Suppose I were to drop by your house holding a foil-covered saucer. “Hello, friend,” I say. “A few days back Denalyn made a strawberry cake. It was so good. It came out of the oven hot, moist, and sweet. I wish you could have tasted it. Today, as I was eating the last piece, I thought of you. Just before I took the final bite, I put my fork down and thought, I’m taking these crumbs to my friend.”

How would you feel?

Contrast that emotion with the one you feel if I were to knock at your door holding a cake pan with oven mitts. “Denalyn pulled this out of the oven a few minutes ago. It’s still hot. No one has touched it. I got here as fast as I could. I want you to have the first piece. I want you to have the whole cake (although I did bring my fork in case you want to share).”

How would that invitation make you feel? Or, better asked, how does that make you feel? God offers you the whole cake. You do not receive crumbs or leftovers. You have received his best. Why? Because he loves you based on the “Principle of Firsts.”

Since this is the first day of a new year, it’s appropriate to re-visit the theme of “firsts” in the Bible. Open a concordance to the word and prepare yourself for an avalanche of entries. First. Firstborn. Firstbegotten. Firstfruit. Firstling. First-ripe. My concordance contains seven columns of tiny-fonted words and verses. Apparently, “first” is a big theme in scripture and a big thing to God!

Is it possible, with all these references, to reduce them to a single message? I think so.

God went first. We love because he first loved us (I John. 4:19).

God made the first move. God took the first step. God placed the first call. We did nothing and do nothing that wasn’t and isn’t prompted by God. He went first. He not only went first, he gave his firstborn son. The Bible calls Jesus “the firstborn among the brethren” (Romans 8:29). In the great, expansive, innumerable family of God, there is a firstborn: Jesus Christ. What did God do with his firstborn Son? He sent him as a sacrifice. He didn’t redeem us with apostles, angels, prophets or preachers. He gave the best gift.

Continue reading Max Lucado – FIRST THINGS FIRST →

You and I live in a trashy world. Unwanted garbage comes our way on a regular basis. Haven’t you been handed a trash sack of mishaps and heartaches? Sure you have. May I ask, what are you going to do with it? You could hide it; pretend it isn’t there. But sooner or later it will start to stink. So what will you do?

If you follow the example of Christ, you will learn to see tough times differently. He wants you to have a hope-filled heart…just like Jesus.  Wouldn’t you want that? Jesus saw his Father’s presence in the problem. Sure, Max, but Jesus was God. I can’t see the way he saw. Not yet, maybe. But don’t underestimate God’s  power. He can change the way you look at life.

From Lucado Inspirational Reader

Home

Try this. Imagine a perfect world. Whatever that means to you…imagine it. Does that mean peace? Then envision absolute tranquility. Does a perfect world imply joy? Then create your highest happiness. Will a perfect world have love? Ponder a place where love has no bounds. Whatever heaven means to you, imagine it.

Get it firmly fixed in your mind. Delight in it. Dream about it. Long for it. And then smile as the Father reminds you from the apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “No one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” No one has come close. No one. Think of all the songs about heaven. All the artists’ portrayals. All the lessons preached, poems written and chapters drafted. When it comes to describing heaven, we are all happy failures!

From Lucado Inspirational Reader

Home

God will not let you go. The big news of the Bible is not that you love God but that God loves you! He tattooed your name on the palm of his hand. His thoughts of you outnumber the sand on the shore. You never leave his mind, escape his sight, or flee his thoughts.

You need not win his love. You already have it. He sees the worst of you and loves you still. Your sins of tomorrow and failings of the future will not surprise him; he sees them now. Every day and deed of your life has passed before his eyes and been calculated in his decision. He knows you better than you know you and has reached his verdict: he loves you still! No discovery will disillusion him. No rebellion will dissuade him. He loves you with an everlasting love. God’s love—never failing. Never ending.

From Lucado Inspirational Reader

Home

You will never forgive anyone more than God has already forgiven you. Is it still hard to consider the thought of forgiving the one who hurt you? If so, go one more time to the room. Watch Jesus as he goes from disciple to disciple. Can you see him? Can you hear the water splash? Can you hear him shuffle on the floor to the next person? Keep that image.

John 13:12 says: “When he had finished washing their feet. . .” Please note; he finished washing their feet. That means he left no one out. Why is that important? Because that means he washed the feet of Judas. Jesus washed the feet of his betrayer. That’s not to say it was easy for Jesus. That’s not to say it’s easy for you. That IS to say, God will never call you to do what he hasn’t already done!

From “The Lucado Inspirational Reader”

Home

If we could save ourselves—why would we need a Savior? Jesus didn’t enter the world to help us save ourselves. He entered the world to save us from ourselves.

As a Boy Scout, I earned a lifesaving merit badge. In fact the only people I saved were other Boy Scouts who didn’t need to be saved. During training I would rescue other trainees. We took turns saving each other. But since we weren’t really drowning, we resisted being rescued. “Stop kicking and let me save you,” I’d say. It’s impossible to save those who’re trying to save themselves.

You might save yourself from a broken heart or going broke or running out of gas. But you’re not good enough to save yourself from sin. You aren’t strong enough to save yourself from death. You need a Savior. Because of Bethlehem you have one!

From Because of Bethlehem

Home

Hang in there! Don’t give up! Is anything too hard for the Lord? No!

Easy for you to say! You have no idea how long I’ve been praying and asking—and asking again!

Just when you least suspect it—the God of surprises strikes again! God does that for the faithful. Just when the womb gets too old for babies, Sarah gets pregnant. Just when the failure is too great for grace, David is pardoned.The lesson? Those three words: Don’t give up! Is the road long? Don’t stop. Is the night black? Don’t quit. God is watching. For all you know, right at this moment—the check may be in the mail. The apology may be in the making. The contract may be on the desk. Don’t quit! You may miss the answer to your prayers! God is faithful—He’s always on time!

From Grace for the Moment

Unnoticed? Neglected? Ignored? Not even close—to how God sees you! If you’re feeling unnoticed and under-appreciated, take a look at how God sees you as recorded in 1 Peter 2:9: “You are a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.” Or how about this description from Isaiah 61:10:  “He has covered me with clothes of salvation and wrapped me with a coat of goodness, like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding, like a bride dressed in jewels.”

When your self-esteem sags—remember what you’re worth! Remember that you were bought with a price, not with something that ruins like gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, the pure and perfect lamb. Remember that! Meditate on it! Focus on it! Allow God’s love to change the way you look at—you!

From Grace for the Moment

It was an ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. Then the black sky exploded with brightness. Trees that had been shadows jumped into clarity. Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity. One minute the shepherd was dead asleep, the next he was rubbing his eyes and staring into the face of an angel!

The night was ordinary no more.  The angel came in the night because it’s when lights are best seen and when they are most needed. It all happened in a most remarkable moment—a moment like no other. God became a man. Divinity arrived. Heaven opened and placed her most precious one in a human womb. God had come near! In the mystery of Christmas, we find its majesty. The mystery of how God became flesh, why he chose to come at all, and how much he must love his people!

From Grace for the Moment

In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what he was doing, was a teenage girl in a smelly stable. As Mary looked into the face of the baby, she saw her son, her Lord, His majesty.  She couldn’t take her eyes off him!  Somehow Mary knew she was holding God.  So this is he, she thought. She remembered the words of the angel. “His kingdom will never end!”

He looks like anything but a king. His cry, though strong and healthy, was still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. Majesty in the midst of mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter. God came near! And Luke 1:33 says, “His kingdom will never end!”

From Grace for the Moment

And Joseph took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus!

Joseph was literally willing to tank his reputation. And he did. He traded it for a pregnant fiancée and an illegitimate son and made the big decision of discipleship. He placed God’s plan ahead of his own. Rather than make a name for himself, he made a home for Christ. And because he did, a great reward came his way.

“He called His name Jesus!” Of all the saints, sinners, prodigals, and preachers who’ve spoken the name, Joseph—a blue-collar, small-town construction worker said it first. Joseph cradled the wrinkle-faced prince of heaven, and with an audience of angels and pigs, he whispered, Jesus—you will be called Jesus!

From Grace for the Moment

Some of the saddest words on earth are: “We don’t have room for you.” Jesus knew the sound of those words. He was still in Mary’s womb when the innkeeper said, “We don’t have room for you.” And when he was hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter rejection? “We don’t have room for you in this world.”

Even today Jesus is given the same treatment. He goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter. Every so often, he is welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives this great promise, “In my Father’s house are many rooms.” What a delightful promises he makes us! We make room for him in our hearts….and he makes room for us in his house!

From Grace for the Moment

What if prospective parents approached an adoption agency with these questions?

We just have a question or two before we come in and sign the adoption papers. Will he be a good child? Healthy always? Oh, and can he fix his own meals? Do his own laundry?

Can you  imagine prospective parents saying that? No adoption agency would put up with it. They’d respond with Wait a minute. You don’t understand. You don’t adopt this child because of what he has; you adopt him because of what he needs. He needs a home.

The same is true with God. John 3:17 says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” He doesn’t adopt us because of what we have. He doesn’t give us His name because of our intelligence, or our wallet or good attitude. Adoption is something we receive—not something we earn!

From Grace for the Moment

The Bible says, “Do not despise small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin!”

I see what others have done with their lives and before I even get started—I’m discouraged. What can I possibly do that God isn’t already doing through someone else?

Against a towering giant, a brook pebble seems futile. But God used it to topple Goliath. Compared to the tithes of the wealthy, a widow’s coins seem puny. But Jesus used them to inspire us all! Moses had a staff. David had a sling. Samson had a jawbone. Rahab had a string. Mary had some ointment. Dorcas had a needle. All were used by God.

What do you have? Much more than you might think!  God inhabits the tiny seed. He empowers the tiny deed! Never discount the smallness of your deeds!

From Grace for the Moment

Every Christmas I read this reminder that came in the mail several years ago.

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator.

If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.

But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior!

Christmas cards–these punctuated promises! Phrases filled with the reason we do it all anyway. He became like us, so we could become like him. Angels still sing and the star still beckons. Isaiah 9:6 proclaims, “God has given a son to us. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God. Prince of Peace. Ahh…the wonder of it all is that He loves each one of us like there was only one of us to love!

From Grace for the Moment

I wish I could say it’s forgiven and forgotten—but it isn’t. As much as I’ve tried—all I feel is the anger and the bitterness.

Without forgiveness, bitterness is all that’s left! Maybe it’s an old wound. A parent abused you. A mate betrayed you. And you are angry. Perhaps the wound is fresh. The friend who owes you money just drove by in a new car.  The boss who hired you with promises of promotions has forgotten how to pronounce your name. And you are hurt! There is a fire burning in your heart. It’s the fire of anger. And you are left with a decision. Do I get over it or get even? Do I let my hurts heal, or do I let hurt turn into hate? Proverbs 15:9 says, “The Lord hates what evil people do, but He loves those who do what is right.”

From Grace for the Moment