send I You, 1325 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, August 22, 2024

FATAL FAVORITISM - #9814

When you have three children, of course only one can be the first, and that one becomes to the others the measuring stick for all privileges, all fairness, and all comparisons.

Now, in our family, our daughter is the oldest. The three kids would be getting along perfectly one day, and then suddenly the boys would learn about something their big sister got. Then I would hear the march of determined feet to my desk, and then those words, "How come she gets to...?"

Then the rest would be whatever they were comparing. They would discuss whatever blessing she had gotten that they had not. Actually knowing that kind of question was coming helped me make better decisions. It could help you too.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fatal Favoritism."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Genesis 27:45. We're reading about Rebekah, the mother of two boys - Jacob and Esau. Those two boys are very much against each other at this point. The older, Esau, has a tremendous grudge and even an urge to kill his younger brother, Jacob. And now Rebekah says to her younger son, "When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I'll send word for you to come back." He's going to have to be sent many miles away. "Why should I lose both of you in one day?"

Man! She says, "I'm losing both of my sons." She's sending Jacob away for his own safety; Esau wants to kill him. How did they get in this mess? Well, Jacob's Mom and he have tricked Father, Isaac, into giving Jacob Esau's blessing. How did this family end up with all this hatred and conflict, deceit between a husband and wife, and a mother who's physically losing one son and emotionally losing the other?

The answer: the great splitter-upper. In Genesis 25 it says at the boys' early ages, "The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob."

Did you get it? Here are two godly people who fell into the trap that divides parents from children, children from parents, employees and employers, spiritual leaders and the people they're trying to lead. It's the word partiality. It's the great splitter-upper. When my sons were asking, "How come she gets to...?" they were forcing me to take a partiality check. "Am I showing favoritism here?" It inevitably leads to conflict, bitterness, getting even, and loss of respect for the person who's been partial.

If you're a parent, you just can't afford to choose between your children. If you're a son or a daughter, you can't afford to pick one parent to be close to and the other one to kind of freeze out or ignore. In spiritual leadership you can't afford to get close to one person over another. If people work for you, you've got to treat them the same.

There's a natural attraction - a natural compatibility - sometimes between one or the other, but it can never be the basis for relationships. Rebekah lost both the insider and the outsider in her love game. You'll lose too if you fall into the favoritism trap. It's just way too expensive!

Partiality? It's the great splitter-upper.

Ezekiel 17, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A PROPHETIC PAGE TURN - August 21, 2024

On Friday, May 14, 1948, President Harry Truman signed a proclamation that read: “This government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine…The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority in the new state of Israel.”

In scripture, from Ezekiel, 650 years before Christ: “For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land” (Ezekiel 36:24 NLV).

In other words, May 14, 1948, saw a page turn in the calendar of prophetic history. Almost all the key events of end times hinge upon the existence of Israel as a nation.

Read more What Happens Next

Ezekiel 17

The Great Tree Is Made Small and the Small Tree Great

1–6  17 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, make a riddle for the house of Israel. Tell them a story. Say, ‘God, the Master, says:

“ ‘A great eagle

with a huge wingspan and long feathers,

In full plumage and bright colors,

came to Lebanon

And took the top off a cedar,

broke off the top branch,

Took it to a land of traders,

and set it down in a city of shopkeepers.

Then he took a cutting from the land

and planted it in good, well-watered soil,

like a willow on a riverbank.

It sprouted into a flourishing vine,

low to the ground.

Its branches grew toward the eagle

and the roots became established—

A vine putting out shoots,

developing branches.

7–8  “ ‘There was another great eagle

with a huge wingspan and thickly feathered.

This vine sent out its roots toward him

from the place where it was planted.

Its branches reached out to him

so he could water it

from a long distance.

It had been planted

in good, well-watered soil,

And it put out branches and bore fruit,

and became a noble vine.

9–10  “ ‘God, the Master, says,

Will it thrive?

Won’t he just pull it up by the roots

and leave the grapes to rot

And the branches to shrivel up,

a withered, dead vine?

It won’t take much strength

or many hands to pull it up.

Even if it’s transplanted,

will it thrive?

When the hot east wind strikes it,

won’t it shrivel up?

Won’t it dry up and blow away

from the place where it was planted?’ ”

11–12  God’s Message came to me: “Tell this house of rebels, ‘Do you get it? Do you know what this means?’

12–14  “Tell them, ‘The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took its king and its leaders back to Babylon. He took one of the royal family and made a covenant with him, making him swear his loyalty. The king of Babylon took all the top leaders into exile to make sure that this kingdom stayed weak—didn’t get any big ideas of itself—and kept the covenant with him so that it would have a future.

15  “ ‘But he rebelled and sent emissaries to Egypt to recruit horses and a big army. Do you think that’s going to work? Are they going to get by with this? Does anyone break a covenant and get off scot-free?

16–18  “ ‘As sure as I am the living God, this king who broke his pledge of loyalty and his covenant will die in that country, in Babylon. Pharaoh with his big army—all those soldiers!—won’t lift a finger to fight for him when Babylon sets siege to the city and kills everyone inside. Because he broke his word and broke the covenant, even though he gave his solemn promise, because he went ahead and did all these things anyway, he won’t escape.

19–21  “ ‘Therefore, God, the Master, says, As sure as I am the living God, because the king despised my oath and broke my covenant, I’ll bring the consequences crashing down on his head. I’ll send out a search party and catch him. I’ll take him to Babylon and have him brought to trial because of his total disregard for me. All his elite soldiers, along with the rest of the army, will be killed in battle, and whoever is left will be scattered to the four winds. Then you’ll realize that I, God, have spoken.

22–24  “ ‘God, the Master, says, I personally will take a shoot from the top of the towering cedar, a cutting from the crown of the tree, and plant it on a high and towering mountain, on the high mountain of Israel. It will grow, putting out branches and fruit—a majestic cedar. Birds of every sort and kind will live under it. They’ll build nests in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the field will recognize that I, God, made the great tree small and the small tree great, made the green tree turn dry and the dry tree sprout green branches. I, God, said it—and I did it.’ ”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Today's Scripture

Romans 15:1-6

Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”

3–6  That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!

Insight

Paul quoted liberally from the Old Testament, which in his day comprised all of Scripture. In today’s passage, he draws on Psalm 69:9: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me” (Romans 15:3). Written by David, the psalm is clearly messianic—that is, it’s about the Messiah whom David anticipated. Now Paul employs that statement to point to Jesus. Psalm 69:9 is also referenced in John 2:17, just after Christ had turned over the tables of the merchants in the temple, driving them out with a whip. At that point, the disciples recalled the first half of that verse: “zeal for your house [God’s temple] consumes me.” Other messianic references in the psalm include “many are my enemies without cause” (Psalm 69:4) as well as an accurate reference to Jesus receiving vinegar for his thirst (v. 21; see John 19:29-30). The Old Testament unfailingly points to Christ.

By: Tim Gustafson

A Life in Four Words

With one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:6

James Innell Packer, better known as J. I. Packer, died in 2020 just five days shy of his ninety-fourth birthday. A scholar and writer, his best-known book, Knowing God, has sold more than 1.5 million copies since its publication. Packer championed biblical authority and disciple-making and urged believers in Christ everywhere to take living for Jesus seriously. He was asked late in life for his final words to the church. Packer had one line, just four words: “Glorify Christ every way.”

Those words reflect the life of the apostle Paul who, after his dramatic conversion, faithfully set about to do the work before him and trusted God with the results. Paul’s words found in the book of Romans are some of the most theologically packed in the entire New Testament, and Packer sums up in close company with what the apostle wrote: “Glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (15:6).

Paul’s life is an example for us. We can glorify (honor) God in many ways, but one is by living the life set before us and leaving the results in God’s unchanging hands. Whether writing books or taking missionary journeys or teaching elementary school or caring for an aging parent—the same goal holds: Glorify Christ every way! As we pray and read Scripture, God helps us live with devoted obedience and keep our daily lives on track to honor Jesus in everything we say and do.  By:  John Blase

Reflect & Pray

What results do you find hard to leave with God? What’s one way today you can trust His plans and in doing so honor Christ?

Dear Father, please help me to honor You today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

The Ministry of the Unnoticed

Blessed are the poor in spirit. — Matthew 5:3

The New Testament notices things we completely overlook. When Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he is elevating a state which counts for nothing according to our standards—the state of being poor. Today’s preaching tends to emphasize dazzling, easily noticed qualities, like strength of will or beauty of character. We often hear preachers telling us to “decide for Christ,” placing the emphasis on our own effort and “goodness”—things our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for him. He asks us to yield to him, which is very different.

At the bedrock of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is the unaffected loveliness of the commonplace. What I am blessed in is my poverty. If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, Jesus says I am blessed; it’s through this poverty that I enter his kingdom. I can’t enter his kingdom as a “good” man or woman; I can enter only as a pauper.

The true character of the loveliness that counts for God is always unconscious. Conscious influence is smug and self-righteous and unchristian. If I start looking for evidence of my own usefulness, I instantly lose the bloom of the Lord’s touch. “Whoever believes in me,” Jesus said, “rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:38). If I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.

Who are the people who have influenced us most? Not the ones who thought they did, but those without the slightest notion of their impact, those who radiated the unconscious loveliness of the Lord’s touch. We always know when Jesus is at work in someone’s life, because he produces something inspiring in the midst of the commonplace.

Psalms 107-109; 1 Corinthians 4

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. 

My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Your Wounded Comrade - #9813

Throughout military history, the Army Rangers have been there in some of the most dramatic, most heroic combat events, like scaling the cliffs at Normandy Beach on D-Day. They were climbing right into the face of enemy fire. It's no surprise that the Rangers played a part, along with other Special Forces, in the rescue of that Iraqi prisoner of war years ago, Jessica Lynch, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. When you're fighting in the heat of battle, it's important to know that your comrades are going to go looking for you, no matter what. That's what happened then. That POW rescue was one example of a commitment that is expressed in the Army Ranger Creed; a commitment that's echoed in other branches of the military as well. Here's what the creed says: "I shall never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy." That's good stuff!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Wounded Comrade."

Fighting for the fallen ones - going after the captured ones. I wonder if that's how we operate as God's army? His army is His Church, and if you belong to Jesus, you're part of it. And on any given day, there's a fellow soldier around us who's been wounded or maybe has even been captured by the enemy. Are we ready to say, "I shall never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy"?

There's a powerful picture of this kind of loyal commitment to one another in our word for today from the Word of God. Abram's nephew, Lot, is living in the city of Sodom where a multinational alliance is attacking the city. Genesis 14, beginning with verse 12, tells us "...they also carried off Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions. When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit." Abram and company engage the enemy, and the Bible tells us, "He brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people." By the way, the odds against those 318 were overwhelming.

Abram dropped everything, he risked everything to rescue a loved one who had fallen into the hands of the enemy. That's an example for all of us. Maybe right now you know someone who's been spiritually wounded or is going through a deep valley right now. That's where Proverbs 17:17 kicks in: "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." In other words, when everyone else is walking out, we should be walking in.

You may know someone who's really messed up, who's blown it, who's wandered away spiritually, maybe someone other believers are ignoring, marginalizing, condemning. Don't be one of them. They've never needed you more. You've got to go to them, however awkward, however difficult it may be. Show them the unconditional love of Jesus Christ. Let them feel it through you.

As God gives opportunity, remind them of how good it felt when they were close to Jesus. Right now they know how lousy it feels to be away from Him. Remind them that the issue is never Christians, it's Jesus. It's not the church. It's Jesus! It's all about Jesus. And He is all about bringing them back, forgiving them and restoring them.

God's instruction to His "Rangers" is, "If someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently." Look around the battlefield and you'll probably see a comrade, maybe even a family member, whom most people think of as the "problem child" or the "problem person" or the "prodigal." But Jesus sees, and I pray you will see a fallen comrade.

And we shall never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of our enemy!

Ezekiel 16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A FUTURE-FACING FOLLOWER - August 20, 2024

C.S. Lewis said, “If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought the most of the next.” We have bills to pay, kids to raise, deadlines to meet. Why occupy our thoughts with the “not yet” when we need strength to face the “right now”? Understanding the future empowers us to face the present.

That was the apostle Paul’s opinion. “I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (Philippians 3:13-14 NLT). The best of life is yet to be. Got challenges in this life? Then ponder the next. Be a future-facing follower of Christ.

Ezekiel 16

Your Beauty Went to Your Head

1–3  16 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her outrageous violations. Say this: ‘The Message of God, the Master, to Jerusalem: You were born and bred among Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

4–5  “ ‘On the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, you weren’t bathed and cleaned up, you weren’t rubbed with salt, you weren’t wrapped in a baby blanket. No one cared a fig for you. No one did one thing to care for you tenderly in these ways. You were thrown out into a vacant lot and left there, dirty and unwashed—a newborn nobody wanted.

6–7  “ ‘And then I came by. I saw you all miserable and bloody. Yes, I said to you, lying there helpless and filthy, “Live! Grow up like a plant in the field!” And you did. You grew up. You grew tall and matured as a woman, full-breasted, with flowing hair. But you were naked and vulnerable, fragile and exposed.

8–14  “ ‘I came by again and saw you, saw that you were ready for love and a lover. I took care of you, dressed you and protected you. I promised you my love and entered the covenant of marriage with you. I, God, the Master, gave my word. You became mine. I gave you a good bath, washing off all that old blood, and anointed you with aromatic oils. I dressed you in a colorful gown and put leather sandals on your feet. I gave you linen blouses and a fashionable wardrobe of expensive clothing. I adorned you with jewelry: I placed bracelets on your wrists, fitted you out with a necklace, emerald rings, sapphire earrings, and a diamond tiara. You were provided with everything precious and beautiful: with exquisite clothes and elegant food, garnished with honey and oil. You were absolutely stunning. You were a queen! You became world-famous, a legendary beauty brought to perfection by my adornments. Decree of God, the Master.

15–16  “ ‘But your beauty went to your head and you became a common whore, grabbing anyone coming down the street and taking him into your bed. You took your fine dresses and made “tents” of them, using them as brothels in which you practiced your trade. This kind of thing should never happen, never.

What a Sick Soul!

17–19  “ ‘And then you took all that fine jewelry I gave you, my gold and my silver, and made pornographic images of them for your brothels. You decorated your beds with fashionable silks and cottons, and perfumed them with my aromatic oils and incense. And then you set out the wonderful foods I provided—the fresh breads and fruits, with fine herbs and spices, which were my gifts to you—and you served them as delicacies in your whorehouses. That’s what happened, says God, the Master.

20–21  “ ‘And then you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had given birth to as my children, and you killed them, sacrificing them to idols. Wasn’t it bad enough that you had become a whore? And now you’re a murderer, killing my children and sacrificing them to idols.

22  “ ‘Not once during these years of outrageous obscenities and whorings did you remember your infancy, when you were naked and exposed, a blood-smeared newborn.

23–24  “ ‘And then to top off all your evil acts, you built your bold brothels in every town square. Doom! Doom to you, says God, the Master! At every major intersection you built your bold brothels and exposed your sluttish sex, spreading your legs for everyone who passed by.

25–27  “ ‘And then you went international with your whoring. You fornicated with the Egyptians, seeking them out in their sex orgies. The more promiscuous you became, the angrier I got. Finally, I intervened, reduced your borders and turned you over to the rapacity of your enemies. Even the Philistine women—can you believe it?—were shocked at your sluttish life.

28–29  “ ‘You went on to fornicate with the Assyrians. Your appetite was insatiable. But still you weren’t satisfied. You took on the Babylonians, a country of businessmen, and still you weren’t satisfied.

30–31  “ ‘What a sick soul! Doing all this stuff—the champion whore! You built your bold brothels at every major intersection, opened up your whorehouses in every neighborhood, but you were different from regular whores in that you wouldn’t accept a fee.

32–34  “ ‘Wives who are unfaithful to their husbands accept gifts from their lovers. And men commonly pay their whores. But you pay your lovers! You bribe men from all over to come to bed with you! You’re just the opposite of the regular whores who get paid for sex. Instead, you pay men for their favors! You even pervert whoredom!

35–38  “ ‘Therefore, whore, listen to God’s Message: I, God, the Master, say, Because you’ve been unrestrained in your promiscuity, stripped down for every lover, flaunting your sex, and because of your pornographic idols and all the slaughtered children you offered to them, therefore, because of all this, I’m going to get all your lovers together, all those you’ve used for your own pleasure, the ones you loved and the ones you loathed. I’ll assemble them as a courtroom of spectators around you. In broad daylight I’ll strip you naked before them—they’ll see what you really look like. Then I’ll sentence you to the punishment for an adulterous woman and a murderous woman. I’ll give you a taste of my wrath!

39–41  “ ‘I’ll gather all your lovers around you and turn you over to them. They’ll tear down your bold brothels and sex shrines. They’ll rip off your clothes, take your jewels, and leave you naked and exposed. Then they’ll call for a mass meeting. The mob will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords. They’ll burn down your houses. A massive judgment—with all the women watching!

41–42  “ ‘I’ll have put a full stop to your whoring life—no more paying lovers to come to your bed! By then my anger will be played out. My jealousy will subside.

43  “ ‘Because you didn’t remember what happened when you were young but made me angry with all this behavior, I’ll make you pay for your waywardness. Didn’t you just exponentially compound your outrageous obscenities with all your sluttish ways?

44–45  “ ‘Everyone who likes to use proverbs will use this one: “Like mother, like daughter.” You’re the daughter of your mother, who couldn’t stand her husband and children. And you’re a true sister of your sisters, who couldn’t stand their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

46–48  “ ‘Your older sister is Samaria. She lived to the north of you with her daughters. Your younger sister is Sodom, who lived to the south of you with her daughters. Haven’t you lived just like they did? Haven’t you engaged in outrageous obscenities just like they did? In fact, it didn’t take you long to catch up and pass them! As sure as I am the living God!—Decree of God, the Master—your sister Sodom and her daughters never even came close to what you and your daughters have done.

49–50  “ ‘The sin of your sister Sodom was this: She lived with her daughters in the lap of luxury—proud, gluttonous, and lazy. They ignored the oppressed and the poor. They put on airs and lived obscene lives. And you know what happened: I did away with them.

51–52  “ ‘And Samaria. Samaria didn’t sin half as much as you. You’ve committed far more obscenities than she ever did. Why, you make your two sisters look good in comparison with what you’ve done! Face it, your sisters look mighty good compared with you. Because you’ve outsinned them so completely, you’ve actually made them look righteous. Aren’t you ashamed? But you’re going to have to live with it. What a reputation to carry into history: outsinning your two sisters!

53–58  “ ‘But I’m going to reverse their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters. And—get this—your fortunes right along with them! Still, you’re going to have to live with your shame. And by facing and accepting your shame, you’re going to provide some comfort to your two sisters. Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will become what they were before, and you will become what you were before. Remember the days when you were putting on airs, acting so high and mighty, looking down on sister Sodom? That was before your evil ways were exposed. And now you’re the butt of contempt, despised by the Edomite women, the Philistine women, and everybody else around. But you have to face it, to accept the shame of your obscene and vile life. Decree of God, the Master.

59–63  “ ‘God, the Master, says, I’ll do to you just as you have already done, you who have treated my oath with contempt and broken the covenant. All the same, I’ll remember the covenant I made with you when you were young and I’ll make a new covenant with you that will last forever. You’ll remember your sorry past and be properly contrite when you receive back your sisters, both the older and the younger. I’ll give them to you as daughters, but not as participants in your covenant. I’ll firmly establish my covenant with you and you’ll know that I am God. You’ll remember your past life and face the shame of it, but when I make atonement for you, make everything right after all you’ve done, it will leave you speechless.’ ” Decree of God, the Master.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Today's Scripture

3 John 1:1-8

The Pastor, to my good friend Gaius: How truly I love you!

Insight

Third John is a personal letter from “the elder” (1:1)—whom most scholars say is the apostle John—to Gaius. Gaius was a member of the church (most likely in Asia Minor) whom John commended for faithfully opening his home to “traveling teachers who pass through, even though they are strangers to you” (v. 5 nlt). In contrast, John confronted Diotrephes, a proud and self-important person in the church, who was motivated by self-love and selfish ambition, and opposed hospitality toward itinerant (traveling) teachers (vv. 9-10).

Offering hospitality was a key concern because inns were unsafe and few in number. Paul urges us to “always be eager to practice hospitality” (Romans 12:13 nlt). The word for hospitality used here (philoxenia) means “love to strangers.” Peter encourages us to “continue to show deep love for each other . . . . Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay” (1 Peter 4:8-9 nlt). By: K. T. Sim

Our Impact on Others

Believers . . . testified about your faithfulness to the truth. 3 John 1:3

When Dr. Lee, my seminary professor, noticed that Benjie, our school custodian, would be late in joining our lunch gathering, he quietly set aside a plate of food for him. As my classmates and I talked, Dr. Lee also quietly placed the last slice of rice cake on a dish for him—adding some grated coconut as a delicious topping. This kind act of an eminent theologian was one of many—and what I consider an overflow of Dr. Lee’s faithfulness to God. Twenty years later, the deep impression he made on me remains.

The apostle John had a dear friend who also left a deep impression on many believers. They talked about Gaius as one who was faithful to God and the Scriptures, continually walking in “the truth” (3 John 1:3). Gaius showed hospitality to traveling preachers of the gospel, even though they were strangers (v. 5). As a result, John said to him, “They have told the church about your love” (v. 6). Gaius’ faithfulness to God and to other believers in Jesus helped further the gospel.

The impact my teacher had on me and the impact Gaius had in his day are powerful reminders that we can leave an impact on others—one that God can use in drawing them to Christ. As we walk faithfully with God, let’s live and act in a way that helps other believers walk faithfully with Him too. By:  Karen Huang

Reflect & Pray

How do you know that you’re walking in the truth? What can others learn from your life?

Dear God, I need Your help to be faithful to You and Your truth. Please help me to live in a manner that will draw others to You.

For further study, read Walk with Me: Traveling with Jesus and Others on Life’s Road.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Completeness

And I will give you rest. — Matthew 11:28

Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to him at once and ask him to establish rest. Never allow anything that is causing dis-peace to remain. Treat every disturbance as something to wrestle against, not as something to endure. Say to the Lord, “Establish your consciousness in me.” Christ-consciousness will come, self-consciousness will go, and he will be all in all.

If you allow self-consciousness to continue, by slow degrees it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic. The self-pitying person thinks along these lines: “No one understands me; I’m owed an apology; I have to keep making my point until other people accept it.” Leave other people alone. Ask the Lord to give you Christ-consciousness, and he will steady you until your completeness in him is absolute.

The complete life is the life of the child. The child of God is not conscious of the will of God, because the child is the will of God. When you are consciously conscious, something is wrong; it is the sick person who knows what health is. If you are consciously asking God, “What is your will?” it’s a sign that you have deviated, however slightly, from his will. The child of God never prays to be conscious that God answers prayer. The child of God is restfully certain that God always does answer prayer.

Never try to overcome self-consciousness using common sense. You will only succeed in strengthening it. You must do what Jesus says: “Come to me . . . and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Wherever Jesus comes, he establishes rest—the perfect rest of activity that is unconscious of itself.

Psalms 105-106; 1 Corinthians 3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.… We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be.

My Utmost for His Highest, January 6, 736 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Playing for Jesus - #9812

When my grandson was playing Upward basketball as a boy I told him about Jeremy Lin who at that time was lighting up the scoreboard for the New York Knicks. Now, he was not your typical professional basketball star, that's for sure. He was a Harvard grad. He was Asian-American. He was refreshingly humble. Oh, and you could tell that he unashamedly loved Jesus.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Playing for Jesus"

Now, he actually wore a bracelet that revealed where his heart was. It said, "For Jesus' name I play." Yeah, he played on the New York Knicks, but he played for Jesus. Which suggested a pretty good self-exam question to be asking, even for a sports klutz like me, "Who do I play for?" Now, that probing question demands that I stop and take stock on two fronts: whose glory am I playing for and whose approval am I playing for?

Well, our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 10:31 lays it down straight on the glory issue. It says, "whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." And in Isaiah 42:8 it says, "I am the Lord; that is My name! I will not give My glory to another..." Boy, you don't want to mess with that!

So how much of what I do is to get people to notice me; to give me strokes? That's not a question any of us can answer once and for all. We've got to answer it before every "game." Can I honestly say it's "for Jesus' name I play", that I want Him to get all the attention, all the credit? At the moment I catch myself thinking, "Hey, ain't I somethin'!" I've got to aim that spotlight toward heaven and say, "No! Isn't He somethin'!" The alternative is to hijack God's glory. And He just isn't going to let that happen.

But it's not just "whose glory?" that is the issue. There's the whole "whose approval?" thing. See, I'm a firstborn child, but I'm otherwise normal. And they say we oldest kids grow up wanting to please mom and dad, and we get real good at it. And soon, well we can intuitively figure out what it will take to please a teacher, or a boss, or friends, or people in general. We're not alone, of course, in being people-pleasers, but we're pretty good at it.

Now, it's easy to become an approval junkie, playing to get people to like you, to validate you. But ultimately, it's a life of slavery. It's a life of fear. You become, to a large extent, shaped and defined by other people's expectations - a slave. Oh, and then there's the fear thing: fear of rejection, fear of not being liked, which will, at some point, keep you from doing the right thing. People-pleasing becomes the gateway drug to sinful compromise of the truth, your integrity, your purity, your convictions, your Savior's name. It's a price that's too high to pay. The Bible nails it again, "Fear of man will prove to be a snare" (Proverbs 29:25).

The Bible writer, Paul, asks disturbingly: "Am I trying to win the approval of men or of God? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10). Ouch! And then, listen to Jeremiah, "Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not" (Jeremiah 45:5).

Now, if Jeremy Lin, that former NBA player, was playing for Jesus, then he was a free man. Free from the dead-end street of stealing God's glory; free from the bondage and insecurity of trying to make everybody happy. Life is honestly a whole lot less confusing and conflicted when you've got only one person to please - the Person who loves you unconditionally, unendingly, unsparingly. Jesus, who abandoned His glory in heaven and the acclaim of angels to rescue you and me.

I'll never forget the lesson I learned the day that my young son was helping me with yard work. I was mowing, and he was doing the clipping after me. And at one point, I kind of flashed a smile his way. And a few minutes later, he came over and he shouted above all the mower noise, "Daddy, could you please do that again?" I turned down the mower and I said, "Do what again, son?" "Could you just smile at me again, Daddy? It's your smile that keeps me going."

That's what I want. I want to live for one thing - my Father's smile.

2 Timothy 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THINGS WILL BE MADE RIGHT - August 19, 2024

The Christian lives life on tiptoe, ever searching the skies. We awaken with the thought Perhaps today! Our hope is centered on the bodily return of Christ. We are looking to a new age in which Jesus will be crowned as the rightful King and we will serve as his grateful servants.

Peter declared, “The Lord will…send Jesus, the One he chose to be the Christ. But Jesus must stay in heaven until the right time comes when all things will be made right again” (Acts 3:19-21 NCV).

Does that assurance not speak to the heavy heart? Weary of racism? Things will be made right. Weary of child abuse? Things will be made right. Weary of terrorists wreaking terror? Rulers pillaging the poor? Scandal infecting the church? Things…will…be…made…right.

What Happens Next

Read more What Happens Next

2 Timothy 1

I, Paul, am on special assignment for Christ, carrying out God’s plan laid out in the Message of Life by Jesus. I write this to you, Timothy, the son I love so much. All the best from our God and Christ be yours!

To Be Bold with God’s Gifts

3–4  Every time I say your name in prayer—which is practically all the time—I thank God for you, the God I worship with my whole life in the tradition of my ancestors. I miss you a lot, especially when I remember that last tearful good-bye, and I look forward to a joy-packed reunion.

5–7  That precious memory triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you! And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.

8–10  So don’t be embarrassed to speak up for our Master or for me, his prisoner. Take your share of suffering for the Message along with the rest of us. We can only keep on going, after all, by the power of God, who first saved us and then called us to this holy work. We had nothing to do with it. It was all his idea, a gift prepared for us in Jesus long before we knew anything about it. But we know it now. Since the appearance of our Savior, nothing could be plainer: death defeated, life vindicated in a steady blaze of light, all through the work of Jesus.

11–12  This is the Message I’ve been set apart to proclaim as preacher, emissary, and teacher. It’s also the cause of all this trouble I’m in. But I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground—the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what he’s trusted me to do right to the end.

13–14  So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.

15–18  I’m sure you know by now that everyone in the province of Asia deserted me, even Phygelus and Hermogenes. But God bless Onesiphorus and his family! Many’s the time I’ve been refreshed in that house. And he wasn’t embarrassed a bit that I was in jail. The first thing he did when he got to Rome was look me up. May God on the Last Day treat him as well as he treated me. And then there was all the help he provided in Ephesus—but you know that better than I.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, August 19, 2024

Today's Scripture

2 Samuel 22:1-7, 29-30

God is bedrock under my feet,

the castle in which I live,

my rescuing knight.

My God—the high crag

where I run for dear life,

hiding behind the boulders,

safe in the granite hideout;

My mountaintop refuge,

he saves me from ruthless men.

4  I sing to God the Praise-Lofty,

and find myself safe and saved.

5–6  The waves of death crashed over me,

devil waters rushed over me.

Hell’s ropes cinched me tight;

death traps barred every exit.

7  A hostile world! I called to God,

to my God I cried out.

From his palace he heard me call;

my cry brought me right into his presence—

a private audience!

29–31  Suddenly, God, your light floods my path,

God drives out the darkness.

I smash the bands of marauders,

I vault the high fences.

Insight

Several observations are in order regarding 2 Samuel 22. This song—that focuses on God’s strength exercised on behalf of David, Israel’s greatest king—appears in Israel’s hymnbook as Psalm 18. Metaphors depicting God as the source of David’s victories fill this song, which is framed by “bookends” (2 Samuel 22:2-4; 47-50).

The similarities between “Hannah’s Song” (1 Samuel 2:1-10) and the song in 2 Samuel 22 are noteworthy. In her commentary on the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, Mary Evans titles these sets of verses, “God the rock who is worthy of praise.” Both celebrate God’s strength to save (1 Samuel 2:1; 2 Samuel 22:4) and the exaltation of God’s anointed: “He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever” (2 Samuel 22:51; see 1 Samuel 2:10). By: Arthur Jackson

Forest Darkroom

The Lord turns my darkness into light. 2 Samuel 22:29

The army wouldn’t give Tony Vaccaro a chance as a photographer, but that didn’t stop him. Between terrifying moments of dodging artillery shells and shrapnel that seemed to rain from the trees, he took pictures anyway. Then, as his friends slept, he used their helmets to mix the chemicals to develop his film. The nighttime forest became the darkroom in which Vaccaro created a timeless record of World War II’s battle of Hürtgen Forest.

King David lived through his share of battles and dark times. Second Samuel 22 says, “The Lord delivered [David] from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul” (v. 1). David used those experiences to produce a record of God’s faithfulness. He said, “Waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me” (v. 5).

David soon pivoted from desperation to hope: “In my distress I called to the Lord,” he recalled. “From his temple he heard my voice” (v. 7). David made certain to praise God for His unfailing help. “The Lord turns my darkness into light,” he said. “With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall” (vv. 29-30).

David turned his difficulties into an opportunity to tell the world about his faithful God. We can do the same. After all, we rely on the One who turns darkness into light. By:  Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray

When have you felt most desperate? How will you tell others about God’s faithfulness to you in that moment?  

Dear God, please help me to see the many ways You protect and help me—especially when it’s darkest.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, August 19, 2024

Self-Consciousness

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. — Matthew 11:28

God intends for us to live a full-orbed life in Jesus Christ, a life defined by an unworrying oneness with him. But there are times when that life is attacked from the outside, when we find ourselves tumbling back into a habit of introspection we thought had gone. Self-consciousness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God, because it produces a continual wrestling. Self-consciousness isn’t sin. It may be caused by a nervous temperament or by suddenly finding ourselves in new circumstances. But it’s never God’s will that we should be less than absolutely complete in him. Anything that disturbs our rest in him must be cured at once.

“Come to me.” You can’t cure self-consciousness by ignoring it; the only cure is to come to Jesus Christ. When we come to him and ask him to produce Christ-consciousness, he will do it, over and over again, until we learn to abide in him.

If your life in Christ is no longer whole, don’t refuse to face the problem. Beware of anything that splits up your oneness with him, whether it be the influence of friends or of circumstances. Beware of anything that makes you see yourself as separate from your Lord. Nothing is as important as keeping whole spiritually. The great solution is the simple one: “Come to me.” The depth of our reality—intellectually, morally, and spiritually—is tested by these words. In every matter in which we are not real, we will argue with God rather than come.

Psalms 103-104; 1 Corinthians 2

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success.

My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, August 19, 2024

Judgment Canceled - #9811

There was a miracle in the wildfire that night on an Indian reservation where we have many dear friends. We watched the news with growing concern that summer - and with intensifying prayer - as the path of that fire's destruction grew steadily. We learned that some of our kind of unofficial "family" there had their church and some loved ones in a town that was surrounded by the flames. And they told us about the miracle.

The flames were sweeping straight toward their sister's home, along with her in-laws' house next door. But the fire stopped. It burned through the narrow yard between the two homes and right up to the homes. But the cell phone pictures told the story - two houses, standing untouched in a circle of charred ground and trees.

And the fire won't come back there because the fire can't go where the fire has already been.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Judgment Canceled."

That's something Native Americans counted on for centuries as wildfires would sweep across the prairie. And this is a technique familiar to modern firefighters. They would intentionally burn the area around their village so the approaching flames didn't have any fuel; they couldn't reach them.

Praying on the phone with our reservation friends made me think about that life-saving strategy. And the hill - Skull Hill. That's what they called it back then. A garbage dump where they nailed people to a cross. Where they nailed Jesus to a cross. Actually, where He let them nail Him to a cross, because He said, "The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep...No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down..." (John 10:11, 18). He made the tree He died on. He made the men who nailed Him there.

It was on that hill that the fire of divine judgment fell on the only Son of God so it would never come to me or you, or a whole world of sinners like us. Our final destiny is pretty clear when you read the Bible. "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).

I have to admit it, it is a judgment I deserve. I have, along with all of my fellow humans, essentially said to my Creator, "You run the universe, God, and I'll run me, thank You." In essence, attempting to dethrone God and enthrone me. How dare I?

But Jesus' unspeakable sacrifice on Skull Hill is the game-changer. Romans 5:8-10, our Word for today from the Word of God, says, "God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners... And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God's condemnation."

I have chosen to place all my hopes for now and forever in what Jesus did on that cross; to stand at the one place where the judgment of God will never come. By that cross where Jesus took my hell and your hell so we would never have to. Romans 8:1, "There is no condemnation to those who belong to Christ Jesus."

The question is, "Have you ever taken your stand by that cross and stepped into that circle where the fire - the judgment of God - has already fallen? Have you ever said, "Jesus, I now see that what was on that cross was for me." You can know all about Him. You could have been around a religion that's all about Jesus your whole life and still have never actually gone to that cross and said, "Jesus, for me. You're doing it for me, and it's my sin You died for and it's my sin that needs forgiving. Jesus, I want you to be my Savior, my Rescuer from my sin - my personal Savior."

If you've never done that, let this be the day that you trade a death sentence for eternal life, and God's condemnation for God's forgiveness. If you want to begin a relationship with Him and experience His love for yourself, Our website is there to walk you through how to get there. It's ANewStory.com.

His cross is the only safe place from the fire, because the fire will not come where the fire has already been.

Ezekiel 15, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Broad Picture

Would you buy a house if you were only allowed to see one of its rooms?  Would you buy a car if you saw only its tires and a taillight? Good judgment requires a broad picture.

One failure doesn’t make a person a failure. One achievement doesn’t make a person a success. “The end of the matter is better than its beginning,” penned the sage. “Be patient in affliction,” echoed the apostle Paul. We only have a fragment. Life’s mishaps and horrors are only a page out of a grand book. We must be slow about drawing conclusions. We must reserve judgment on life’s storms until we know the whole story.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:34, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” He should know. He’s the Author of the story, and he has already written the final chapter.

From In the Eye of the Storm

Ezekiel 15

Used as Fuel for the Fire

1–3  15 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, how would you compare the wood of a vine with the branches of any tree you’d find in the forest? Is vine wood ever used to make anything? Is it used to make pegs to hang things from?

4  “I don’t think so. At best it’s good for fuel. Look at it: A flimsy piece of vine, thrown in the fire and then rescued—the ends burned off and the middle charred. Now is it good for anything?

5  “Hardly. When it was whole it wasn’t good for anything. Half-burned is no improvement. What’s it good for?

6–8  “So here’s the Message of God, the Master: Like the wood of the vine I selected from among the trees of the forest and used as fuel for the fire, just so I’ll treat those who live in Jerusalem. I am dead set against them. Even though at one time they got out of the fire charred, the fire’s going to burn them up. When I take my stand against them, you’ll realize that I am God. I’ll turn this country into a wilderness because they’ve been faithless.” Decree of God, the Master.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, August 18, 2024

Today's Scripture

Revelation 19:1-8

The Sound of Hallelujahs

1–3  19 I heard a sound like massed choirs in Heaven singing,

Hallelujah!

The salvation and glory and power are God’s—

his judgments true, his judgments just.

He judged the great Whore

who corrupted the earth with her lust.

He avenged on her the blood of his servants.

Then, more singing:

Hallelujah!

The smoke from her burning billows up

to high Heaven forever and ever and ever.

4  The Twenty-four Elders and the Four Animals fell to their knees and worshiped God on his Throne, praising,

Amen! Yes! Hallelujah!

5  From the Throne came a shout, a command:

Praise our God, all you his servants,

All you who fear him, small and great!

6–8  Then I heard the sound of massed choirs, the sound of a mighty cataract, the sound of strong thunder:

Hallelujah!

The Master reigns,

our God, the Sovereign-Strong!

Let us celebrate, let us rejoice,

let us give him the glory!

The Marriage of the Lamb has come;

his Wife has made herself ready.

She was given a bridal gown

of bright and shining linen.

The linen is the righteousness of the saints.

Insight

“Hallelujah!” (Revelation 19:6), from the Hebrew halal (“to praise”) and yah, the first syllable of Yahweh, means “to praise God.” One reason for praise in Revelation 19 is God’s victory over “the great prostitute” (v. 2), which is identified elsewhere as “the great city that rules over the kings of the earth” (17:18). This woman or city is associated with “Babylon” (v. 5), which most interpreters believe symbolizes a corrupt empire(s) that rules in opposition to God (interpretations vary over the empire’s identity). But in chapter 19, she’s been defeated, and another woman becomes the focus—the “bride” of Christ—“God’s holy people” (vv. 7-8). She’s wearing “fine linen, bright and clean” which “stands for [her] righteous acts” (v. 8). Instead of the corrupt empire symbolized by Babylon, Jesus will usher in the new Jerusalem (21:2, 10), a city filled with the light of the “glory of God” (vv. 11, 23). By: Monica La Rose

Heaven Is Singing

They cried, “Amen, Hallelujah!” Revelation 19:4

Joy was apparent in their voices as the high school choir sang the Argentinian song “El Cielo Canta Alegría.” I was enjoying the performance but couldn’t understand the lyrics because I don’t know Spanish. But it wasn’t long until I recognized a familiar word as the choir began to jubilantly declare, “Aleluya!” Repeatedly, I heard “Aleluya,” a declaration of praise to God that sounds similar in most languages around the world. Eager to know the background of the song, I went online after the concert and discovered the title translates “Heaven Is Singing for Joy.”

In a celebratory passage in Revelation 19, we’re given a glimpse of the reality expressed in that choral song—all of heaven rejoicing! In the apostle John’s vision of the future in the last book of the New Testament, he saw an enormous gathering of people and angelic creatures in heaven declaring gratitude to God. John wrote that the chorus of voices celebrated God’s power that overcame evil and injustice, His reign over the whole earth, and eternal life with Him forever. Over and over again, all the inhabitants of heaven declare “Hallelujah!” (vv. 1, 3, 4, 6), or “Praise God!”

One day people “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (5:9) will declare God’s glory. And with joy all our voices in every different language will shout together, “Hallelujah!” By:  Lisa M. Samra

Reflect & Pray

What is a reason you can say “Hallelujah” today? Why is it vital to regularly praise God?

Hallelujah! I’m so grateful for the joy I know because I’m loved by You, my God.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, August 18, 2024

Have You Ever Been Speechless with Sadness?

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. — Luke 18:23

The rich young ruler went away speechless with sorrow. He had no confusion about what Jesus Christ had told him, no doubt about what it meant, and it produced a sadness beyond words.

Have you ever been in this place of speechless sadness? Has God’s word come to you about something you’re very rich in and told you to “sell everything you have” (Luke 18:22)? Perhaps you are rich in your temperament or in your personal relationships of heart and mind. Perhaps God has told you to give them up, and you haven’t done it. If so, you’ve often been speechless with sorrow. The Lord won’t plead with you, but every time he meets you on that point, he will repeat, “If you want to follow me, these are the conditions.”

“Sell everything you have.” Strip yourself of everything that might be considered a possession, until you stand before God as a mere conscious being, and then offer yourself. This is where the battle is fought: in the domain of the will before God.

Are you more devoted to your idea of what Jesus wants than to Jesus himself? Then you are likely to hear him say something to you that will produce sorrow. What Jesus says is hard, but to those who have his disposition inside them, it’s easy. Beware of allowing anything to soften the hard things Jesus says.

You can be so rich in the consciousness that you are somebody that you will never be a disciple of Jesus. Or you can be so rich in the consciousness that you are nobody, so convinced of your poverty, that you’ll never be a disciple. Are you willing to give up the idea that you have nothing to give up? If not, you are bound to be discouraged. Discouragement is disenchanted self-love, and self-love may be love of your devotion to Jesus.

Psalms 100-102; 1 Corinthians 1

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. 

Shade of His Hand, 1200 L

Ezekiel 14, bible reading and devotions.

MaxLucado.com: Worth Saving

No one believed in people more than Jesus did. He saw something in Peter worth developing, in the adulterous woman worth forgiving, and in John worth harnessing.

He saw something in the thief on the cross, and what he saw was worth saving. And in the life of a wild-eyed, bloodthirsty extremist, He saw the apostle of grace.  He believed in Saul.

Don’t give up on your Saul. When others write him off, give him another chance. Stay strong.  Call him brother.  Call her sister. It’s too soon to throw in the towel. Talk to your Saul about Jesus, and pray.

God is at work behind the scenes. And remember this:  God never sends you where he hasn’t already been.  By the time you reach your Saul, who knows what you’ll find.

God used Saul, who became Paul, to touch the world.

Has God given you a Saul?

From Cast of Characters

Ezekiel 14

Idols in Their Hearts

1–5  14 Some of the leaders of Israel approached me and sat down with me. God’s Message came to me: “Son of Man, these people have installed idols in their hearts. They have embraced the wickedness that will ruin them. Why should I even bother with their prayers? Therefore tell them, ‘The Message of God, the Master: All in Israel who install idols in their hearts and embrace the wickedness that will ruin them and still have the gall to come to a prophet, be on notice: I, God, will step in and personally answer them as they come dragging along their mob of idols. I am ready to go to work on the hearts of the house of Israel, all of whom have left me for their idols.’

6–8  “Therefore, say to the house of Israel: ‘God, the Master, says, Repent! Turn your backs on your no-god idols. Turn your backs on all your outrageous obscenities. To every last person from the house of Israel, including any of the resident aliens who live in Israel—all who turn their backs on me and embrace idols, who install the wickedness that will ruin them at the center of their lives and then have the gall to go to the prophet to ask me questions—I, God, will step in and give the answer myself. I’ll oppose those people to their faces, make an example of them—a warning lesson—and get rid of them so you will realize that I am God.

9–11  “ ‘If a prophet is deceived and tells these idolaters the lies they want to hear, I, God, get blamed for those lies. He won’t get by with it. I’ll grab him by the scruff of the neck and get him out of there. They’ll be equally guilty, the prophet and the one who goes to the prophet, so that the house of Israel will never again wander off my paths and make themselves filthy in their rebellions, but will rather be my people, just as I am their God. Decree of God, the Master.’ ”

12–14  God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, when a country sins against me by living faithlessly and I reach out and destroy its food supply by bringing on a famine, wiping out humans and animals alike, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job—the Big Three—were alive at the time, it wouldn’t do the population any good. Their righteousness would only save their own lives.” Decree of God, the Master.

15–16  “Or, if I make wild animals go through the country so that everyone has to leave and the country becomes wilderness and no one dares enter it anymore because of the wild animals, even if these three men were living there, as sure as I am the living God, neither their sons nor daughters would be rescued, but only those three, and the country would revert to wilderness.

17–18  “Or, if I bring war on that country and give the order, ‘Let the killing begin!’ leaving both people and animals dead, even if those three men were alive at the time, as sure as I am the living God, neither sons nor daughters would be rescued, but only these three.

19–20  “Or, if I visit a deadly disease on that country, pouring out my lethal anger, killing both people and animals, and Noah, Daniel, and Job happened to be alive at the time, as sure as I am the living God, not a son, not a daughter, would be rescued. Only these three would be delivered because of their righteousness.

21–23  “Now then, that’s the picture,” says God, the Master, “once I’ve sent my four catastrophic judgments on Jerusalem—war, famine, wild animals, disease—to kill off people and animals alike. But look! Believe it or not, there’ll be survivors. Some of their sons and daughters will be brought out. When they come out to you and their salvation is right in your face, you’ll see for yourself the life they’ve been saved from. You’ll know that this severe judgment I brought on Jerusalem was worth it, that it had to be. Yes, when you see in detail the kind of lives they’ve been living, you’ll feel much better. You’ll see the reason behind all that I’ve done in Jerusalem.” Decree of God, the Master.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, August 17, 2024

Today's Scripture

Philippians 2:1-5

He Took on the Status of a Slave

1–4  2 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

5–8  Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.

Insight

As believers in Jesus, we’re to live differently from nonbelievers. We’re not to “conform to the pattern of this world” (Romans 12:2)—we’re not to follow its mindset and the value system. Instead, we’re to be “conformed to the image of his Son,” which is God’s predetermined purpose and goal for us (8:29). God wants us to be like Christ in our thinking, attitude, and actions. To be like Jesus, we must “live as [He] did” (1 John 2:6). In Philippians 2:1-8, Paul teaches us how to think and live like Christ, having “the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (v. 5) and imitating His selflessness, sacrificial service, humble servanthood, and unquestioned obedience (vv. 6-8). Jesus invites us to serve with Him in humility: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29). By: K. T. Sim

Help Each Other

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.

Philippians 2:3

When the basketball team from Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) took to the floor for the college basketball tournament, the fans in the stands cheered for the underdog squad. The team hadn’t been expected to make it past the first round, but they did. And now they heard their fight song blaring from the stands, though they didn’t have a band with them. The University of Dayton band had learned FDU’s song minutes before the game. The band could have simply played songs they knew, but they chose to learn the song to help another school and another team.

This band’s actions can be seen to symbolize the unity described in Philippians. Paul told the early church at Philippi—and us today—to live in unity, or of “one mind” (Philippians 2:2), particularly because they were united in Christ. To do this, the apostle encouraged them to give up selfish ambition and consider the interests of others before their own.

Valuing others above ourselves may not come naturally, but it’s how we can imitate Christ. Paul wrote, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves” (v. 3). Instead of focusing only on ourselves, it’s better to humbly look “to the interests of . . . others” (v. 4).

How can we support others? By carefully considering their interests whether learning their fight songs or providing whatever they might need.

By:  Katara Patton

Reflect & Pray

Whose interests can you look after today? How does looking out for others promote unity?

Humble Savior, please show me ways I can help others by looking to their interests.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, August 17, 2024

Are You Discouraged in Devotion?

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” — Luke 18:22

When the rich young ruler asked Jesus how to win eternal life, Jesus didn’t respond with anxiousness or concern; he made no attempt to keep the ruler there with him. He simply stated what the ruler had to do: “Sell everything you have. . . . Then come, follow me” (Luke 18:22). Our Lord never pleaded. He never cajoled or entrapped. He simply spoke the sternest words mortal ears ever heard, then left it alone.

Have you ever heard the Lord say something stern to you? If you haven’t, I question if you’ve ever heard him say anything at all. Jesus Christ says a great deal that we listen to but do not hear. When we do hear, we find that his words are amazingly hard.

If I have listened deliberately to Jesus when he’s said something difficult to me, I know that I can’t just explain it away. It’s something meant specifically for me, something which demands I make a choice. The ruler understood the choice Jesus was giving him. He heard Jesus’s words, thought about what obeying them would mean, and decided he couldn’t do it. He didn’t go away from Jesus defiantly; he went sadly, with a broken heart. The ruler had come to Jesus full of the fire of earnest desire, and Jesus’s words froze him. Instead of producing enthusiastic devotion, they produced heartbreaking discouragement.

There was a reason Jesus let the ruler leave in this dejected state: our Lord knows perfectly well that once his word is heard, sooner or later it will bear fruit. The terrible thing is that some of us prevent it from bearing fruit in our present lives. I wonder what we will say when we do make up our minds to be devoted to him. One thing is certain: he will never shame us for our past refusals to hear him.

Psalms 97-99; Romans 16

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried.

He Shall Glorify Me, 494 R

Exodus 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:Don’t Give Up

The next time you lack the will to go on, seek healthy counsel! You won’t want to.  Slumping people love slumping people. We love those who commiserate and avoid those who correct. Yet correction and direction are what we need when we’re tired.

I discovered the importance of healthy counsel in a half-Ironman triathlon. After the 1.2 mile swim and the 56-mile bike ride, I didn’t have much energy left for the 13.1 mile run.  Neither did the fellow jogging next to me.  He said, “This stinks. This is the dumbest decision I’ve ever made.”

I said, “Good-bye!” I knew if I listened too long, I’d start agreeing with him. I caught up with a sixty-six-year-old grandmother who said, “You’ll finish this—stay in there!”

Which of the two describes the counsel you seek? Proverbs 15:22 says: “Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail; take good counsel and watch them succeed!”

Don’t give up. And get some good advice!

From Facing Your Giants

Exodus 21

“These are the laws you are to set before them:

Hebrew Servants
2 “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. 3 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

5 “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ 6 then his master must take him before the judges.[a] He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

7 “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. 8 If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself,[b] he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. 9 If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. 10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. 11 If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.

Personal Injuries
12 “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. 13 However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. 14 But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.

15 “Anyone who attacks[c] their father or mother is to be put to death.

16 “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.

17 “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.

18 “If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist[d] and the victim does not die but is confined to bed, 19 the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed.

20 “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, 21 but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

22 “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely[e] but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

26 “An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. 27 And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.

28 “If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. 29 If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death. 30 However, if payment is demanded, the owner may redeem his life by the payment of whatever is demanded. 31 This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter. 32 If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels[f] of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death.

33 “If anyone uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the one who opened the pit must pay the owner for the loss and take the dead animal in exchange.

35 “If anyone’s bull injures someone else’s bull and it dies, the two parties are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally. 36 However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and take the dead animal in exchange.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
August 03, 2014

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Footnotes:

2 Corinthians 5:17 Or Christ, that person is a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:21 Or be a sin offering

Insight
The Christian life is one of transformation. This is described for us in verse 17 of today’s text. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” We are reconciled with God and have become new creatures—His ambassadors. As His ambassadors, we are called to present Christ to the world around us because of the wonder of what He did for us: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us” (vv.20-21).

Walking Billboards

By C. P. Hia

We are ambassadors for Christ. —2 Corinthians 5:20

Pete Peterson’s first contact with Vietnam was in the Vietnam War. During a bombing raid in 1966, his plane was shot down and he was taken prisoner. Over 30 years later he returned as US Ambassador to Vietnam. One press article called him “a walking billboard for reconciliation.” He realized years ago that God had not saved his life for him to live in anger. Because he believed this, he used the rest of his life and his position to make a difference by pushing for better safety standards for children in Vietnam.

It is a great responsibility and honor to be appointed as a representative of your country to another. As followers of Christ we are “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20). Just as God sent Christ to reconcile us to Himself (v.18), we now have the ministry of “reconciliation” (v.19). Our message is that all can be redeemed in Christ because God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (v.21).

In response to the reconciling love Jesus offers us, we can share that love with others. Let’s take our role seriously. Wherever God places us in this world, He can use us as walking billboards of reconciliation for Jesus Christ.

I am a stranger here, within a foreign land;
My home is far away, upon a golden strand,
Ambassador to be of realms beyond the sea,
I’m here on business for the King! —Cassel
Good news kept silent is no news at all.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, August 16, 2014

Does He Know Me . . . ?

He calls his own . . . by name . . . —John 10:3
When I have sadly misunderstood Him? (see John 20:11-18). It is possible to know all about doctrine and still not know Jesus. A person’s soul is in grave danger when the knowledge of doctrine surpasses Jesus, avoiding intimate touch with Him. Why was Mary weeping? Doctrine meant no more to her than the grass under her feet. In fact, any Pharisee could have made a fool of Mary doctrinally, but one thing they could never ridicule was the fact that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her (see Luke 8:2); yet His blessings were nothing to her in comparison with knowing Jesus Himself. “. . . she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. . . . Jesus said to her, ’Mary!’ ” (John 20:14, 16). Once He called Mary by her name, she immediately knew that she had a personal history with the One who spoke. “She turned and said to Him, ’Rabboni!’ ” (John 20:16).

When I have stubbornly doubted? (see John 20:24-29). Have I been doubting something about Jesus— maybe an experience to which others testify, but which I have not yet experienced? The other disciples said to Thomas, “We have seen the Lord” (John 20:25). But Thomas doubted, saying, “Unless I see . . . I will not believe” (John 20:25). Thomas needed the personal touch of Jesus. When His touches will come we never know, but when they do come they are indescribably precious. “Thomas . . . said to Him, ’My Lord and my God!’ ” (John 20:28).

When I have selfishly denied Him? (see John 21:15-17). Peter denied Jesus Christ with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75), and yet after His resurrection Jesus appeared to Peter alone. Jesus restored Peter in private, and then He restored him publicly before the others. And Peter said to Him, “Lord . . . You know that I love You” (John 21:17).

Do I have a personal history with Jesus Christ? The one true sign of discipleship is intimate oneness with Him— a knowledge of Jesus that nothing can shake.