Saturday, April 12, 2014
Job 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Three Cookie Days
Every day, God prepares for us a plate of experiences. Some days are “three cookie days.” Many are not! Sometimes our plate has nothing but vegetables, twenty-four hours of celery, carrots, and squash. Apparently God knows we need some strength, and though the portion may be hard to swallow, isn’t it for our own good? All are important and all are from God. Romans 8:28 says, “We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love Him.”
The next time your plate has a portion you find hard to swallow, talk to God about it. Jesus did. In the garden of Gethsemane His Father handed Him a cup of suffering so sour, so vile, that Jesus handed it back to heaven.
“My Father,” He prayed, “if it is possible may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.” (Mark 14:36).
from The Great House of God
Job 1
Prologue
In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
6 One day the angels[a] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan[b] also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.[c]
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 43:14-21
God’s Mercy and Israel’s Unfaithfulness
This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon
and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians,[a]
in the ships in which they took pride.
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One,
Israel’s Creator, your King.”
16 This is what the Lord says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.
Footnotes:
Isaiah 43:14 Or Chaldeans
Insight
In today’s reading, we see the Hebrew remnant facing the arduous trek back to the Promised Land and the demands of rebuilding their lives. Certainly, a feeling of insecurity must have filled their hearts. Yet the Lord was with them and would provide protection and success. Today, believers also need to trust in God’s provision. Inevitably, challenges of transition, new circumstances, and an uncertain future can cause anxiety. Yet the living God gives us this promise: “I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (v.19). No matter what difficulties we encounter, God will find a way for us.
New Beginnings
By Marvin Williams
Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? —Isaiah 43:19
New beginnings are possible. Just ask Brayan, a young man who joined a gang in elementary school. Brayan ran away when he was 12 years old, and for 3 years was lost in gang and drug life. Although he left the gang and returned home, it was difficult for him, as he had been expelled from school for selling drugs. When he enrolled in a new high school, however, a teacher inspired and encouraged him to write about his experiences rather than repeat them. He embraced the challenge and is now experiencing a fresh start.
God, through the prophet Isaiah, encouraged Jewish exiles to think about a new beginning as well. God said, “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old” (Isa. 43:18). He told them to stop dwelling on their punishment and even on His display of power through the original exodus from Egypt. He wanted their attention to be focused on God who would give them a new beginning by bringing them home from Babylon through a new exodus (v.19).
With God, new beginnings are possible in our hearts. He can help us to let go of the past and start clinging to Him. Relationship with Him provides a new hope for all who will trust Him.
Lord, we need Your touch on our lives.
Work in our hearts in whatever areas need
a fresh start. Help us to do our part and to
trust You to do what only You can do.
God gives fresh starts from the inside out.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Complete and Effective Dominion
Death no longer has dominion over Him. . . . the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God . . . —Romans 6:9-11
Co-Eternal Life. Eternal life is the life which Jesus Christ exhibited on the human level. And it is this same life, not simply a copy of it, which is made evident in our mortal flesh when we are born again. Eternal life is not a gift from God; eternal life is the gift of God. The energy and the power which was so very evident in Jesus will be exhibited in us by an act of the absolute sovereign grace of God, once we have made that complete and effective decision about sin.
“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you . . .” (Acts 1:8)— not power as a gift from the Holy Spirit; the power is the Holy Spirit, not something that He gives us. The life that was in Jesus becomes ours because of His Cross, once we make the decision to be identified with Him. If it is difficult to get right with God, it is because we refuse to make this moral decision about sin. But once we do decide, the full life of God comes in immediately. Jesus came to give us an endless supply of life— “. . . that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). Eternal life has nothing to do with time. It is the life which Jesus lived when He was down here, and the only Source of life is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Even the weakest saint can experience the power of the deity of the Son of God, when he is willing to “let go.” But any effort to “hang on” to the least bit of our own power will only diminish the life of Jesus in us. We have to keep letting go, and slowly, but surely, the great full life of God will invade us, penetrating every part. Then Jesus will have complete and effective dominion in us, and people will take notice that we have been with Him.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Matthew 6:19-34, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Put on Christ
Scripture often describes our behavior as the clothes we wear. In 1 Peter 5:5, Peter urges us to be "clothed with humility." David speaks of evil people who clothe themselves "with cursing." Garments can symbolize character, and like His garment, Jesus' character was seamless. The character of Jesus was a seamless fabric woven from heaven to earth-from God's thoughts to Jesus' actions. From God's tears to Jesus' compassion. From God's word to Jesus' response. All one piece. A picture of the character of Jesus.
But when Christ was nailed to the cross, He took off His robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe. He wore our sin so we could wear His righteousness.
From He Chose the Nail
Matthew 6:19-34
Treasures in Heaven
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,[a] your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy,[b] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[c]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Footnotes:
Matthew 6:22 The Greek for healthy here implies generous.
Matthew 6:23 The Greek for unhealthy here implies stingy.
Matthew 6:27 Or single cubit to your height
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 29
A psalm of David.
Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of his[a] holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
Sirion[b] like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord strikes
with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks[c]
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord is enthroned as King forever.
11 The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace.
Footnotes:
Psalm 29:2 Or Lord with the splendor of
Psalm 29:6 That is, Mount Hermon
Psalm 29:9 Or Lord makes the deer give birth
Insight
Psalm 29 is a graphic celebration of the strength of the Lord. Each of the elements on which the voice of the Lord is said to have an effect was a recognized symbol of strength in the ancient world, and the voice of the Lord shakes these elements with ease. But the beginning and the end of the psalm talk about the strength of people. In verse 1, the “mighty ones” are to give glory and strength to the Lord. And verse 11 gives the source of that strength, God Himself. What God gives us, we are to offer back to Him.
“Isn’t God Powerful!”
By Dave Branon
Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name. —Psalm 29:2
One day, my 3-year-old granddaughter Katie surprised her mom and dad with a bit of theological expertise. She said to them, “You both had sisters who died. Then God took them up to heaven to be with Him. Isn’t God powerful!”
God’s immense power is a mystery, yet it is simple enough for a child to understand. In Katie’s young way of thinking, she knew that for God to do something so miraculous, it would mean that He is powerful. Without understanding all the details, she knew that God did something wonderful by taking her two aunts to heaven.
How often do we sit back in our more sophisticated world and marvel: “Isn’t God powerful”? Probably not often enough. We can’t know how God spun the worlds into existence with His voice (Job 38–39; Ps. 33:9; Heb. 11:3), nor can we know how He maintains control of them (Neh. 9:6). We can’t know how He planned and fulfilled the incarnation of Jesus, nor can we understand how He can make Christ’s sacrifice sufficient for our salvation. But we know these things are true.
The power of God: immeasurable in its wonder yet clear enough for us to understand. It’s yet another reason to praise Him.
Everything God does is marked with simplicity and power. —Tertullian
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, April 11, 2014
Complete and Effective Divinity
If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection . . . —Romans 6:5
Co-Resurrection. The proof that I have experienced crucifixion with Jesus is that I have a definite likeness to Him. The Spirit of Jesus entering me rearranges my personal life before God. The resurrection of Jesus has given Him the authority to give the life of God to me, and the experiences of my life must now be built on the foundation of His life. I can have the resurrection life of Jesus here and now, and it will exhibit itself through holiness.
The idea all through the apostle Paul’s writings is that after the decision to be identified with Jesus in His death has been made, the resurrection life of Jesus penetrates every bit of my human nature. It takes the omnipotence of God— His complete and effective divinity— to live the life of the Son of God in human flesh. The Holy Spirit cannot be accepted as a guest in merely one room of the house— He invades all of it. And once I decide that my “old man” (that is, my heredity of sin) should be identified with the death of Jesus, the Holy Spirit invades me. He takes charge of everything. My part is to walk in the light and to obey all that He reveals to me. Once I have made that important decision about sin, it is easy to “reckon” that I am actually “dead indeed to sin,” because I find the life of Jesus in me all the time (Romans 6:11). Just as there is only one kind of humanity, there is only one kind of holiness— the holiness of Jesus. And it is His holiness that has been given to me. God puts the holiness of His Son into me, and I belong to a new spiritual order.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, April 11, 2014
I'm not normal. No. I mean, most folks watch the women's Olympic figure skating in the winter Olympics and just enjoy the grace of the "twizzles" and the "triple lutzes." Not me. I'm a story guy. So I'm sitting there mulling the stories of those skaters. And thinking, "We've got something to learn from her."
It happened again when Italy's finalist, Carolina Kostner skated her long program in Sochi. Before she began, they showed her disastrous skate in Vancouver four years ago. She left the ice with her face buried in her hands. It was really sad. In her own words, "It was breaking my heart." And that was going to be the end of her skating career. She didn't want to go through this again. But she did. She skated again. And on the ice in Sochi, she skated a nearly flawless program and captured Olympic bronze.
Look, I don't ice skate. But I know what it is to fall and to come back again.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Comeback Kid."
I've set personal goals and I've blown it - losing weight, getting to a better place financially, conquering a personal weakness. I've made some calls as a leader that I wish I could do over. I've too many times failed to be what people I love need for me to be.
And like all of us who have tried and failed, I know the temptation to forget it and just say, "I'm not going to get on the ice" again. But then I considered these two Olympic lessons that can turn a sad chapter into a comeback victory. Number one, when you go down, don't stay down. The Bible says in Proverbs 24:16, "A righteous man falls seven times, and he rises again."
I've watched three children and now our grandchildren learn to walk. They all have the same m.o. Step. Boom. Try to walk. Fall down. The fallen baby, of course, has two choices. One, "That's it. I tried my best. I failed. I tried to walk. I can't do it. I give up." It didn't happen! No, every child got back up and started walking again.
I've decided that the only people who haven't fallen are people who never tried to walk. I watched an Olympic skater whose falls were seen by millions. Who was devastated by the scope of her failure, but she came back with the greatest victory of her life because she didn't stay down.
Here's the other lesson: Do it for the joy, not the result. That's actually what Carolina Kostner's mother told her after the debacle in Vancouver. That's good advice. Stop thinking about how you'll perform. The Olympic commentators said she skated with a freedom they'd never seen in her before. In her words, "I had to skate for the passion and the pleasure, not to take it so seriously." And that changed everything.
In the 2002 Olympics, U. S. skater Sarah Hughes surprised everyone - including herself - by bringing home the gold. She went into the finals in 4th place; she didn't have much to lose. As the top three contenders competed, you could feel the tension. Every jump. Every landing. Each precision movement potentially meaning victory or defeat. Then Sarah skated. She was just fun to watch, because she was clearly having fun. Skating with reckless abandon. That freedom liberated her to give the best performance of her life; a gold medal performance.
You know, as we look back on our life and we think of the places where we blew it or we failed especially those we love, I begin to turn to the pages of God's Word to find hope for our falls. And I find it in Micah 7:8, that says, "Do not gloat over me my enemy. Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light."
You know how that could happen? Because it says later in the chapter, "Who is a God like you who pardons sins, forgives the transgressions?" And it goes on to say, "You hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea." To know that every mistake, every fall, every wrong thing, every hurting thing I've ever done has been erased because God's Son died for it on a cross. Oh, that is ultimate freedom to have a new beginning.
Maybe this is your day for that new beginning, and I would love to help you get started with Jesus. If you just go to our website, it's all there - ANewStory.com.
I saw one skater come back with Olympic redemption, because she knew that coming back was getting back up, no matter how ugly the fall. So in a way, you win when you just put your skates back on.
Scripture often describes our behavior as the clothes we wear. In 1 Peter 5:5, Peter urges us to be "clothed with humility." David speaks of evil people who clothe themselves "with cursing." Garments can symbolize character, and like His garment, Jesus' character was seamless. The character of Jesus was a seamless fabric woven from heaven to earth-from God's thoughts to Jesus' actions. From God's tears to Jesus' compassion. From God's word to Jesus' response. All one piece. A picture of the character of Jesus.
But when Christ was nailed to the cross, He took off His robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe. He wore our sin so we could wear His righteousness.
From He Chose the Nail
Matthew 6:19-34
Treasures in Heaven
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,[a] your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy,[b] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[c]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Footnotes:
Matthew 6:22 The Greek for healthy here implies generous.
Matthew 6:23 The Greek for unhealthy here implies stingy.
Matthew 6:27 Or single cubit to your height
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 29
A psalm of David.
Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of his[a] holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
Sirion[b] like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord strikes
with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks[c]
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord is enthroned as King forever.
11 The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace.
Footnotes:
Psalm 29:2 Or Lord with the splendor of
Psalm 29:6 That is, Mount Hermon
Psalm 29:9 Or Lord makes the deer give birth
Insight
Psalm 29 is a graphic celebration of the strength of the Lord. Each of the elements on which the voice of the Lord is said to have an effect was a recognized symbol of strength in the ancient world, and the voice of the Lord shakes these elements with ease. But the beginning and the end of the psalm talk about the strength of people. In verse 1, the “mighty ones” are to give glory and strength to the Lord. And verse 11 gives the source of that strength, God Himself. What God gives us, we are to offer back to Him.
“Isn’t God Powerful!”
By Dave Branon
Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name. —Psalm 29:2
One day, my 3-year-old granddaughter Katie surprised her mom and dad with a bit of theological expertise. She said to them, “You both had sisters who died. Then God took them up to heaven to be with Him. Isn’t God powerful!”
God’s immense power is a mystery, yet it is simple enough for a child to understand. In Katie’s young way of thinking, she knew that for God to do something so miraculous, it would mean that He is powerful. Without understanding all the details, she knew that God did something wonderful by taking her two aunts to heaven.
How often do we sit back in our more sophisticated world and marvel: “Isn’t God powerful”? Probably not often enough. We can’t know how God spun the worlds into existence with His voice (Job 38–39; Ps. 33:9; Heb. 11:3), nor can we know how He maintains control of them (Neh. 9:6). We can’t know how He planned and fulfilled the incarnation of Jesus, nor can we understand how He can make Christ’s sacrifice sufficient for our salvation. But we know these things are true.
The power of God: immeasurable in its wonder yet clear enough for us to understand. It’s yet another reason to praise Him.
Everything God does is marked with simplicity and power. —Tertullian
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, April 11, 2014
Complete and Effective Divinity
If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection . . . —Romans 6:5
Co-Resurrection. The proof that I have experienced crucifixion with Jesus is that I have a definite likeness to Him. The Spirit of Jesus entering me rearranges my personal life before God. The resurrection of Jesus has given Him the authority to give the life of God to me, and the experiences of my life must now be built on the foundation of His life. I can have the resurrection life of Jesus here and now, and it will exhibit itself through holiness.
The idea all through the apostle Paul’s writings is that after the decision to be identified with Jesus in His death has been made, the resurrection life of Jesus penetrates every bit of my human nature. It takes the omnipotence of God— His complete and effective divinity— to live the life of the Son of God in human flesh. The Holy Spirit cannot be accepted as a guest in merely one room of the house— He invades all of it. And once I decide that my “old man” (that is, my heredity of sin) should be identified with the death of Jesus, the Holy Spirit invades me. He takes charge of everything. My part is to walk in the light and to obey all that He reveals to me. Once I have made that important decision about sin, it is easy to “reckon” that I am actually “dead indeed to sin,” because I find the life of Jesus in me all the time (Romans 6:11). Just as there is only one kind of humanity, there is only one kind of holiness— the holiness of Jesus. And it is His holiness that has been given to me. God puts the holiness of His Son into me, and I belong to a new spiritual order.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, April 11, 2014
I'm not normal. No. I mean, most folks watch the women's Olympic figure skating in the winter Olympics and just enjoy the grace of the "twizzles" and the "triple lutzes." Not me. I'm a story guy. So I'm sitting there mulling the stories of those skaters. And thinking, "We've got something to learn from her."
It happened again when Italy's finalist, Carolina Kostner skated her long program in Sochi. Before she began, they showed her disastrous skate in Vancouver four years ago. She left the ice with her face buried in her hands. It was really sad. In her own words, "It was breaking my heart." And that was going to be the end of her skating career. She didn't want to go through this again. But she did. She skated again. And on the ice in Sochi, she skated a nearly flawless program and captured Olympic bronze.
Look, I don't ice skate. But I know what it is to fall and to come back again.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Comeback Kid."
I've set personal goals and I've blown it - losing weight, getting to a better place financially, conquering a personal weakness. I've made some calls as a leader that I wish I could do over. I've too many times failed to be what people I love need for me to be.
And like all of us who have tried and failed, I know the temptation to forget it and just say, "I'm not going to get on the ice" again. But then I considered these two Olympic lessons that can turn a sad chapter into a comeback victory. Number one, when you go down, don't stay down. The Bible says in Proverbs 24:16, "A righteous man falls seven times, and he rises again."
I've watched three children and now our grandchildren learn to walk. They all have the same m.o. Step. Boom. Try to walk. Fall down. The fallen baby, of course, has two choices. One, "That's it. I tried my best. I failed. I tried to walk. I can't do it. I give up." It didn't happen! No, every child got back up and started walking again.
I've decided that the only people who haven't fallen are people who never tried to walk. I watched an Olympic skater whose falls were seen by millions. Who was devastated by the scope of her failure, but she came back with the greatest victory of her life because she didn't stay down.
Here's the other lesson: Do it for the joy, not the result. That's actually what Carolina Kostner's mother told her after the debacle in Vancouver. That's good advice. Stop thinking about how you'll perform. The Olympic commentators said she skated with a freedom they'd never seen in her before. In her words, "I had to skate for the passion and the pleasure, not to take it so seriously." And that changed everything.
You know, as we look back on our life and we think of the places where we blew it or we failed especially those we love, I begin to turn to the pages of God's Word to find hope for our falls. And I find it in Micah 7:8, that says, "Do not gloat over me my enemy. Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light."
You know how that could happen? Because it says later in the chapter, "Who is a God like you who pardons sins, forgives the transgressions?" And it goes on to say, "You hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea." To know that every mistake, every fall, every wrong thing, every hurting thing I've ever done has been erased because God's Son died for it on a cross. Oh, that is ultimate freedom to have a new beginning.
Maybe this is your day for that new beginning, and I would love to help you get started with Jesus. If you just go to our website, it's all there - ANewStory.com.
I saw one skater come back with Olympic redemption, because she knew that coming back was getting back up, no matter how ugly the fall. So in a way, you win when you just put your skates back on.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Genesis 22, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Pride and Shame
Pride and shame. You'd never know they're sisters. They appear so different. Pride puffs out her chest. Shame hangs her head. Pride boasts. Shame hides. Pride seeks to be seen. Shame seeks to be avoided.
But don't be fooled, the emotions have the same impact. They keep you from your Father. Pride says, "You're too good for him. Shame says, "You're too bad for him." Pride drives you away, shame keeps you away. If pride is what goes before a fall, then shame is what keeps you from getting up after one. God the sinless and selfless Father, loves us in our pride and shame.
The Greek word for reconcile means to render something otherwise. Reconciliation touches the shoulder of the wayward and woos him homeward.
From He Chose the Nails
Genesis 22
Abraham Tested
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[f] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring[g] all nations on earth will be blessed,[h] because you have obeyed me.”
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
Nahor’s Sons
20 Some time later Abraham was told, “Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.” 23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor. 24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.
Genesis 22:13 Many manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint and Syriac; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text a ram behind him
Genesis 22:18 Or seed
Genesis 22:18 Or and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20)
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
READ: Galatians 5:1-14
Freedom in Christ
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. 11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
Life by the Spirit
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b]
Footnotes:
Galatians 5:13 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 16, 17, 19 and 24; and in 6:8.
Galatians 5:14 Lev. 19:18
Left Side Of The Road
April 10, 2014
—Dennis Fisher
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” —Galatians 5:14
Growing up in the US, I always thought it interesting that in some countries motorists drive on the left side of the road instead of the right. Then, when I was in England, I heard a London tour guide explain one possible reason for this law: “In the 1800s, pedestrians as well as horse-and-carriages used the same roads. When a carriage was on the right side of the road, a driver’s horse whip would sometimes hit a passerby. To remove this hazard, a law was passed requiring all carriages to travel on the left side of the road so the pedestrians could be kept safe.”
Just as the rules of the road are for our benefit and protection, so are God’s commands. Because He loves us, He has given them to us for our benefit. Paul writes: “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal. 5:13-14).
As we apply God’s Word to our hearts, let’s keep in mind that the God of grace has given us His guidelines to help us grow in our love for Him and our concern for others. —Dennis Fisher
Thy Word is everlasting truth;
How pure is every page!
That Holy Book shall guide our youth
And well support our age. —Watts
The Bible has treasures of wisdom to mine.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Complete and Effective Decision About Sin
. . . our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin —Romans 6:6
Co-Crucifixion. Have you made the following decision about sin—that it must be completely killed in you? It takes a long time to come to the point of making this complete and effective decision about sin. It is, however, the greatest moment in your life once you decide that sin must die in you-not simply be restrained, suppressed, or counteracted, but crucified—just as Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world. No one can bring anyone else to this decision. We may be mentally and spiritually convinced, but what we need to do is actually make the decision that Paul urged us to do in this passage.
Pull yourself up, take some time alone with God, and make this important decision, saying, “Lord, identify me with Your death until I know that sin is dead in me.” Make the moral decision that sin in you must be put to death.
This was not some divine future expectation on the part of Paul, but was a very radical and definite experience in his life. Are you prepared to let the Spirit of God search you until you know what the level and nature of sin is in your life— to see the very things that struggle against God’s Spirit in you? If so, will you then agree with God’s verdict on the nature of sin— that it should be identified with the death of Jesus? You cannot “reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin” (Romans 6:11) unless you have radically dealt with the issue of your will before God.
Have you entered into the glorious privilege of being crucified with Christ, until all that remains in your flesh and blood is His life? “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me . . .” (Galatians 2:20).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
It Ain't Over - #7109
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Well, it had been a long wait, like 20 years, but then the 1996 New York Yankees won the World Series! Now, they had to beat the champs to do it, the Atlanta Braves. And after the first two games of that best of seven series, I thought the Yankees had gone into a coma; they got creamed! That's when it got exciting. They came back to win the next two games, and then the series was tied at two games apiece of course. And the Yankees, then, appeared to doze off again in game five. They were behind six to nothing!
Speaking of dozing off, that's what at least one Yankee fan did, including the guy I heard buying a newspaper the next day. See, he saw the headline announcing that the Yankees had come back and won that game eight to six. He grabbed the newspaper, he saw the outcome of the game, and then he said... (Well, I can't tell you everything he said), but "I can't believe it! I gave up on them in the seventh inning; I went to sleep!" Well, he missed a great victory.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "It Ain't Over."
Our word for today from the Word of God is a verse we need at least several times a year I think. Maybe this is one of your days for it and God knew that. Galatians 6:9. Here we go, "Let us not become weary in doing good." Maybe you're feeling that way right now. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if (there is an if)... if we do not give up."
Now, God is challenging the mistake that we make so often that costs us His best. We give up too soon. Like that sleeping Yankee fan, he looked at the way the game seemed to be going, decided it was as good as over, and he missed a great victory. Well, God doesn't want you to make that same mistake with something that you've been hoping for; something that looks like it just isn't going to happen. You're tending to give up. But God is flagging you down today to say, "Don't become weary in doing good. The harvest you've hoped for is coming." It's like Yogi Berra said, "It ain't over 'till it's over."
The problem is that we look at the score right now and we lose hope. But on God's scoreboard it's only your third inning, or the sixth or maybe the seventh. And maybe you're saying, "Well, there just isn't enough time for it to happen now." Or, "I can't see any way it could happen." Be careful! You're underestimating your all-powerful God. After all, He's the One who delivered a nation from Egypt in one night. But we tend to assume what the final score will be based on the score in the middle of the game. And that's when we give up and we start taking God's will detours. We panic.
We put together some patchwork solution of our own. We start leaning on our own understanding instead of trusting in the Lord with all our heart. Or we just stop hoping or praying or looking for it, which leads me to that wonderful challenge I heard years ago from a seasoned old saint, "Never doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light." Don't give up in the middle of the game. Don't give up even if it's near the end of the game. You can't tell what God is going to do for a wonderful finish to this game.
God has a way of hitting bases loaded, grand slam home runs in the bottom of the ninth with two outs if you don't give up before the harvest comes. I just hope you don't miss that grand finish because you gave up on the game too soon.
Pride and shame. You'd never know they're sisters. They appear so different. Pride puffs out her chest. Shame hangs her head. Pride boasts. Shame hides. Pride seeks to be seen. Shame seeks to be avoided.
But don't be fooled, the emotions have the same impact. They keep you from your Father. Pride says, "You're too good for him. Shame says, "You're too bad for him." Pride drives you away, shame keeps you away. If pride is what goes before a fall, then shame is what keeps you from getting up after one. God the sinless and selfless Father, loves us in our pride and shame.
The Greek word for reconcile means to render something otherwise. Reconciliation touches the shoulder of the wayward and woos him homeward.
From He Chose the Nails
Genesis 22
Abraham Tested
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[f] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring[g] all nations on earth will be blessed,[h] because you have obeyed me.”
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
Nahor’s Sons
20 Some time later Abraham was told, “Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.” 23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor. 24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.
Genesis 22:13 Many manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint and Syriac; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text a ram behind him
Genesis 22:18 Or seed
Genesis 22:18 Or and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20)
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
READ: Galatians 5:1-14
Freedom in Christ
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. 11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
Life by the Spirit
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b]
Footnotes:
Galatians 5:13 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 16, 17, 19 and 24; and in 6:8.
Galatians 5:14 Lev. 19:18
Left Side Of The Road
April 10, 2014
—Dennis Fisher
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” —Galatians 5:14
Growing up in the US, I always thought it interesting that in some countries motorists drive on the left side of the road instead of the right. Then, when I was in England, I heard a London tour guide explain one possible reason for this law: “In the 1800s, pedestrians as well as horse-and-carriages used the same roads. When a carriage was on the right side of the road, a driver’s horse whip would sometimes hit a passerby. To remove this hazard, a law was passed requiring all carriages to travel on the left side of the road so the pedestrians could be kept safe.”
Just as the rules of the road are for our benefit and protection, so are God’s commands. Because He loves us, He has given them to us for our benefit. Paul writes: “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal. 5:13-14).
As we apply God’s Word to our hearts, let’s keep in mind that the God of grace has given us His guidelines to help us grow in our love for Him and our concern for others. —Dennis Fisher
Thy Word is everlasting truth;
How pure is every page!
That Holy Book shall guide our youth
And well support our age. —Watts
The Bible has treasures of wisdom to mine.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Complete and Effective Decision About Sin
. . . our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin —Romans 6:6
Co-Crucifixion. Have you made the following decision about sin—that it must be completely killed in you? It takes a long time to come to the point of making this complete and effective decision about sin. It is, however, the greatest moment in your life once you decide that sin must die in you-not simply be restrained, suppressed, or counteracted, but crucified—just as Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world. No one can bring anyone else to this decision. We may be mentally and spiritually convinced, but what we need to do is actually make the decision that Paul urged us to do in this passage.
Pull yourself up, take some time alone with God, and make this important decision, saying, “Lord, identify me with Your death until I know that sin is dead in me.” Make the moral decision that sin in you must be put to death.
This was not some divine future expectation on the part of Paul, but was a very radical and definite experience in his life. Are you prepared to let the Spirit of God search you until you know what the level and nature of sin is in your life— to see the very things that struggle against God’s Spirit in you? If so, will you then agree with God’s verdict on the nature of sin— that it should be identified with the death of Jesus? You cannot “reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin” (Romans 6:11) unless you have radically dealt with the issue of your will before God.
Have you entered into the glorious privilege of being crucified with Christ, until all that remains in your flesh and blood is His life? “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me . . .” (Galatians 2:20).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
It Ain't Over - #7109
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Well, it had been a long wait, like 20 years, but then the 1996 New York Yankees won the World Series! Now, they had to beat the champs to do it, the Atlanta Braves. And after the first two games of that best of seven series, I thought the Yankees had gone into a coma; they got creamed! That's when it got exciting. They came back to win the next two games, and then the series was tied at two games apiece of course. And the Yankees, then, appeared to doze off again in game five. They were behind six to nothing!
Speaking of dozing off, that's what at least one Yankee fan did, including the guy I heard buying a newspaper the next day. See, he saw the headline announcing that the Yankees had come back and won that game eight to six. He grabbed the newspaper, he saw the outcome of the game, and then he said... (Well, I can't tell you everything he said), but "I can't believe it! I gave up on them in the seventh inning; I went to sleep!" Well, he missed a great victory.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "It Ain't Over."
Our word for today from the Word of God is a verse we need at least several times a year I think. Maybe this is one of your days for it and God knew that. Galatians 6:9. Here we go, "Let us not become weary in doing good." Maybe you're feeling that way right now. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if (there is an if)... if we do not give up."
Now, God is challenging the mistake that we make so often that costs us His best. We give up too soon. Like that sleeping Yankee fan, he looked at the way the game seemed to be going, decided it was as good as over, and he missed a great victory. Well, God doesn't want you to make that same mistake with something that you've been hoping for; something that looks like it just isn't going to happen. You're tending to give up. But God is flagging you down today to say, "Don't become weary in doing good. The harvest you've hoped for is coming." It's like Yogi Berra said, "It ain't over 'till it's over."
The problem is that we look at the score right now and we lose hope. But on God's scoreboard it's only your third inning, or the sixth or maybe the seventh. And maybe you're saying, "Well, there just isn't enough time for it to happen now." Or, "I can't see any way it could happen." Be careful! You're underestimating your all-powerful God. After all, He's the One who delivered a nation from Egypt in one night. But we tend to assume what the final score will be based on the score in the middle of the game. And that's when we give up and we start taking God's will detours. We panic.
We put together some patchwork solution of our own. We start leaning on our own understanding instead of trusting in the Lord with all our heart. Or we just stop hoping or praying or looking for it, which leads me to that wonderful challenge I heard years ago from a seasoned old saint, "Never doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light." Don't give up in the middle of the game. Don't give up even if it's near the end of the game. You can't tell what God is going to do for a wonderful finish to this game.
God has a way of hitting bases loaded, grand slam home runs in the bottom of the ninth with two outs if you don't give up before the harvest comes. I just hope you don't miss that grand finish because you gave up on the game too soon.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Genesis 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Choice is Yours
It would've been nice if God had let us order life like we order a meal. I'll take good health and a high IQ. I'll pass on the music skills, but give me a fast metabolism! It would've been nice-but it didn't happen. When it came to your life on earth, you weren't given a voice or a vote.
But when it comes to life after death, you were. In my book that seems like a good deal. Wouldn't you agree? Have we been given any greater privilege than that of choice? You've made some bad choices in life, haven't you? You've chosen the wrong friends, maybe the wrong career; even the wrong spouse.
You look back and say, "If only…if only I could make up for those bad choices. You can. One good choice for eternity offsets a thousand bad ones on earth. The choice is yours.
From He Chose the Nails
Genesis 21
The Birth of Isaac
Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac[b] to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[c] will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she[d] began to sob.
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
The Treaty at Beersheba
22 At that time Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. 23 Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.”
24 Abraham said, “I swear it.”
25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek’s servants had seized. 26 But Abimelek said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.”
27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty. 28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, 29 and Abimelek asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?”
30 He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.”
31 So that place was called Beersheba,[e] because the two men swore an oath there.
32 After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
Genesis 21:3 Isaac means he laughs.
Genesis 21:12 Or seed
Genesis 21:16 Hebrew; Septuagint the child
Genesis 21:31 Beersheba can mean well of seven and well of the oath
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 10:12-22
Fear the Lord
12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
14 To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. 20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. 22 Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Insight
It is interesting to note that when our Lord faced His temptations in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11), all of the verses He quoted are from Deuteronomy (8:3; 6:16,13).
Loved To Love
By Randy Kilgore
Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. —Deuteronomy 10:19
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life was at risk every day he stayed in Hitler’s Germany, but he stayed nonetheless. I imagine he shared the apostle Paul’s view that being in heaven was his heart’s desire, but staying where he was needed was God’s present purpose (Phil. 1:21). So stay he did; as a pastor he offered clandestine worship services and resisted the evil regime under Hitler.
Despite the daily danger, Bonhoeffer penned Life Together—a book on hospitality as ministry. He put this principle to the test when he lived and worked in a monastic community and when he was imprisoned. Every meal, every task, and every conversation, Bonhoeffer taught, was an opportunity to show Christ to others, even under great stress or strain.
We read in Deuteronomy that just as God ministered to the Israelites who were leaving Egypt, He instructed them to imitate Him by loving and hosting strangers and widows (10:18-19; Ex. 22:21-22). We too are loved by God and empowered by His Spirit to serve Him by serving others in countless ways each day through kind words and actions.
Who on our daily journey seems lonely or lost? We can trust the Lord to enable us to bring them hope and compassion as we live and labor together for Him.
That I may serve Him with a full surrender,
My life a crucible, His eye the test,
Each hour a gift from Him, the gracious Sender,
Each day a pledge to give to Christ my best. —Anon.
The more we understand God’s love for us the more love we’ll show to others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, April 09, 2014
Have You Seen Jesus?
After that, He appeared in another form to two of them . . . —Mark 16:12
Being saved and seeing Jesus are not the same thing. Many people who have never seen Jesus have received and share in God’s grace. But once you have seen Him, you can never be the same. Other things will not have the appeal they did before.
You should always recognize the difference between what you see Jesus to be and what He has done for you. If you see only what He has done for you, your God is not big enough. But if you have had a vision, seeing Jesus as He really is, experiences can come and go, yet you will endure “as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). The man who was blind from birth did not know who Jesus was until Christ appeared and revealed Himself to him (see John 9). Jesus appears to those for whom He has done something, but we cannot order or predict when He will come. He may appear suddenly, at any turn. Then you can exclaim, “Now I see Him!” (see John 9:25).
Jesus must appear to you and to your friend individually; no one can see Jesus with your eyes. And division takes place when one has seen Him and the other has not. You cannot bring your friend to the point of seeing; God must do it. Have you seen Jesus? If so, you will want others to see Him too. “And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either” (Mark 16:13). When you see Him, you must tell, even if they don’t believe.
O could I tell, you surely would believe it!
O could I only say what I have seen!
How should I tell or how can you receive it,
How, till He bringeth you where I have been?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Eye Transplants for Lovers - #7108
Jim was a partner with us in some of our radio outreach to young people, and he's a man who refused to be stopped with his limitations. He was blind. In fact, he launched a pioneer program in his area that was planned and hosted by young people. We talked to Jim and we got some incredible news. He had just come through surgery with his very own medical miracle. He woke up from that operation with some of the sight restored that he had lost years before. And he told us how beautiful the mountains were, and especially how beautiful his wife was. He said, "I finally see my wife for the first time in 16 years!" What a breakthrough!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Eye Transplants for Lovers."
My friend, Jim, finally has eyes to see his wife. It's a breakthrough that many more men need to experience. One of the great love stories of the Bible is the story of Isaac and Rebecca. The credit for a lot of that goes to the man of the house. Listen to some of the verbs that describe Isaac's relationship with his wife.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Genesis chapters 24, 25 and 26. Verse 67 in chapter 24 it says, "She became his wife and he loved her." Then in chapter 26, "The king looked out the window and 'saw Isaac caressing his wife, Rebecca'." But the greatest insight of all is in this word from Genesis 25:21, "Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer and his wife became pregnant."
Isaac was a husband that prayed for his wife, and things began to happen in her life that seemed impossible. If you're a husband, maybe you can think of things in your wife's life that just seem to be humanly impossible. But praying for her might bring about a miracle in you as a husband, too; the same kind of miracle that happened to my blind friend, Jim. God could give you eyes to see your wife as you've never seen her before or you haven't seen her for a long time. There's a lot of power in being a praying husband.
Most of all, when you spend time with God praying for the woman you love, you begin to see her with new eyes. You begin to see what God sees when He sees your wife, and that's the starting point for being the kind of sensitive, caring guy that God made you to be; for being the haven for which the heart of a woman truly longs.
Things may be great between you and your bride right now, or maybe they're tense. Maybe you're struggling. Maybe things are breaking down or drifting apart. Whatever the situation, your love will grow on your knees asking for God's perspective on your wife. Ask Him to help you see, not just her deeds, but the deep needs that are behind her deeds, the affection deficit, the attention deficit, the stress of having to handle too much without you, the frustration of not really being listened to.
You can also ask God to help you hear her heart, not just her words; to show you what might be hurting her, or crushing her, or causing resentment in her. Also ask God to show you your wife's language of love. What things could you do that would make her feel really loved? Don't be surprised if it involves some sacrifice, like Jesus' life-giving love for us.
You can tell a woman who is being loved by a man who spends time with God on her behalf, and on his own behalf as a husband. Because that woman is radiant, she's positive, she's at peace because a man - a man like you maybe - asked God to give him what sometimes only God can give - eyes to see who this woman really is; how beautiful she really is or maybe could be with more of your love.
It would've been nice if God had let us order life like we order a meal. I'll take good health and a high IQ. I'll pass on the music skills, but give me a fast metabolism! It would've been nice-but it didn't happen. When it came to your life on earth, you weren't given a voice or a vote.
But when it comes to life after death, you were. In my book that seems like a good deal. Wouldn't you agree? Have we been given any greater privilege than that of choice? You've made some bad choices in life, haven't you? You've chosen the wrong friends, maybe the wrong career; even the wrong spouse.
You look back and say, "If only…if only I could make up for those bad choices. You can. One good choice for eternity offsets a thousand bad ones on earth. The choice is yours.
From He Chose the Nails
Genesis 21
The Birth of Isaac
Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac[b] to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[c] will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she[d] began to sob.
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
The Treaty at Beersheba
22 At that time Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. 23 Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.”
24 Abraham said, “I swear it.”
25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek’s servants had seized. 26 But Abimelek said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.”
27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty. 28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, 29 and Abimelek asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?”
30 He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.”
31 So that place was called Beersheba,[e] because the two men swore an oath there.
32 After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
Genesis 21:3 Isaac means he laughs.
Genesis 21:12 Or seed
Genesis 21:16 Hebrew; Septuagint the child
Genesis 21:31 Beersheba can mean well of seven and well of the oath
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 10:12-22
Fear the Lord
12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
14 To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. 20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. 22 Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Insight
It is interesting to note that when our Lord faced His temptations in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11), all of the verses He quoted are from Deuteronomy (8:3; 6:16,13).
Loved To Love
By Randy Kilgore
Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. —Deuteronomy 10:19
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life was at risk every day he stayed in Hitler’s Germany, but he stayed nonetheless. I imagine he shared the apostle Paul’s view that being in heaven was his heart’s desire, but staying where he was needed was God’s present purpose (Phil. 1:21). So stay he did; as a pastor he offered clandestine worship services and resisted the evil regime under Hitler.
Despite the daily danger, Bonhoeffer penned Life Together—a book on hospitality as ministry. He put this principle to the test when he lived and worked in a monastic community and when he was imprisoned. Every meal, every task, and every conversation, Bonhoeffer taught, was an opportunity to show Christ to others, even under great stress or strain.
We read in Deuteronomy that just as God ministered to the Israelites who were leaving Egypt, He instructed them to imitate Him by loving and hosting strangers and widows (10:18-19; Ex. 22:21-22). We too are loved by God and empowered by His Spirit to serve Him by serving others in countless ways each day through kind words and actions.
Who on our daily journey seems lonely or lost? We can trust the Lord to enable us to bring them hope and compassion as we live and labor together for Him.
That I may serve Him with a full surrender,
My life a crucible, His eye the test,
Each hour a gift from Him, the gracious Sender,
Each day a pledge to give to Christ my best. —Anon.
The more we understand God’s love for us the more love we’ll show to others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, April 09, 2014
Have You Seen Jesus?
After that, He appeared in another form to two of them . . . —Mark 16:12
Being saved and seeing Jesus are not the same thing. Many people who have never seen Jesus have received and share in God’s grace. But once you have seen Him, you can never be the same. Other things will not have the appeal they did before.
You should always recognize the difference between what you see Jesus to be and what He has done for you. If you see only what He has done for you, your God is not big enough. But if you have had a vision, seeing Jesus as He really is, experiences can come and go, yet you will endure “as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). The man who was blind from birth did not know who Jesus was until Christ appeared and revealed Himself to him (see John 9). Jesus appears to those for whom He has done something, but we cannot order or predict when He will come. He may appear suddenly, at any turn. Then you can exclaim, “Now I see Him!” (see John 9:25).
Jesus must appear to you and to your friend individually; no one can see Jesus with your eyes. And division takes place when one has seen Him and the other has not. You cannot bring your friend to the point of seeing; God must do it. Have you seen Jesus? If so, you will want others to see Him too. “And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either” (Mark 16:13). When you see Him, you must tell, even if they don’t believe.
O could I tell, you surely would believe it!
O could I only say what I have seen!
How should I tell or how can you receive it,
How, till He bringeth you where I have been?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Eye Transplants for Lovers - #7108
Jim was a partner with us in some of our radio outreach to young people, and he's a man who refused to be stopped with his limitations. He was blind. In fact, he launched a pioneer program in his area that was planned and hosted by young people. We talked to Jim and we got some incredible news. He had just come through surgery with his very own medical miracle. He woke up from that operation with some of the sight restored that he had lost years before. And he told us how beautiful the mountains were, and especially how beautiful his wife was. He said, "I finally see my wife for the first time in 16 years!" What a breakthrough!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Eye Transplants for Lovers."
My friend, Jim, finally has eyes to see his wife. It's a breakthrough that many more men need to experience. One of the great love stories of the Bible is the story of Isaac and Rebecca. The credit for a lot of that goes to the man of the house. Listen to some of the verbs that describe Isaac's relationship with his wife.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Genesis chapters 24, 25 and 26. Verse 67 in chapter 24 it says, "She became his wife and he loved her." Then in chapter 26, "The king looked out the window and 'saw Isaac caressing his wife, Rebecca'." But the greatest insight of all is in this word from Genesis 25:21, "Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer and his wife became pregnant."
Isaac was a husband that prayed for his wife, and things began to happen in her life that seemed impossible. If you're a husband, maybe you can think of things in your wife's life that just seem to be humanly impossible. But praying for her might bring about a miracle in you as a husband, too; the same kind of miracle that happened to my blind friend, Jim. God could give you eyes to see your wife as you've never seen her before or you haven't seen her for a long time. There's a lot of power in being a praying husband.
Most of all, when you spend time with God praying for the woman you love, you begin to see her with new eyes. You begin to see what God sees when He sees your wife, and that's the starting point for being the kind of sensitive, caring guy that God made you to be; for being the haven for which the heart of a woman truly longs.
Things may be great between you and your bride right now, or maybe they're tense. Maybe you're struggling. Maybe things are breaking down or drifting apart. Whatever the situation, your love will grow on your knees asking for God's perspective on your wife. Ask Him to help you see, not just her deeds, but the deep needs that are behind her deeds, the affection deficit, the attention deficit, the stress of having to handle too much without you, the frustration of not really being listened to.
You can also ask God to help you hear her heart, not just her words; to show you what might be hurting her, or crushing her, or causing resentment in her. Also ask God to show you your wife's language of love. What things could you do that would make her feel really loved? Don't be surprised if it involves some sacrifice, like Jesus' life-giving love for us.
You can tell a woman who is being loved by a man who spends time with God on her behalf, and on his own behalf as a husband. Because that woman is radiant, she's positive, she's at peace because a man - a man like you maybe - asked God to give him what sometimes only God can give - eyes to see who this woman really is; how beautiful she really is or maybe could be with more of your love.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Genesis 20 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Nail of God
God has penned a list of our faults. The list God has made, however, cannot be read. The words can't be deciphered. The mistakes are covered. The sins are hidden. Those at the top are hidden by His hand; those down the list are covered by His blood. Your sins are blotted out by Jesus. The Bible says that He has forgiven you all your sins. He has utterly wiped out the written evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross.
He knew the source of those sins was you, and since He couldn't bear the thought of eternity without you, Jesus Himself chose the nails. The hand is the hand of God. The nail is the nail of God. And as the hands of Jesus opened for the nail, the doors of heaven opened for you!
From He Chose the Nails
Genesis 20
Abraham and Abimelek
Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
3 But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”
4 Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.”
6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. 7 Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.”
8 Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.” 10 And Abimelek asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?”
11 Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”
14 Then Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelek said, “My land is before you; live wherever you like.”
16 To Sarah he said, “I am giving your brother a thousand shekels[a] of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.”
17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again, 18 for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.
Genesis 20:16 That is, about 25 pounds or about 12 kilograms
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Corinthians 3:7-18
The Greater Glory of the New Covenant
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Footnotes:
2 Corinthians 3:18 Or reflect
Insight
Paul underscores the superiority of the new covenant over the old covenant (2 Cor. 3:7-11) by referring back to Exodus 34:29-35. Moses’ face so radiated with God’s glory after having communed with God that the Israelites were afraid to come near Moses (Ex. 34:8). Paul says the ministry of the Spirit is much more glorious (2 Cor. 3:8).
Getting Beyond Ourselves
By Joe Stowell
We all, . . . beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed. —2 Corinthians 3:18
I have one of those friends who seems to be better than I am at just about everything. He is smarter; he thinks more deeply; and he knows where to find better books to read. He is even a better golfer. Spending time with him challenges me to become a better, more thoughtful person. His standard of excellence spurs me on to greater things.
That highlights a spiritual principle: It’s crucial for us to spend time in God’s Word so we can connect with the person of Christ. Reading about the impact of Jesus’ unconditional love for us compels me to love without demand. His mercy and His free distribution of grace to the most undeserving make me ashamed of my tendency to withhold forgiveness and seek revenge.
I find myself becoming a more thankful person when I realize that, despite my shameful fallenness, the Lord has clothed me in the beauty of His perfect righteousness. His amazing ways and unsurpassed wisdom motivate and transform me. It’s hard to be content with my life as it is when in His presence I am drawn to become more like Him.
The apostle Paul calls us to the joy of beholding Christ. As we do so, we are “being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18).
Lord, help us to come into Your presence with eyes
and hearts wide open to all that You are and want us
to become. Thank You for revealing Yourself to us
and for the joy of basking in the greatness of Your glory.
Stay close to God and you will never be the same.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, April 08, 2014
His Resurrection Destiny
Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? —Luke 24:26
Our Lord’s Cross is the gateway into His life. His resurrection means that He has the power to convey His life to me. When I was born again, I received the very life of the risen Lord from Jesus Himself.
Christ’s resurrection destiny— His foreordained purpose— was to bring “many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). The fulfilling of His destiny gives Him the right to make us sons and daughters of God. We never have exactly the same relationship to God that the Son of God has, but we are brought by the Son into the relation of sonship. When our Lord rose from the dead, He rose to an absolutely new life— a life He had never lived before He was God Incarnate. He rose to a life that had never been before. And what His resurrection means for us is that we are raised to His risen life, not to our old life. One day we will have a body like His glorious body, but we can know here and now the power and effectiveness of His resurrection and can “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Paul’s determined purpose was to “know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10).
Jesus prayed, “. . . as You have given Him authority over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him” (John 17:2). The term Holy Spirit is actually another name for the experience of eternal life working in human beings here and now. The Holy Spirit is the deity of God who continues to apply the power of the atonement by the Cross of Christ to our lives. Thank God for the glorious and majestic truth that His Spirit can work the very nature of Jesus into us, if we will only obey Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Winning the Fight Before It Begins - #7107
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Boxing! Some people like it and a lot of people don't. But those ever present "Rocky" movies sort of elevated boxing to a battlefield between the nice guy underdog and the not-so-nice favorite. A lot of boxing favorites thought it was sort of a rocky matchup when Evander Holyfield went against Mike Tyson some years ago for the WBA Heavyweight Championship. Now, Holyfield was a 25/1 underdog when the fight was booked. Tyson was the almost invincible Iron Mike, called by some commentators the baddest man on the planet. Well, much to almost everyone's surprise, including Las Vegas where a lot of money was lost, the underdog - Holyfield - soundly defeated Mike Tyson.
USA Today's lead sports story carried this headline "Holyfield puts faith in more than his fists." It went on to tell about the boxer's strong emphasis on prayer before and during the fight. In fact, let me quote an amazing perspective from that article that goes way beyond boxing. "Holyfield sang along to a gospel tune on his CD player before leaving his dressing room, leaving his camp in a joyous revival-style celebration." One fighter said, "It was as if the fight was a preliminary. He already won the main event in the dressing room."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Winning the Fight Before It Begins."
Well, the new champ acted as if the fight had been won before he ever got in the ring because of his spiritual preparation. I think many a bout with much higher stakes is won that way. James 5:16, our word for today from the Word of God, "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." Now, if you translate that verse more literally with the original word order in there, it comes out sort of clunky in English. But it goes like this, "Much the prayer of a righteous one has power to do as it works effectively." Big word - much - through prayer. That's what ultimately gets the job done.
Paul obviously recognized that the outcome of his ministry was largely decided by the prayer that his friends offered for him. And boy, do I know that feeling. For example, he said in Colossians 4, "Pray for us that God may open a door for our message." Now, if Paul didn't find an open door when he went somewhere to present Christ, the message wouldn't get through. He implied that the openness of the door would be determined, not by his strategies but by the door-opening prayers of his friends. Again, boy, do I know about that.
He went on to say, "Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should." Will Paul's preaching be clear and powerful? Well, that would be decided by the prayer that preceded his ministry. And so it goes throughout Paul's letters; appeals to pray for him and that the outcome would be decided in those prayers.
Well, 2,000 years have past, but the deciding factor in spiritual battles is still the same. It's not what personality we book for the meeting, or the great promotion, or the politics of having the right connections, or our excellent planning, or the great program. There's no power in any of those by themselves. The power is in prayer; in God's people praying down the power and blessing of Almighty God as they go boldly into the Throne Room of the One who rules a hundred billion galaxies.
In other words, the battle isn't won in the planning meeting or in the public meeting. Spiritual victories are pre-won in a prayer meeting. All we do in the ring is pick up the victory that was won on our knees in the heavenlies before the fight ever began. So, whatever your battle, don't make the mistake of depending on your fists to win it.
Make prayer your number one way of getting things done. If you've won it in God's Throne Room, it's only a matter of time before you win it in the big fight. That's how an underdog can defy the odds and beat what seems unbeatable.
God has penned a list of our faults. The list God has made, however, cannot be read. The words can't be deciphered. The mistakes are covered. The sins are hidden. Those at the top are hidden by His hand; those down the list are covered by His blood. Your sins are blotted out by Jesus. The Bible says that He has forgiven you all your sins. He has utterly wiped out the written evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross.
He knew the source of those sins was you, and since He couldn't bear the thought of eternity without you, Jesus Himself chose the nails. The hand is the hand of God. The nail is the nail of God. And as the hands of Jesus opened for the nail, the doors of heaven opened for you!
From He Chose the Nails
Genesis 20
Abraham and Abimelek
Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
3 But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”
4 Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.”
6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. 7 Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.”
8 Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.” 10 And Abimelek asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?”
11 Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”
14 Then Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelek said, “My land is before you; live wherever you like.”
16 To Sarah he said, “I am giving your brother a thousand shekels[a] of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.”
17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again, 18 for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.
Genesis 20:16 That is, about 25 pounds or about 12 kilograms
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Corinthians 3:7-18
The Greater Glory of the New Covenant
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Footnotes:
2 Corinthians 3:18 Or reflect
Insight
Paul underscores the superiority of the new covenant over the old covenant (2 Cor. 3:7-11) by referring back to Exodus 34:29-35. Moses’ face so radiated with God’s glory after having communed with God that the Israelites were afraid to come near Moses (Ex. 34:8). Paul says the ministry of the Spirit is much more glorious (2 Cor. 3:8).
Getting Beyond Ourselves
By Joe Stowell
We all, . . . beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed. —2 Corinthians 3:18
I have one of those friends who seems to be better than I am at just about everything. He is smarter; he thinks more deeply; and he knows where to find better books to read. He is even a better golfer. Spending time with him challenges me to become a better, more thoughtful person. His standard of excellence spurs me on to greater things.
That highlights a spiritual principle: It’s crucial for us to spend time in God’s Word so we can connect with the person of Christ. Reading about the impact of Jesus’ unconditional love for us compels me to love without demand. His mercy and His free distribution of grace to the most undeserving make me ashamed of my tendency to withhold forgiveness and seek revenge.
I find myself becoming a more thankful person when I realize that, despite my shameful fallenness, the Lord has clothed me in the beauty of His perfect righteousness. His amazing ways and unsurpassed wisdom motivate and transform me. It’s hard to be content with my life as it is when in His presence I am drawn to become more like Him.
The apostle Paul calls us to the joy of beholding Christ. As we do so, we are “being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18).
Lord, help us to come into Your presence with eyes
and hearts wide open to all that You are and want us
to become. Thank You for revealing Yourself to us
and for the joy of basking in the greatness of Your glory.
Stay close to God and you will never be the same.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, April 08, 2014
His Resurrection Destiny
Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? —Luke 24:26
Our Lord’s Cross is the gateway into His life. His resurrection means that He has the power to convey His life to me. When I was born again, I received the very life of the risen Lord from Jesus Himself.
Christ’s resurrection destiny— His foreordained purpose— was to bring “many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). The fulfilling of His destiny gives Him the right to make us sons and daughters of God. We never have exactly the same relationship to God that the Son of God has, but we are brought by the Son into the relation of sonship. When our Lord rose from the dead, He rose to an absolutely new life— a life He had never lived before He was God Incarnate. He rose to a life that had never been before. And what His resurrection means for us is that we are raised to His risen life, not to our old life. One day we will have a body like His glorious body, but we can know here and now the power and effectiveness of His resurrection and can “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Paul’s determined purpose was to “know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10).
Jesus prayed, “. . . as You have given Him authority over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him” (John 17:2). The term Holy Spirit is actually another name for the experience of eternal life working in human beings here and now. The Holy Spirit is the deity of God who continues to apply the power of the atonement by the Cross of Christ to our lives. Thank God for the glorious and majestic truth that His Spirit can work the very nature of Jesus into us, if we will only obey Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Winning the Fight Before It Begins - #7107
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Boxing! Some people like it and a lot of people don't. But those ever present "Rocky" movies sort of elevated boxing to a battlefield between the nice guy underdog and the not-so-nice favorite. A lot of boxing favorites thought it was sort of a rocky matchup when Evander Holyfield went against Mike Tyson some years ago for the WBA Heavyweight Championship. Now, Holyfield was a 25/1 underdog when the fight was booked. Tyson was the almost invincible Iron Mike, called by some commentators the baddest man on the planet. Well, much to almost everyone's surprise, including Las Vegas where a lot of money was lost, the underdog - Holyfield - soundly defeated Mike Tyson.
USA Today's lead sports story carried this headline "Holyfield puts faith in more than his fists." It went on to tell about the boxer's strong emphasis on prayer before and during the fight. In fact, let me quote an amazing perspective from that article that goes way beyond boxing. "Holyfield sang along to a gospel tune on his CD player before leaving his dressing room, leaving his camp in a joyous revival-style celebration." One fighter said, "It was as if the fight was a preliminary. He already won the main event in the dressing room."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Winning the Fight Before It Begins."
Well, the new champ acted as if the fight had been won before he ever got in the ring because of his spiritual preparation. I think many a bout with much higher stakes is won that way. James 5:16, our word for today from the Word of God, "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." Now, if you translate that verse more literally with the original word order in there, it comes out sort of clunky in English. But it goes like this, "Much the prayer of a righteous one has power to do as it works effectively." Big word - much - through prayer. That's what ultimately gets the job done.
Paul obviously recognized that the outcome of his ministry was largely decided by the prayer that his friends offered for him. And boy, do I know that feeling. For example, he said in Colossians 4, "Pray for us that God may open a door for our message." Now, if Paul didn't find an open door when he went somewhere to present Christ, the message wouldn't get through. He implied that the openness of the door would be determined, not by his strategies but by the door-opening prayers of his friends. Again, boy, do I know about that.
He went on to say, "Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should." Will Paul's preaching be clear and powerful? Well, that would be decided by the prayer that preceded his ministry. And so it goes throughout Paul's letters; appeals to pray for him and that the outcome would be decided in those prayers.
Well, 2,000 years have past, but the deciding factor in spiritual battles is still the same. It's not what personality we book for the meeting, or the great promotion, or the politics of having the right connections, or our excellent planning, or the great program. There's no power in any of those by themselves. The power is in prayer; in God's people praying down the power and blessing of Almighty God as they go boldly into the Throne Room of the One who rules a hundred billion galaxies.
In other words, the battle isn't won in the planning meeting or in the public meeting. Spiritual victories are pre-won in a prayer meeting. All we do in the ring is pick up the victory that was won on our knees in the heavenlies before the fight ever began. So, whatever your battle, don't make the mistake of depending on your fists to win it.
Make prayer your number one way of getting things done. If you've won it in God's Throne Room, it's only a matter of time before you win it in the big fight. That's how an underdog can defy the odds and beat what seems unbeatable.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Matthew 6:1-18, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: He Canceled the Record
How would you feel if a list of your weaknesses were posted so that everyone, including Christ Himself, could see? Yes, Christ has chronicled your shortcomings. And, yes, that list has been made public. But you've never seen it. Neither have I.
Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as the soldiers shove the Carpenter to the ground and stretch His arms against the beams. One presses a knee against a forearm and a spike against a hand. Jesus turns His face toward the nail just as the soldier lifts the hammer to strike it. Couldn't Jesus have stopped Him?
Through the eyes of Scripture we see what others missed but what Jesus saw. Colossians 2:14 says, "He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross!"
From He Chose the Nails
Matthew 6:1-18
Giving to the Needy
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Fasting
16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Footnotes:
Matthew 6:13 The Greek for temptation can also mean testing.
Matthew 6:13 Or from evil; some late manuscripts one, / for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Philippians 4:1-5
Closing Appeal for Steadfastness and Unity
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Final Exhortations
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Insight
As Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi comes to an end, he provides his readers with a number of imperatives: “stand fast in the Lord” (v.1); “be of the same mind” (v.2); “help [those] who labored with me in the gospel” (v.3); “rejoice in the Lord always” (v.4); and “let your gentleness be known to all men” (v.5). Notice the varied kinds of imperatives given. Because unity, support, rejoicing, and gentleness are needed depending upon the situation, sensitivity to the Spirit’s leading helps us to tap into God’s resources so that we can respond appropriately to each circumstance.
Strawberry Mess
By Anne Cetas
Be of the same mind in the Lord. —Philippians 4:2
My husband and I had recently moved into our house when a man dropped off a large box of strawberries on our front sidewalk. He left a note saying he wanted us to share them with our neighbors. He meant well, but some children discovered the box before any adults did and had a strawberry-throwing party at our white house. When we returned home, we saw children we knew watching us from behind a fence. They had “returned to the scene of the crime” to see how we would react to the mess. We could have just cleaned it up ourselves, but to restore our relationship, we felt it was important to talk with them and require their help in cleaning our strawberry-stained house.
Life can get messy with relationship struggles. This was the case in the Philippian church. Two faithful servants, Euodia and Syntyche, were in sharp disagreement. The apostle Paul wrote to the church to encourage them to work through their problems (Phil. 4:2). He also wanted another person to come alongside them with a spirit of gentleness. He wrote, “I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel” (v.3).
Realizing we’ve all made messes in life, we can trust the Lord to help us deal gently with others.
Dear Lord, please give me discernment and
courage in my relationships. Help me by Your
power to be gentle and show the same love
to others that You have shown to me.
True love both confronts and restores.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, April 07, 2014
Why We Lack Understanding
He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead —Mark 9:9
As the disciples were commanded, you should also say nothing until the Son of Man has risen in you— until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you truly understand what He taught while here on earth. When you grow and develop the right condition inwardly, the words Jesus spoke become so clear that you are amazed you did not grasp them before. In fact, you were not able to understand them before because you had not yet developed the proper spiritual condition to deal with them.
Our Lord doesn’t hide these things from us, but we are not prepared to receive them until we are in the right condition in our spiritual life. Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). We must have a oneness with His risen life before we are prepared to bear any particular truth from Him. Do we really know anything about the indwelling of the risen life of Jesus? The evidence that we do is that His Word is becoming understandable to us. God cannot reveal anything to us if we don’t have His Spirit. And our own unyielding and headstrong opinions will effectively prevent God from revealing anything to us. But our insensible thinking will end immediately once His resurrection life has its way with us.
“. . . tell no one . . . .” But so many people do tell what they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration— their mountaintop experience. They have seen a vision and they testify to it, but there is no connection between what they say and how they live. Their lives don’t add up because the Son of Man has not yet risen in them. How long will it be before His resurrection life is formed and evident in you and in me?
The Winning Way to Handle Losing - #7106
Monday, April 7, 2014
Okay, I'm a typical American. I like football, baseball, basketball. Luge, bobsled, slopestyle, halfpipe - not so much. But, like millions of others, something about the winter Olympics drew me in to watch sports that I know little about. It's because of the drama; the human drama. The world's best on the world stage, with much of their life invested in what will be only minutes of their life, giving it all for the glory of winning or the agony of losing.
Now look, I don't skate on a world stage. I won't be winning even an aluminum medal. But I found some Olympic takeaways for you and me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Winning Way to Handle Losing."
That's part of what I saw in the Games at Sochi; stinging setbacks, bitter disappointments. But there were examples of how to handle it.
Number one, know the difference between what you do and who you are. No one was the face of Team USA more than snowboarder Shaun White. With two gold medals in the halfpipe, a third win and he'd have made history. He didn't win anything. No gold, no silver, no bronze. But in the midst of what had to be a crushing disappointment, he did have some helpful perspective for all of us who've watched a dream slip away. He said, "This is just one part of who I am - a big part - but I want to be more than just that."
There's all the difference in the world between, "I failed" and "I'm a failure." Yes, you may have fallen short athletically, academically, at work, or even more significantly, in a major life relationship. But "I've failed" doesn't mean "I'm a failure." You aren't what you do. You are your character, your God-given worth - which has nothing to do with your performance. No setback, no broken dream can rob you of you unless you let it.
Here's another lesson. Look for the lesson and move on. Skier Bode Miller knows the glory; I mean, a five-time Olympic medalist. But in Sochi, he finished eighth in the men's downhill. In the midst of that disappointment, one reporter said, "He painfully dissected what went wrong." Ecclesiastes 7:14 in the Bible says, "When times are good, be happy. But when things are bad, consider." Yeah, that's pretty good.
I'll tell you, when I've messed up, there were always lessons to learn. Those lessons can, if I'll man up to the responsibility, keep me from messing up again. Learn the lesson. Don't dwell on the failure. One woman's cross country star, who was expected to medal for the USA, said this after finishing as an also-ran: "So I'm just going to put today in a box and move on to the next one."
Number three lesson, look where you're going and not where you've been. Erin Hamlin just became the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in singles luge. She was a favorite to do that in Vancouver in 2010. She was out of medal contention after the first heat. About her most recent appearance in the Olympics she said, "I was really disappointed, and I knew that's not how I wanted to end my Olympic legacy. It was super-motivating." I like that. See, dwelling on the past is futile. It can't be changed. But the future is yet to be written.
And here is our word for today from the Word of God that nails that down as God wants us to look at life ourselves. Isaiah 43:18-19 says this: "Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I'm doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it?" You know that God is in the business of erasing the sins and the failures and the mistakes of our past. And He is the Lord of new beginnings.
We know that, because later in this same chapter He says, "I am He who blots out your transgressions and remembers your sins no more." That miracle of having your past erased so that you can focus on how your life will be from now on with Christ running it is a miracle only the man who died for you can do; only the man who walked out of His grave. And He offers to do that for you today; to begin that life-changing relationship which I would love to help you start. Would you visit us at our website ANewStory.com?
It's been a big deal whenever one of our grandchildren got to 20 pounds. Because that's when you get to turn your car seat around! No more looking at where you've already been. From now on, it's all eyes on where you're going! What a great way to live!
How would you feel if a list of your weaknesses were posted so that everyone, including Christ Himself, could see? Yes, Christ has chronicled your shortcomings. And, yes, that list has been made public. But you've never seen it. Neither have I.
Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as the soldiers shove the Carpenter to the ground and stretch His arms against the beams. One presses a knee against a forearm and a spike against a hand. Jesus turns His face toward the nail just as the soldier lifts the hammer to strike it. Couldn't Jesus have stopped Him?
Through the eyes of Scripture we see what others missed but what Jesus saw. Colossians 2:14 says, "He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross!"
From He Chose the Nails
Matthew 6:1-18
Giving to the Needy
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Fasting
16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Footnotes:
Matthew 6:13 The Greek for temptation can also mean testing.
Matthew 6:13 Or from evil; some late manuscripts one, / for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Philippians 4:1-5
Closing Appeal for Steadfastness and Unity
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Final Exhortations
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Insight
As Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi comes to an end, he provides his readers with a number of imperatives: “stand fast in the Lord” (v.1); “be of the same mind” (v.2); “help [those] who labored with me in the gospel” (v.3); “rejoice in the Lord always” (v.4); and “let your gentleness be known to all men” (v.5). Notice the varied kinds of imperatives given. Because unity, support, rejoicing, and gentleness are needed depending upon the situation, sensitivity to the Spirit’s leading helps us to tap into God’s resources so that we can respond appropriately to each circumstance.
Strawberry Mess
By Anne Cetas
Be of the same mind in the Lord. —Philippians 4:2
My husband and I had recently moved into our house when a man dropped off a large box of strawberries on our front sidewalk. He left a note saying he wanted us to share them with our neighbors. He meant well, but some children discovered the box before any adults did and had a strawberry-throwing party at our white house. When we returned home, we saw children we knew watching us from behind a fence. They had “returned to the scene of the crime” to see how we would react to the mess. We could have just cleaned it up ourselves, but to restore our relationship, we felt it was important to talk with them and require their help in cleaning our strawberry-stained house.
Life can get messy with relationship struggles. This was the case in the Philippian church. Two faithful servants, Euodia and Syntyche, were in sharp disagreement. The apostle Paul wrote to the church to encourage them to work through their problems (Phil. 4:2). He also wanted another person to come alongside them with a spirit of gentleness. He wrote, “I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel” (v.3).
Realizing we’ve all made messes in life, we can trust the Lord to help us deal gently with others.
Dear Lord, please give me discernment and
courage in my relationships. Help me by Your
power to be gentle and show the same love
to others that You have shown to me.
True love both confronts and restores.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, April 07, 2014
Why We Lack Understanding
He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead —Mark 9:9
As the disciples were commanded, you should also say nothing until the Son of Man has risen in you— until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you truly understand what He taught while here on earth. When you grow and develop the right condition inwardly, the words Jesus spoke become so clear that you are amazed you did not grasp them before. In fact, you were not able to understand them before because you had not yet developed the proper spiritual condition to deal with them.
Our Lord doesn’t hide these things from us, but we are not prepared to receive them until we are in the right condition in our spiritual life. Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). We must have a oneness with His risen life before we are prepared to bear any particular truth from Him. Do we really know anything about the indwelling of the risen life of Jesus? The evidence that we do is that His Word is becoming understandable to us. God cannot reveal anything to us if we don’t have His Spirit. And our own unyielding and headstrong opinions will effectively prevent God from revealing anything to us. But our insensible thinking will end immediately once His resurrection life has its way with us.
“. . . tell no one . . . .” But so many people do tell what they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration— their mountaintop experience. They have seen a vision and they testify to it, but there is no connection between what they say and how they live. Their lives don’t add up because the Son of Man has not yet risen in them. How long will it be before His resurrection life is formed and evident in you and in me?
The Winning Way to Handle Losing - #7106
Monday, April 7, 2014
Okay, I'm a typical American. I like football, baseball, basketball. Luge, bobsled, slopestyle, halfpipe - not so much. But, like millions of others, something about the winter Olympics drew me in to watch sports that I know little about. It's because of the drama; the human drama. The world's best on the world stage, with much of their life invested in what will be only minutes of their life, giving it all for the glory of winning or the agony of losing.
Now look, I don't skate on a world stage. I won't be winning even an aluminum medal. But I found some Olympic takeaways for you and me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Winning Way to Handle Losing."
That's part of what I saw in the Games at Sochi; stinging setbacks, bitter disappointments. But there were examples of how to handle it.
Number one, know the difference between what you do and who you are. No one was the face of Team USA more than snowboarder Shaun White. With two gold medals in the halfpipe, a third win and he'd have made history. He didn't win anything. No gold, no silver, no bronze. But in the midst of what had to be a crushing disappointment, he did have some helpful perspective for all of us who've watched a dream slip away. He said, "This is just one part of who I am - a big part - but I want to be more than just that."
There's all the difference in the world between, "I failed" and "I'm a failure." Yes, you may have fallen short athletically, academically, at work, or even more significantly, in a major life relationship. But "I've failed" doesn't mean "I'm a failure." You aren't what you do. You are your character, your God-given worth - which has nothing to do with your performance. No setback, no broken dream can rob you of you unless you let it.
Here's another lesson. Look for the lesson and move on. Skier Bode Miller knows the glory; I mean, a five-time Olympic medalist. But in Sochi, he finished eighth in the men's downhill. In the midst of that disappointment, one reporter said, "He painfully dissected what went wrong." Ecclesiastes 7:14 in the Bible says, "When times are good, be happy. But when things are bad, consider." Yeah, that's pretty good.
I'll tell you, when I've messed up, there were always lessons to learn. Those lessons can, if I'll man up to the responsibility, keep me from messing up again. Learn the lesson. Don't dwell on the failure. One woman's cross country star, who was expected to medal for the USA, said this after finishing as an also-ran: "So I'm just going to put today in a box and move on to the next one."
Number three lesson, look where you're going and not where you've been. Erin Hamlin just became the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in singles luge. She was a favorite to do that in Vancouver in 2010. She was out of medal contention after the first heat. About her most recent appearance in the Olympics she said, "I was really disappointed, and I knew that's not how I wanted to end my Olympic legacy. It was super-motivating." I like that. See, dwelling on the past is futile. It can't be changed. But the future is yet to be written.
And here is our word for today from the Word of God that nails that down as God wants us to look at life ourselves. Isaiah 43:18-19 says this: "Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I'm doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it?" You know that God is in the business of erasing the sins and the failures and the mistakes of our past. And He is the Lord of new beginnings.
We know that, because later in this same chapter He says, "I am He who blots out your transgressions and remembers your sins no more." That miracle of having your past erased so that you can focus on how your life will be from now on with Christ running it is a miracle only the man who died for you can do; only the man who walked out of His grave. And He offers to do that for you today; to begin that life-changing relationship which I would love to help you start. Would you visit us at our website ANewStory.com?
It's been a big deal whenever one of our grandchildren got to 20 pounds. Because that's when you get to turn your car seat around! No more looking at where you've already been. From now on, it's all eyes on where you're going! What a great way to live!
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Genesis 19 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Six Hours, One Friday
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21”
Six hours, one Friday. Mundane to the casual observer. A shepherd with his sheep, a housewife with her thoughts, a doctor with his patients. But to a handful of awestruck witnesses, the most maddening of miracles is occurring.
God is on a cross. The creator of the universe is being executed. It is no normal six hours. It is no normal Friday. Far worse than the breaking of his body is the shredding of his heart. And now his own father is beginning to turn his back on him, leaving him alone.
What do you do with that day in history? What do you do with its claims? They were the most critical hours in history. Nails didn’t hold God to a cross. Love did.
The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint!
Genesis 19
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”
“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”
3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry[f] his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”
16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”
18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords,[g] please! 19 Your[h] servant has found favor in your[i] eyes, and you[j] have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”
21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.[k])
23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
Lot and His Daughters
30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. 32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”
33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” 35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab[l]; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi[m]; he is the father of the Ammonites[n] of today.
Genesis 19:14 Or were married to
Genesis 19:18 Or No, Lord; or No, my lord
Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
Genesis 19:22 Zoar means small.
Genesis 19:37 Moab sounds like the Hebrew for from father.
Genesis 19:38 Ben-Ammi means son of my father’s people.
Genesis 19:38 Hebrew Bene-Ammon
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 30:11-20
The Offer of Life or Death
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Insight
Today’s passage begins with a beautiful statement of how intimately God wants us to know Him. He has not given us commandments that are “too mysterious” or “far off” (Deut. 30:11). This passage ends with the reason His commands are “very near”—that we may love and obey God and enjoy life in Him (v.20).
Choose Life
By Julie Ackerman Link
Choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice. —Deuteronomy 30:19-20
What is God’s will for my life? The question haunted me when I was growing up. What if I couldn’t find it? What if I didn’t recognize it? God’s will seemed like a needle in a haystack. Hidden. Obscured by lookalikes. Outnumbered by counterfeits.
But my view of God’s will was wrong because my view of God was wrong. God takes no pleasure in seeing us lost, wandering, searching. He wants us to know His will. He makes it clear, and He makes it simple. He doesn’t even make it multiple-choice. He gives just two choices: “life and good” or “death and evil” (Deut. 30:15). In case the best choice isn’t obvious, He even says which one to choose: “Choose life” (v.19). To choose life is to choose God Himself and obey His Word.
When Moses addressed the Israelites for the last time, he pleaded with them to make the right choice by observing “all the words of this law. . . . Because it is your life” (32:46-47). God’s will for us is life. His Word is life. And Jesus is the Word. God may not give a prescription for every decision, but He gave us a perfect example to follow—Jesus. The right choice may not be easy, but when the Word is our guide and worship is our goal, God will grant us the wisdom to make life-affirming choices.
Lord Jesus, we know that true wisdom comes
from leaning on You. Help us to trust in
You and to seek Your face and Your will
that we find in Your life-giving Word.
The evidence of God’s guidance can be seen more clearly by looking back than by looking forward.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, April 06, 2014
. . . who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree . . . —1 Peter 2:24
The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin. Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.
The Cross was not something that happened to Jesus— He came to die; the Cross was His purpose in coming. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the Cross. Beware of separating “God was manifested in the flesh. . .” from “. . . He made Him. . . to be sin for us. . .” (1 Timothy 3:16 ; 2 Corinthians 5:21). The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh to take sin away, not to accomplish something for Himself. The Cross is the central event in time and eternity, and the answer to all the problems of both.
The Cross is not the cross of a man, but the Cross of God, and it can never be fully comprehended through human experience. The Cross is God exhibiting His nature. It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there.
The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much. The Cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God.
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21”
Six hours, one Friday. Mundane to the casual observer. A shepherd with his sheep, a housewife with her thoughts, a doctor with his patients. But to a handful of awestruck witnesses, the most maddening of miracles is occurring.
God is on a cross. The creator of the universe is being executed. It is no normal six hours. It is no normal Friday. Far worse than the breaking of his body is the shredding of his heart. And now his own father is beginning to turn his back on him, leaving him alone.
What do you do with that day in history? What do you do with its claims? They were the most critical hours in history. Nails didn’t hold God to a cross. Love did.
The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint!
Genesis 19
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”
“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”
3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry[f] his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”
16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”
18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords,[g] please! 19 Your[h] servant has found favor in your[i] eyes, and you[j] have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”
21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.[k])
23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
Lot and His Daughters
30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. 32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”
33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” 35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab[l]; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi[m]; he is the father of the Ammonites[n] of today.
Genesis 19:14 Or were married to
Genesis 19:18 Or No, Lord; or No, my lord
Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
Genesis 19:22 Zoar means small.
Genesis 19:37 Moab sounds like the Hebrew for from father.
Genesis 19:38 Ben-Ammi means son of my father’s people.
Genesis 19:38 Hebrew Bene-Ammon
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 30:11-20
The Offer of Life or Death
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Insight
Today’s passage begins with a beautiful statement of how intimately God wants us to know Him. He has not given us commandments that are “too mysterious” or “far off” (Deut. 30:11). This passage ends with the reason His commands are “very near”—that we may love and obey God and enjoy life in Him (v.20).
Choose Life
By Julie Ackerman Link
Choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice. —Deuteronomy 30:19-20
What is God’s will for my life? The question haunted me when I was growing up. What if I couldn’t find it? What if I didn’t recognize it? God’s will seemed like a needle in a haystack. Hidden. Obscured by lookalikes. Outnumbered by counterfeits.
But my view of God’s will was wrong because my view of God was wrong. God takes no pleasure in seeing us lost, wandering, searching. He wants us to know His will. He makes it clear, and He makes it simple. He doesn’t even make it multiple-choice. He gives just two choices: “life and good” or “death and evil” (Deut. 30:15). In case the best choice isn’t obvious, He even says which one to choose: “Choose life” (v.19). To choose life is to choose God Himself and obey His Word.
When Moses addressed the Israelites for the last time, he pleaded with them to make the right choice by observing “all the words of this law. . . . Because it is your life” (32:46-47). God’s will for us is life. His Word is life. And Jesus is the Word. God may not give a prescription for every decision, but He gave us a perfect example to follow—Jesus. The right choice may not be easy, but when the Word is our guide and worship is our goal, God will grant us the wisdom to make life-affirming choices.
Lord Jesus, we know that true wisdom comes
from leaning on You. Help us to trust in
You and to seek Your face and Your will
that we find in Your life-giving Word.
The evidence of God’s guidance can be seen more clearly by looking back than by looking forward.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, April 06, 2014
. . . who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree . . . —1 Peter 2:24
The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin. Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.
The Cross was not something that happened to Jesus— He came to die; the Cross was His purpose in coming. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the Cross. Beware of separating “God was manifested in the flesh. . .” from “. . . He made Him. . . to be sin for us. . .” (1 Timothy 3:16 ; 2 Corinthians 5:21). The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh to take sin away, not to accomplish something for Himself. The Cross is the central event in time and eternity, and the answer to all the problems of both.
The Cross is not the cross of a man, but the Cross of God, and it can never be fully comprehended through human experience. The Cross is God exhibiting His nature. It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there.
The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much. The Cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Genesis 18 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Only You and God
When I lived in Brazil I took my mom and her friend to see Iguacu Falls, the largest water falls in the world. I’d become an expert by reading an article in National Geographic magazine. Surely, I thought, my guests would appreciate their good fortune in having me as their guide.
To reach the lookout point, you must walk a winding trail that leads through a forest. I used the time to give a nature report to my mom and her friend. I caught myself speaking louder and louder. Finally I was shouting above the roar. Even my mother would rather see the splendor than hear my description. So, I shut my mouth.
There are times when to speak is to violate the moment. When silence represents the highest respect. The word for such times is reverence. The prayer for such times is “Hallowed be Thy name!” (Matthew 6:9).
from The Great House of God
Genesis 18
The Three Visitors
The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord,[a] do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”
“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs[b] of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”
7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.
9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.
“There, in the tent,” he said.
10 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”
Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”
But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
Abraham Pleads for Sodom
16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 17 Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.[c] 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
20 Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.[d] 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare[e] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
26 The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
27 Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”
“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
29 Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”
He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
30 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31 Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”
He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
32 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”
He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 20:1-16
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Footnotes:
Matthew 20:2 A denarius was the usual daily wage of a day laborer.
Insight
Jesus’ practice of teaching by parables was a way of helping people process the spiritual truths He taught. For that reason, parables have sometimes been referred to as earthly stories with heavenly meanings.
Not Counting
By Philip Yancey
The last will be first, and the first last. —Matthew 20:16
The play Amadeus tells of a composer in the 18th century seeking to understand the mind of God. The devout Antonio Salieri has the earnest desire, but not the aptitude, to create immortal music. It infuriates him that God has instead lavished the greatest of musical genius ever known on the impish Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The play poses the same question as the book of Job, only inverted. The author of Job wonders why God would punish the most righteous man on the face of the earth; the author of Amadeus ponders why God would reward someone so undeserving.
Jesus’ parable of the workers and their grossly unfair paychecks confronts this scandal head-on. Some people who have been idly standing around are hired by a landowner at “the eleventh hour” (Matt. 20:6-7). The other workers, who have been serving him all day long, are shocked when each receives identical pay. What employer in his right mind would pay the same amount for one hour’s work as for 12!
Jesus’ story makes no economic sense, and that was His intent. He was giving us a parable about grace, which cannot be calculated like a day’s wages. God dispenses gifts, not wages.
Lord, I forget sometimes that my efforts cannot earn
Your love or grace or forgiveness.
You have lavished grace on me as a gift
and not a wage. Thank You.
In the realm of grace, the word “deserve” does not apply.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, April 05, 2014
His Agony and Our Access
Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples . . . . ’Stay here and watch with Me’ —Matthew 26:36, 38
We can never fully comprehend Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, but at least we don’t have to misunderstand it. It is the agony of God and man in one Person, coming face to face with sin. We cannot learn about Gethsemane through personal experience. Gethsemane and Calvary represent something totally unique— they are the gateway into life for us.
It was not death on the cross that Jesus agonized over in Gethsemane. In fact, He stated very emphatically that He came with the purpose of dying. His concern here was that He might not get through this struggle as the Son of Man. He was confident of getting through it as the Son of God— Satan could not touch Him there. But Satan’s assault was that our Lord would come through for us on His own solely as the Son of Man. If Jesus had done that, He could not have been our Savior (see Hebrews 9:11-15). Read the record of His agony in Gethsemane in light of His earlier wilderness temptation— “. . . the devil . . . departed from Him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). In Gethsemane, Satan came back and was overthrown again. Satan’s final assault against our Lord as the Son of Man was in Gethsemane.
The agony in Gethsemane was the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world. The veil is pulled back here to reveal all that it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God. His agony was the basis for the simplicity of our salvation. The Cross of Christ was a triumph for the Son of Man. It was not only a sign that our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Because of what the Son of Man went through, every human being has been provided with a way of access into the very presence of God.
When I lived in Brazil I took my mom and her friend to see Iguacu Falls, the largest water falls in the world. I’d become an expert by reading an article in National Geographic magazine. Surely, I thought, my guests would appreciate their good fortune in having me as their guide.
To reach the lookout point, you must walk a winding trail that leads through a forest. I used the time to give a nature report to my mom and her friend. I caught myself speaking louder and louder. Finally I was shouting above the roar. Even my mother would rather see the splendor than hear my description. So, I shut my mouth.
There are times when to speak is to violate the moment. When silence represents the highest respect. The word for such times is reverence. The prayer for such times is “Hallowed be Thy name!” (Matthew 6:9).
from The Great House of God
Genesis 18
The Three Visitors
The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord,[a] do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”
“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs[b] of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”
7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.
9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.
“There, in the tent,” he said.
10 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”
Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”
But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
Abraham Pleads for Sodom
16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 17 Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.[c] 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
20 Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.[d] 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare[e] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
26 The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
27 Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”
“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
29 Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”
He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
30 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31 Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”
He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
32 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”
He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 20:1-16
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Footnotes:
Matthew 20:2 A denarius was the usual daily wage of a day laborer.
Insight
Jesus’ practice of teaching by parables was a way of helping people process the spiritual truths He taught. For that reason, parables have sometimes been referred to as earthly stories with heavenly meanings.
Not Counting
By Philip Yancey
The last will be first, and the first last. —Matthew 20:16
The play Amadeus tells of a composer in the 18th century seeking to understand the mind of God. The devout Antonio Salieri has the earnest desire, but not the aptitude, to create immortal music. It infuriates him that God has instead lavished the greatest of musical genius ever known on the impish Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The play poses the same question as the book of Job, only inverted. The author of Job wonders why God would punish the most righteous man on the face of the earth; the author of Amadeus ponders why God would reward someone so undeserving.
Jesus’ parable of the workers and their grossly unfair paychecks confronts this scandal head-on. Some people who have been idly standing around are hired by a landowner at “the eleventh hour” (Matt. 20:6-7). The other workers, who have been serving him all day long, are shocked when each receives identical pay. What employer in his right mind would pay the same amount for one hour’s work as for 12!
Jesus’ story makes no economic sense, and that was His intent. He was giving us a parable about grace, which cannot be calculated like a day’s wages. God dispenses gifts, not wages.
Lord, I forget sometimes that my efforts cannot earn
Your love or grace or forgiveness.
You have lavished grace on me as a gift
and not a wage. Thank You.
In the realm of grace, the word “deserve” does not apply.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, April 05, 2014
His Agony and Our Access
Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples . . . . ’Stay here and watch with Me’ —Matthew 26:36, 38
We can never fully comprehend Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, but at least we don’t have to misunderstand it. It is the agony of God and man in one Person, coming face to face with sin. We cannot learn about Gethsemane through personal experience. Gethsemane and Calvary represent something totally unique— they are the gateway into life for us.
It was not death on the cross that Jesus agonized over in Gethsemane. In fact, He stated very emphatically that He came with the purpose of dying. His concern here was that He might not get through this struggle as the Son of Man. He was confident of getting through it as the Son of God— Satan could not touch Him there. But Satan’s assault was that our Lord would come through for us on His own solely as the Son of Man. If Jesus had done that, He could not have been our Savior (see Hebrews 9:11-15). Read the record of His agony in Gethsemane in light of His earlier wilderness temptation— “. . . the devil . . . departed from Him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). In Gethsemane, Satan came back and was overthrown again. Satan’s final assault against our Lord as the Son of Man was in Gethsemane.
The agony in Gethsemane was the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world. The veil is pulled back here to reveal all that it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God. His agony was the basis for the simplicity of our salvation. The Cross of Christ was a triumph for the Son of Man. It was not only a sign that our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Because of what the Son of Man went through, every human being has been provided with a way of access into the very presence of God.
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