December 14 - Every Child Has a Name

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, as the Father knows me. And my sheep know me. John 10:14

The shepherd knows his sheep, he calls them by name.

When we see a crowd, we see exactly that, a crowd… We see people not persons, but people. A herd of humans. A flock of faces. That’s what we see.

But not so with the Shepherd, To him, every face is different. Every face is a story. Every face is a child. Every child has a name…

The shepherd knows his sheep, he knows each one by name. The Shepherd knows you. He knows your name. And He will never forget it.

December 13 - The Unspeakable Price

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

To all who did accept Him and believe in Him He gave the right to become children of God.  John 1:12

While we lived in Rio de Janeiro, we met several American families who came to Brazil to adopt children. They would spend days, sometimes weeks, immersed in a different language and a strange culture. They fought the red tape and paid the large fees, all with the hope of taking a child to the United States…

Hasn’t God done the same for us? He etered our culture, battled the resistance, and paid the unspeakable price which adoption required. Legally we are his. He owns us. We have every legal privilege accorded to [His] child. We are just waiting for Him to return. We are, as Paul said, “waiting for God to finish making us His own children”. (Romans 8:23)

December 12 - God Isn't Hard To Find

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6

What a surprising way to describe God. A God who pursues us. 

Dare we envision a mobile, active God who chases us, tracks us, following us with goodness and mercy all the days of our lives? He’s not hard to find. He’s there in Scripture, looking for Adam and Eve. They’re hiding in the bushes, partly to cover their bodies, partly to cover their sin. Does God wait for them to come to Him? No, the words ring in the garden. “Where are you?” God asks, (Gen 3:9) beginning His quest to redeem the heart of man. A quest to follow His children, until His children follow Him.

December 10 - Prepared Like A Bride

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

The bride belongs only to the bridegroom. John 3:29

John’s description of the future [in the book of Revelation] steal your breath. His depiction of the final battle is graphic. Good clashes with evil. The sacred encounters the sinful. The pages howl with the shrieks of dragons and smolder with the coals of fiery pits. But in the midst of the battlefield there is a rose. John describes it in chapter 21…

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband...

In this final mountaintop encounter, God pulls back the curtain and allows the warrior to peek into the homeland. When given the task of writing down what he sees, John chooses the most beautiful comparison earth has to offer. The Holy City, John says, is like “a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”

 

December 9 - Grace Upon Grace

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have and with everything that happens. Philippians 4:11

Test this question: What if God’s only gift to you were His grace to save you. Would you be content? You beg Him to save the life of your child. You plead with Him to keep your business afloat. You implore Him to remove the cancer from your body. What if His answer is, “My grace is enough.” Would you be content?  

You see from heaven’s perspective, grace is enough. If God did nothing more than save us from hell, could anyone complain?... Having been given eternal life, dare we grumble at an aching body? Having been given heavenly riches, dare we bemoan earthly poverty?...

If you have eyes tor read these words, hands and fingers to use to type on the keyboard, the means to have a computer and internet connectivity, He has already given you grace upon grace.

 

December 8 - Prayer Reminds Us

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

Prayer Reminds Us

When a believing person prays, great things happen. James 5:16

Prayer is a recognition that if God had not engaged Himself in our problems, we would still be lost in the blackness. It is by His mercy that we have been lifted up. Prayer is that whole process that reminds us of who we are.

I believe there’s great power in prayer. I believe God heals the wounded, and that he can raise the dead. But I don’t believe we tell God what to do and when to do it.

God knows that we, with our limited vision, don’t even know that for which we should pray. When we entrust our requests to Him, we trust Him to honor our prayers with holy judgment.

December 5 - God's Thoughts

Grace for the Moment

Lord You have done such great things! How deep are your thoughts! Psalm 92:5

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts nor are they even like ours. We aren’t even in the same neighborhood. We’re thinking, Preserve the body; He’s thinking, Save the soul.

We dream of a pay raise. He dreams of raising the dead. We avoid pain and seek peace. God uses pain to bring peace. “I’m going to live before I die,” we resolve. “Die so you can live,” He instructs. We love what rusts. He loves what endures. We rejoice at our successes. He rejoices at our confessions. We show our children the Nike star with the million-dollar smile and say, “Be like Mike.” God points to the crucified carpenter with bloody lips and torn side and says, “Be like Christ.” 

December 3 - The Cure for Disappointment

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

The ways of God are without fault. Psalm 18:30

When God doesn’t do what we want, it’s not easy. Never has been, never will be. But faith is the conviction that God knows more than  we do about this life and He will get us through it.

Remember, disappointment is cured by revamped expectations.

I like the story about the fellow who went to the pet store in search of a singing parakeet. Seems he was a bachelor and his house was too quiet. The store owner had just the bird for him, so the man bought it.

The next day, the bachelor came home from work to a house full of music. He went to the cage to fee the bird and noticed for the first time that the parakeet had only one leg.

He felt cheated that he’d been sold a one-legged bird, so he called and complained.

“What do you want,” the store owner responded, “a bird who can sing or a bird who can dance?”

Good question for times of disappointment.

December 1- The Winner's Circle

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

The Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. Ephesians 6:8 NIV

For all we don’t know about the next life, this much is certain. The day Christ comes will be a day of reward. Those who went unknown on earth will be known in heaven. Those who never heard the cheers of men will hear the cheers of angels. Those who missed the blessing of a father will hear the blessing of their heavenly Father. The small will be great. The forgotten will be remembered. The unnoticed will be crowned, and the faithful will be honored.

The winner’s circle isn’t reserved for a handful of the elite, but for a heaven full of God’s children who “will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12 NIV)