Jesus Honors You

Jesus Honors You

By Max Lucado 

 

You are valuable just because you exist! Remember that the next time some trickster tries to hang a bargain basement price tag on your self-worth.

 

Just think about the way Jesus honors you—and smile!  I do.  I smile because I know I don’t deserve a love like that.  None of us do.

 

When you get right down to it, any contribution any of us makes is pretty puny. All of us, even the purest of us, deserve heaven about as much as that crook on the cross did.

 

It makes me smile to think there’s a grinning thief walking the golden streets of heaven who knows more about grace than a thousand theologians.

 

No one else would have given the thief on the cross a prayer. But in the end that is all he had. And in the end, that is all it took!

 

No wonder they call Jesus the Savior.  

Something Needs to Change

Something Needs to Change DAVID PLATT “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” Luke 6:46 (ESV) Alone in a guesthouse at the base of the Himalayas, I found myself on my knees, face to the floor, sobbing. Scattered around me was the evidence of my past week — a backpack, trekking poles, hiking boots. I was fresh off a weeklong journey through some of the highest mountains in the world and only hours from a flight home to the States. But I hadn’t planned on ending my trip with out-of-control tears. Up to that day, I could count on one hand the number of times I’d cried in my adult life. The last time was when my dad died. But this time I wasn’t weeping because of what I was missing. Instead, I was crying because of what others — men, women and children I’d met the previous week — were missing. Things like water, food, family members … freedom and hope in Jesus. I so longed for them to have these things that I fell to the floor sobbing, and the flood of tears wouldn’t stop. Looking back on that day, I wonder why being so overwhelmed for others in need has been uncommon for me. I think of all the church services I’ve been in, talking and hearing about the needs of people all over the world. I think of all the sermons I’ve preached about serving those in need. So why has it been rare for me to fall on my face before God and weep for others? This question isn’t just for me. I recall very few instances when other Christians and I have wept together for people who were missing water, food, family, freedom or hope. Why is a scene like that so uncommon? It makes me wonder if we’ve lost our capacity to weep. It makes me wonder if we have subtly, dangerously and almost unknowingly guarded our lives, our families, and even our churches from truly being affected by the world of urgent spiritual and physical needs around us. Today, why do we seem to be so far from the way of Jesus? Jesus wept over those in need. He was moved with compassion for the crowds. He lived and loved to bring healing and comfort to the broken. He died for the sins of the world. So why are those of us who carry the Holy Spirit not moved and compelled in the same way? Jesus even challenged His followers with this question, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46). Surely God didn’t design the gospel of Jesus to be confined to our minds and mouths in the church. Surely something needs to change. But how? When I found myself face-first on that guesthouse floor, it wasn’t because I’d heard a new fact about suffering in the world or even made a new discovery in God’s Word. On the long flight to Asia, I had actually written an entire sermon on poverty and oppression, complete with staggering numbers concerning the poor and oppressed in the world today. But I had written it from an emotionally well-guarded, frighteningly cold-hearted perspective. Somehow, staring at statistics on poverty and even studying the Bible had left my soul unscathed. But when I came face-to-face with men, women and children in urgent spiritual and physical need, the wall in my heart was breached. And I wept. Clearly, the change we need won’t happen simply by seeing more facts or listening to more sermons. What we need is not an explanation of the Word and the world, putting more information in our heads; we need an experience with the Word in the world that will penetrate the recesses of our hearts. We need to dare to come face-to-face with desperate need in the world around us and ask God to do a work deep within us that we could never manufacture, manipulate or make happen on our own. This is my prayer for me. And for you … if you are ready for things to change. Lord, today and every day, I want my heart to break over what breaks Yours. Breach the wall of my heart and give me an overwhelming compassion for the poor and oppressed — not only in my world but in remote corners of the globe. Please transform my knowledge of injustice into heart-stirred action. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. TRUTH FOR TODAY: Psalm 90:17, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (ESV)

Satan's Strategy

Satan's Strategy

By Dr. Charles Stanley

Luke 22:31-62

All of us make tracks through the valley of failure. The question is, How are you going to respond? Plenty of people give up and exchange a vibrant kingdom-serving life for a defeated existence. But failure need not be an end. It's a chance for a new beginning living in Christ's strength.

Peter had a life-altering failure. Jesus warned that Satan had asked permission to "sift" the disciple like wheat (Luke 22:31)—vigorous shaking is required to separate wheat kernels from debris. The Enemy wanted to shake Peter's faith hard in hopes that he'd fall away from Jesus like chaff.

Peter fervently believed the promise he'd made to Jesus: "Even though all may fall away, yet I will not" (Mark 14:29). But Satan knows a few things about the power of fear. What's more, he realized that the disciple would be wounded by his own disloyalty. A man with tattered pride can't help but question his usefulness.

When Satan sifts believers, his goal is to damage our faith so much that we're useless to God. He wants us shelved far from the action of the Lord's kingdom. Therefore, he goes for our strengths—the areas where we believe ourselves to be invincible, or at least very well protected. And when the Devil succeeds, we are disappointed and demoralized. But we don't have to stay that way.

If we are willing, God can use failure to do spiritual housecleaning. Peter laid down his pride and instead put on the Holy Spirit's courage. Thereafter, he risked humiliation, persecution, and death to proclaim the gospel. Failure was the catalyst that brought forth greater faith and true servanthood.

Extra column

On the Enemy

"The Devil often transforms himself into an angel to tempt men, some for their instruction, some for their ruin." 
—Augustine of Hippo

"The deceit, the lie of the Devil consists of this, that he wishes to make man believe that he can live without God's Word." 
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"The existence of the Devil is so clearly taught in the Bible that to doubt it is to doubt the Bible itself." 
—Archibald G. Brown

"The Devil can counterfeit all the saving operations and graces of the Spirit of God." 
—Jonathan Edwards

"The Enemy will not see you vanish into God's company without an effort to reclaim you." 
—C. S. Lewis

"For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel." 
—Martin Luther

"That there is a Devil is a thing doubted by none but such as are under the influences of the Devil." 
—Cotton Mather

"The more God uses us, the more Satan will attempt to harass us." 
—Dr. Charles F. Stanley

"The Devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still." 
—A. W. Tozer

"The Devil does not tempt unbelievers and sinners who are already his own." 
—Thomas à Kempis

Go Away, Lord!

Go Away, Lord!
John UpChurch

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8)

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)

And [Adam] said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:10)

Here’s the truth. There have been times in my life when I’ve wanted God to just go away. Now, don’t act shocked. I’m no different than Peter … or Isaiah before him … or Adam and Eve before him. Like all of those God-dodgers, I’ve been exposed, naked before my Creator, and I don’t like it.

The reason why is simple: being exposed means seeing my dirt. I look down and suddenly God’s showing me what I really look like. There’s narcissism splattered on my chest, little white lies running down my arms, and impurity gunking up my legs. I’m tangled and tattered, twisted and torn. And all of this because God’s pure awesomeness shines right through the things I’ve put up to cover all that.

He’s not fooled.

So, I do exactly what most of us do … if we’re honest with ourselves. Instead of asking Him to draw closer and peel off the layers of grime, I try to block out the light and withdraw. You see, that whole draw-close-to-me-and-I’ll-draw-close-to-you thing works. Maybe it works too well. Because when it works, God does more than just hang out. He points out. He speaks out. He makes us miserable about the sin we hide or ignore.

It’s no wonder Isaiah cried out in anguish when He saw God and God saw him. His filthy mouth couldn’t be ignored anymore. And it’s no wonder Peter asked Jesus to go away. His lifestyle could no longer be justified with deity in his boat. And Adam and Eve? Well, they had nothing left to hide behind. They knew they were caught.

I love that the Bible doesn’t try to prettify these flawed people. God’s Word lays it out there with all the grit and grime intact. I love that because it makes Scripture seem immediate, in my face. I can’t pretend that my flaws are nothing to worry about when God makes sure I see theirs. In all their cowardly glory. Just like mine.

So, what’s God’s response to all this … to my hiding, to my wanting Him to go away? Really, it boils down to this: “Get some courage, man; I’ve got work for you to do.” Or, if you want to be technical, here’s what Jesus said to the cowering Peter: “Don't be afraid; from now on you’ll catch men.”

I’m flawed; I’m fickle. Sometimes, I just want God to leave me alone to wallow in my filth. But He’s not so easily put off. Just like with Peter, He stands me up and sends me on my way. My humanness doesn’t keep Him from using me to share His good news—scars, bruises, and all. Even if sometimes I’d rather He not shine so much light on them.

It’s always easier to tell the Lord to back off or to push Him away than to let His grace break us. And, make no mistake, that’s really what we need. We need to see ourselves like He sees us, to be overwhelmed by the holiness of it all. It’s then that we end up face down in the dirt in the sight of a perfect and perfecting God.

It’s then that He begins the painful, lifelong process of getting us where we need to be.