No wonder they call him the Savior

If you ever wonder how in the world God could use you to change the world, look at the people God used to change history. A ragbag of ne’er-do-wells and has-beens who found hope, not in their performance, but in God’s proverbially open arms.

Abraham- God took what was good and forgave what was bad and used “old forked tongue” to start a nation. Moses- would you call upon a fugitive to carry the Ten Commandments? God did. David- his track record left little to be desired, but his repentant spirit was unquestionable. Jonah- God put him in a whale’s belly to bring him back to his senses. But even the whale couldn’t stomach this missionary for too long.

On and on the stories go: Elijah, the prophet who pouted; Solomon, the king who knew too much; Jacob, the wheeler-dealer; Gomer, the prostitute; Sarah, the woman who giggled at God. One story after another of God using man’s best and overcoming man’s worst.

The reassuring lesson is clear. God used (and uses!) people to change the world. People! Not saints or superhumans or geniuses, but people. Crooks, creeps, lovers, and liars—he uses them all. And what they may lack in perfection, God makes up for in love.

Jesus later summarized God’s stubborn love with a parable. He told about a teenager who decided that life at the farm was too slow for his tastes. So with pockets full of inheritance money, he set out to find the big time. What he found instead were hangovers, fair-weather friends, and long unemployment lines. When he had had just about as much of the pig’s life as he could take, he swallowed his pride, dug his hands deep into his empty pockets, and began the long walk home; all the while rehearsing a speech that he planned to give to his father.

He never used it. Just when he got to the top of the hill, his father, who’d been waiting at the gate, saw him. The boy’s words of apology were quickly muffled by the father’s words of forgiveness. And the boy’s weary body fell into his father’s opened arms.

The same open arms welcomed him that had welcomed Abraham, Moses, David, and Jonah. No wagging fingers. No clenched fists. No “I told you so!” slaps or “Where have you been?” interrogations. No crossed arms. No black eyes or fat lips. No. Only sweet, open arms. If you ever wonder how God can use you to make a difference in your world, just look at those he has already used and take heart. Look at the forgiveness found in those open arms and take courage.

And, by the way, never were those arms opened so wide as they were on the Roman cross. One arm extending back into history and the other reaching into the future. An embrace of forgiveness offered for anyone who’ll come. A hen gathering her chicks. A father receiving his own. A redeemer redeeming the world.

No wonder they call him the Savior.


From No Wonder They Call Him the Savior © (W Publishing Group, 1986, 2004) Max Lucado

Second Chances

I know I’d read that passage a hundred times. But I’d never seen it. Maybe I’d passed over it in the excitement of the resurrection.

But I won’t miss it again. It’s highlighted in yellow and underlined in red. You might want to do the same. Look in Mark, chapter 16. Read the first five verses about the women’s surprise when they find the stone moved to the side. Then feast on that beautiful phrase spoken by the angel, “He is not here, he is risen,” but don’t pause for too long. Go a bit further. Get your pencil ready and enjoy this jewel in the seventh verse (here it comes). The verse reads like this: “But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.

Did you see it? Read it again. (This time I italicized the words.)

“But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.”

Now tell me if that’s not a hidden treasure.

What a line. It’s as if all of heaven had watched Peter fall—and it’s as if all of heaven wanted to help him back up again. “Be sure and tell Peter that he’s not left out. Tell him that one failure doesn’t make a flop.”

Whew!

No wonder they call it the gospel of the second chance.

Not many second chances exist in the world today. Just ask the kid who didn’t make the little league team or the fellow who got the pink slip or the mother of three who got dumped for a “pretty little thing.”

Not many second chances. Nowadays it’s more like, “It’s now or never.” “Around here we don’t tolerate incompetence.” “Not much room at the top.” “Three strikes and you’re out.” “It’s a dog-eat-dog world!”

Jesus has a simple answer to our masochistic mania. “It’s a dog-eat-dog world?” he would say. “Then don’t live with the dogs.” That makes sense doesn’t it? Why let a bunch of other failures tell you how much of a failure you are?

Sure you can have a second chance.

Just ask Peter. The message came loud and clear from the celestial Throne Room through the divine courier. “Be sure and tell Peter that he gets to bat again.”

It’s not every day that you get a second chance. Peter must have known that. The next time he saw Jesus, he got so excited that he barely got his britches on before he jumped into the cold water of the Sea of Galilee. It was also enough, so they say, to cause this backwoods Galilean to carry the gospel of the second chance all the way to Rome where they killed him. If you’ve ever wondered what would cause a man to be willing to be crucified upside down, maybe now you know.

It’s not every day that you find someone who will give you a second chance—much less someone who will give you a second chance every day.

But in Jesus, Peter found both.


From No Wonder They Call Him the Savior
© (W Publishing Group, 1986, 2004) Max Lucado

The Martyr Attitude!

God's gift to us is... happiness. Ecclesiastes 3:13 CEV

People with a 'martyr attitude' do things out of a sense of duty, not joy. They feel guilty about enjoying life. They tend to begrudge happiness to those around them. They resent it when others don't do things for them, yet they won't ask for help in case they create a sense of obligation. The fact is, 'martyrs' don't value themselves so they think nobody else does. That's not how God wants you to live. The Bible says there's a time to work… to play… to laugh, and enjoy life, because "God's gift to us is… happiness" (Ecclesiastes 3:13 CEV). Jesus said, "I came to give life… in all its fullness" (John 10:10 NCV). You need fun and relaxation. They're not unspiritual! Without them you become unbalanced and you open yourself to stress-related illness, mood swings and compulsive behaviours. You find yourself constantly vulnerable, driven and unable to relax.

Refuse to take on a false sense of responsibility. Don't neglect or deny your own legitimate needs. Yes, you're called to help others, but it's not wrong to do things for yourself, to receive from God, and those He sends to bless you. If somebody compliments you, accept it graciously. If they attempt to belittle you, ignore it and move on.

One counselor writes: "When you find yourself trying to prove how much you've been hurt, or trying to 'top' someone else's pain, stop and figure out what's going on. The reward is learning to stop the pain and move into joy, peace and fulfillment." David said, "In Your presence is fullness of joy" (Psalm 16:11 AMP).

So begin to spend more time with God.
You only get to make the journey once, so enjoy it and make it count.

Some Facts about Fruit

One of my fondest memories of growing up is my father’s garden. It seemed my dad grew everything in his garden. In fact, he always grew enough to feed the entire neighborhood. Whenever people would stop by our home for a visit, they’d usually leave with a sack full of fresh vegetables and luscious fruit.
The kind of fruit my father grew is just one kind of fruit – natural fruit. There is also biological fruit, the offspring of animals and the children of people.

Then there is spiritual fruit, and that’s what God is talking about in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (NIV)

The question is: How do we develop these character qualities? Obviously, God doesn’t just zap us one day and suddenly these qualities materialize in our lives. He uses a process that involves a partnership with us and also the time to grow.

It requires partnership – The Apostle Paul describes this partnership in Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV), where he says “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” but then he also says, “for it is God who works in you ….”

It’s important to note that Paul doesn’t say, “Work for your salvation.” The Bible clearly teaches we don’t have to work for our salvation. It is a free gift of God’s grace.
In a sense, Paul is talking about a spiritual work out, just like when you physically work out to develop or tone muscles. We’re to make the most of what we’ve been given. God provides the power for our spiritual growth, but we must flip the switch.

It requires time – It takes time for fruit to ripen, and in the same way, there’s no such thing as instant spiritual maturity. When you try to rush fruit, it doesn’t taste as good. If you’ve ever eaten tomatoes that have been artificially ripened to speed up the process, then you know there’s no comparing them to the wonderful taste of naturally, vine-ripened tomatoes. It takes time for fruit to ripen, and it takes time for spiritual fruit to ripen in your life.
You can begin by telling God right now that you want to be a productive, fruitful disciple, one who cooperates with his plan.

Ask God to use his Word to change the way you think. Invite the Holy Spirit to have free rein in your life. Don’t hold anything back. Ask God to help you respond to difficult people and unpleasant situations just as Jesus would. God wants to produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life, so get into partnership with God on your spiritual growth and watch what develops over time.


by Rick Warren

So We Light Candles

Anger. It's a peculiar yet predictable emotion. It begins as a drop of water. An irritant. A frustration. Nothing big, just an aggravation. Someone gets your parking place. Someone pulls in front of you on the freeway. A waitress is slow and you are in a hurry. The toast burns. Drops of water. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Yet, get enough of these seemingly innocent drops of anger and before long you've got a bucket full of rage. Walking revenge. Blind bitterness. Unharnessed hatred. We trust no one and bare our teeth at anyone who gets near. We become walking time bombs that, given just the right tension and fear, could explode.

Yet, what do we do? We can't deny that our anger exists. How do we harness it? A good option is found in Luke 23:34. Here, Jesus speaks about the mob that killed him. "'Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'"

Look carefully. It's as if Jesus considered this bloodthirsty, death-hungry crowd not as murderers, but as victims. It's as if he saw in their faces not hatred but confusion. It's as if he regarded them not as a militant mob but, as he put it, as "sheep without a shepherd."

"They don't know what they are doing."

And when you think about it, they didn't. They hadn't the faintest idea what they were doing. They were a stir-crazy mob, mad at something they couldn't see so they took it out on, of all people, God. But they didn't know what they were doing.

And for the most part, neither do we. We are still, as much as we hate to admit it, shepherdless sheep. All we know is that we were born out of one eternity and are frighteningly close to another. We play tag with the fuzzy realities of death and pain. We can't answer our own questions about love and hurt. We can't solve the riddle of aging. We don't know how to heal our own bodies or get along with our own mates. We can't keep ourselves out of war. We can't even keep ourselves fed.

Paul spoke for humanity when he confessed, "I do not know what I am doing." (Romans 7:15, author's paraphrase.)

Now, I know that doesn't justify anything. That doesn't justify hit-and-run drivers or kiddie-porn peddlers or heroin dealers. But it does help explain why they do the miserable things they do.

My point is this: Uncontrolled anger won't better our world,
but sympathetic understanding will.
Once we see the world and ourselves for what we are, we can help.
Once we understand ourselves we begin to operate not from a posture of anger but of compassion and concern.
We look at the world not with bitter frowns but with extended hands.
We realize that the lights are out and a lot of people are stumbling in the darkness.
So we light candles.


From No Wonder They Call Him the Savior, © (W Publishing Group, 1986, 2004) Max Lucado

Saturated in Love

Where God's love is there is no fear, because God's perfect love drives out fear. 1 John 4:15

We fear rejection, so we follow the crowd.
We fear no fitting in, so we take the drugs.
For fear of standing out, we wear what everyone else wears.
For fear of blending in, we wear what no one else wears.
For fear of sleeping alone, we sleep with anyone.
For fear of not being loved, we search for love in all the wrong places.

But God flushes those fears.
Those saturated in God's love don't sell out to win the love of others.
They don't even sell out to win the love of God.

Do you think you need to? Do you think, If I cuss less, pray more, drink less, study more... if I try harder, God will love me more? Sniff and smell Satan's stench behind those words.

We all need improvement, but we don't need to wood God's love.
We change because we already have God's love.
God's perfect love.


Originally printed in Come Thirsty by Max Lucado