Saturday, May 31, 2014

As White As Snow by Jennifer Benson Schuldt (Our Daily Bread)

Your sins . . . shall be as white as snow. —Isaiah 1:18 (Our Daily Bread)

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Isaiah 1:1-4

New International Version (NIV)

1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

A Rebellious Nation

²Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
    For the Lord has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up,
    but they have rebelled against me.
³The ox knows its master,
    the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
    my people do not understand.”

⁴Woe to the sinful nation,
    a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
    children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
    they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
    and turned their backs on him.

Isaiah 1:12-18

New International Version (NIV)

¹²When you come to appear before me,
    who has asked this of you,
    this trampling of my courts?
¹³Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
    Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
    I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
¹⁴Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
    I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
    I am weary of bearing them.
¹⁵When you spread out your hands in prayer,
    I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
    I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood!

¹⁶Wash and make yourselves clean.
    Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
    stop doing wrong.
¹⁷Learn to do right; seek justice.
    Defend the oppressed.^[a]
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
    plead the case of the widow.

¹⁸“Come now, let us settle the matter,”
    says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
    they shall be like wool.

New International Version (NIV)

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As White As Snow

By Jennifer Benson Schuldt

from: http://odb.org/?tz=08

Iwas driving my son home from school one day when snow began to fall. The cottony fluff came down steadily and quickly. Eventually, we slowed to a stop, boxed in by traffic. From inside our vehicle, we watched a transformation take place. Dark patches of soil turned white. Snow softened the sharp outlines of buildings; it coated the cars around us, and accumulated on every tree in sight.

That snowfall reminded me of a spiritual truth: Just as that snow covered everything in sight, God’s grace covers our sin. But grace doesn’t just cover sin, grace erases sin. Through the prophet Isaiah, God appealed to the Israelites, saying, “Come now, and let us reason together . . . though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isa. 1:18). When God made this promise, His children had a painful problem with sin. God compared them to a physical body plagued with “wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil” (v.6 niv).

As bad as their sin was, God was willing to extend His grace to them. As His children today, we have the same assurance. Sin may stain our lives, but when we repent and confess it, we have “the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of [God’s] grace” (Eph. 1:7).

Lord, give me courage to confess,
To bare my sinful heart to Thee;
Forgiving love You long to show
And from my sin to set me free. —D. DeHaan

The weight of sin is balanced only by the blood of Christ.

Bible Reading

Jordyn's Journey by Dennis Fisher (Our Daily Bread)

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. —Philippians 4:13 (Our Daily Bread)

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Philippians 4:10-13

New International Version (NIV)

Thanks for Their Gifts

¹⁰I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹²I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

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Jordyn’s Journey

By Dennis Fisher

from: http://odb.org/?tz=08

Jordyn Castor was born blind. But this doesn’t hold her back from living a full and productive life. The documentary Can You See How I See? tells her story. She excels at school and with a little help she enjoys biking and downhill skiing.

Of her sight, Jordyn says: “If I could give my blindness back, I wouldn’t do it. I think God made all of us the way we are for a reason . . . and I think my blindness is part of what I am going to do with my life.” She is now a university student majoring in computer technology. Her dream is to assist in developing new computer software that will help the blind.

How can Jordyn maintain such a positive outlook on life? As a Christ-follower, she understands that God is in control of the circumstances of life. This gives her confidence to pursue opportunities that others might not have believed possible. Certainly, Jordyn’s life illustrates this truth from Philippians: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (4:13).

No matter what our strengths or weaknesses might be, God’s providential hand can give us what we need to make a difference for Him in our world. Rely on His strength to help you as you take a step of faith.

“I will strengthen,” so take courage,
Child of God, so weak and frail;
God has said so, and it must be,
For His promise cannot fail! —Anon.

God’s call to a task includes His strength to complete it.

Bible Reading

Quest For Stolen Treasure by Joe Stowell (Our Daily Bread)

[Jesus] said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” —Matthew 4:19 (Our Daily Bread)

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Matthew 4:18-22

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

¹⁸As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” ²⁰At once they left their nets and followed him.
²¹Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, ²²and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

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Quest For Stolen Treasure

By Joe Stowell

from: http://odb.org/

In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the dwarfs gathered to go up against Smaug, the fierce dragon, to retrieve their stolen treasure. In spite of the dangerously frightening quest, Balin, the dwarfs’ second-in-command, expressed confidence in Thorin: “There is one I could follow. There is one I could call King.” His commitment to the mission, as dangerous as it was, was empowered by his confidence in his leader.

At the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, He gathered a group around Him that would join Him in the kingdom task of rescuing the treasure of lost souls from our enemy, Satan. When He called them, He said, “Follow Me” (Matt. 4:19). For them, following Jesus would mean a radical transition from catching fish to the enterprise of being fishers of men and women who were lost in the grip of sin. But the task would not always be easy; Jesus referred to the quest as taking up our cross to follow Him (see Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23).

How do we stay engaged in the battle to reclaim Christ’s lost treasures when it seems intimidating or awkward? By keeping our eye on our Leader. He indeed is worthy—One we can follow, the One we call King!

Lord, in the face of intimidation and fear when
seeking to engage others with the gospel, remind
me that they are Your lost treasures. I count it
a privilege to follow You into others’ lives.

Follow your Leader into the lives of those around you.

Bible Reading

The Crash by Randy Kilgore (Our Daily Bread)

He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness. —Micah 7:9 (Our Daily Bread)

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Micah 7:8-9

New International Version (NIV)

Israel Will Rise

⁸Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
    Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be my light.
⁹Because I have sinned against him,
    I will bear the Lord’s wrath,
until he pleads my case
    and upholds my cause.
He will bring me out into the light;
    I will see his righteousness.

Micah 7:18-20

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸Who is a God like you,
    who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
    of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
    but delight to show mercy.
¹⁹You will again have compassion on us;
    you will tread our sins underfoot
    and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
²⁰You will be faithful to Jacob,
    and show love to Abraham,
as you pledged on oath to our ancestors
    in days long ago.

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The Crash

By Randy Kilgore

from: http://odb.org/?tz=08

For years after the Great Depression, the stock market struggled to win back investors’ confidence. Then, in 1952, Harry Markowitz suggested that investors spread their stock holdings over several companies and industries. He developed a theory for portfolio selection that helped investors in uncertain times. In 1990, Markowitz and two others won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their theory.

Like those jittery investors, we followers of Jesus may also find ourselves frozen in fear after a “crash” in our personal lives, unsure how to pick up the pieces and move on. We might even spend our remaining lives waiting for a “Markowitz moment,” when one big idea or action can help us recover from a previous failure.

We forget that Jesus has already done that on our behalf. He covered our shame, and He set us free to fellowship with God and serve Him daily. Because He gave His life, and rose from the dead, when we “fall,” we can “arise” with Him, for “He delights in mercy” (Micah 7:8,18).

The moment we find Jesus, our eternity with Him begins. He walks alongside us so He can change us into the people we long to be and were created to be.

Father, my actions aren’t adequate to fix my
failures. Thank You for doing that through
Your Son Jesus who gave Himself for us.
Help me to look up and walk with You.

Look up from your failure, and you’ll find God standing ready to receive you.

Bible Reading

Blessed Forgetfulness by Julie Ackerman Link (Our Daily Bread)

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved. —John 10:9 (Our Daily Bread)

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John 10:1-10

New International Version (NIV)

The Good Shepherd and His Sheep

10 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. ²The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” ⁶Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

⁷Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. ⁹I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.^[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

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Blessed Forgetfulness

By Julie Ackerman Link

from: http://odb.org/

My office is downstairs, but I make frequent trips upstairs to various rooms in my house for one thing or another. Unfortunately, by the time I get upstairs I often forget what I was planning to do when I got there. Researcher Gabriel Radvansky has come up with an explanation for this phenomenon. He proposes that a doorway serves as an “event boundary.”

After conducting three different experiments, he theorized that a doorway signals the brain that the information held in memory can be filed away—but it’s frustrating when I’m standing there trying to remember why I came upstairs. However, forgetfulness can be a blessing. When I shut the door to our bedroom at night and settle down to sleep, it’s a blessing to forget the worries of the day.

When I think of the fact that Jesus called Himself “the door” (John 10:7,9), I gain a new appreciation for this metaphor. When sheep enter the pen, they enter a safe place protected from thieves and predators. For believers, the Great Shepherd is the door between us and our enemies. Once we enter the sheepfold, we can “forget” all dangers and threats. We can enjoy divine forgetfulness and rest in the protection of the Great Shepherd.

Thank You, Father, for the peace of mind
that comes from knowing You are standing
watch over the events of our lives. Help us
to rest securely in Your protection.

Christ is the door that keeps us in and keeps the dangers out.

Bible Reading

A Call to Comfort by David C. McCasland (Our Daily Bread)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. —2 Corinthians 1:3 (Our Daily Bread)

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2 Corinthians 1:3-11

New International Version (NIV)

Praise to the God of All Comfort

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
⁸We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,^[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. ⁹Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, ¹¹as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

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A Call To Comfort

By David C. McCasland

from: http://odb.org/?tz=08

In their book Dear Mrs. Kennedy, Jay Mulvaney and Paul De Angelis note that during the weeks following the assassination of US President John Kennedy, his widow, Jacqueline, received nearly one million letters from people in every part of the world. Some came from heads of state, celebrities, and close friends. Others were sent by ordinary people who addressed them to “Madame Kennedy, Washington” and “Mrs. President, America.” All wrote to express their grief and sympathy for her great loss.

When people suffer and we long to help, it’s good to recall Paul’s word-picture of “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” as “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3). Our heavenly Father is the ultimate source of every tender mercy, kind word, and helpful act that brings encouragement and healing. Bible scholar W. E. Vine says that paraklesis—the Greek word translated “comfort”—means “a calling to one’s side.” The words comfort and consolation appear repeatedly in today’s Bible reading as a reminder that the Lord holds us close and invites us to cling to Him.

As the Lord wraps His loving arms around us, we are able to embrace others “with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (v.4).

Father, thank You for letting us share with You
our worries and cares. We’re grateful that You
stand beside us to comfort and guide. Help us
to console others as You look out for Your own.

God comforts us so that we can comfort others.

Bible Reading

Pace Yourself by Dennis Fisher (Our Daily Bread)

Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. —Mark 6:31 (Our Daily Bread)

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Mark 6:30-36

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. ³¹Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
³²So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. ³³But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. ³⁴When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
³⁵By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. ³⁶Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

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Pace Yourself

By Dennis Fisher

from: http://odb.org/?tz=08

Not long ago I developed a physical problem. My left shoulder and arm were aching, I had a painful rash on my forearm and thumb, and I struggled daily with fatigue. When I finally went to the doctor, I learned that I had a case of shingles. The doctor put me on antiviral medication and said it would take several weeks for the disease to run its course.

Because of this illness, I had to force myself into a new routine. A short nap in the morning and one in the afternoon were necessary to give me the strength to be productive. Until I recovered, I had to learn to pace myself.

At one point when Jesus sent His representatives out to teach in His name, they were so excited with all they were doing that they neglected to take time to eat and rest properly. When they returned, Christ told them: “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31).

Everyone needs rest, and if we go too long without it, we will suffer physically and emotionally. We also will be unable to carry out our responsibilities as well as we should. Is the Lord encouraging you to “come aside . . . and rest a while”? Sometimes a few more rest stops with Him may be necessary.

I come aside from the world of strife,
With its burdens, trials, and the cares of life
To a beautiful, quiet, restful place
Where I commune with my Jesus face to face. —Brandt

To avoid a breakdown, take a break for rest and prayer.

Bible Reading

The Pointer

Saturday, May 31, 2014

As White As Snow by Jennifer Benson Schuldt (Our Daily Bread)

Isaiah 1:1-4

A Rebellious Nation

Isaiah 1:12-18

As White As Snow

Friday, May 30, 2014

Jordyn's Journey by Dennis Fisher (Our Daily Bread)

Philippians 4:10-13

Thanks for Their Gifts

Jordyn’s Journey

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Quest For Stolen Treasure by Joe Stowell (Our Daily Bread)

Matthew 4:18-22

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

Quest For Stolen Treasure

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

The Crash by Randy Kilgore (Our Daily Bread)

Micah 7:8-9

Israel Will Rise

Micah 7:18-20

The Crash

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Blessed Forgetfulness by Julie Ackerman Link (Our Daily Bread)

John 10:1-10

The Good Shepherd and His Sheep

Blessed Forgetfulness

Monday, May 26, 2014

A Call to Comfort by David C. McCasland (Our Daily Bread)

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Praise to the God of All Comfort

A Call To Comfort

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Pace Yourself by Dennis Fisher (Our Daily Bread)

Mark 6:30-36

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

Pace Yourself