The Smiling Heart

Endure to the End

Those people who keep their faith until the end will be saved. Matthew 10:22

Are you close to quitting? Please don’t do it. Are you discouraged as a parent? Hang in there. Are you weary with doing good? Do just a little more. Are you pessimistic about your job? Roll up your sleeves and go at it again. No communication in your marriage? Give it one more shot….
Remember, a finisher is not one with no wounds or weariness. Quite to the contrary, he, like the boxer, is scarred and bloody. Mother Teresa is credited with saying, “God didn’t call us to be successful, just faithful.” The fighter, like our Master, is pierced and full of pain. He, like Paul, may even be bound and beaten. But he remains.
The Land of Promise, says Jesus, awaits those who endure. It is not just for those who make the victory laps or drink champagne. No sir. The Land of Promise is for those who simply remain to the end.

“No Wonder They Call Him the Savior” by Max Lucado

What is Your Price?

Life is not measured by how much one owns. Luke 12:15

Jesus had a definition for greed. He called it the practice of measuring life by possessions.
Greed equates a person’s worth with a person’s purse.
1. You got a lot = you are a lot.
2. You got a little = you are little.
The consequence of such a philosophy is predictable.If you are the sum of what you own, then by all means own it all. No price is too high. No payment is too much….
Greed is not defined by what something costs; it is measured by what it costs you.
If anything costs you your faith or your family, the price is too high.

“When God Whispers Your Name” by Max Lucado

Peace Treaties of Love

Be sure that no one pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to do what is good for each other and for all people. 1 Thessalonians 5:15

Jesus described for His followers what He came to do. He came to build a relationship with people. He came to take away isolation that existed between God and man. Once He bridged that, once He overcame that, He said, “I will call you friends.”
In repairing a relationship, it’s essential to realize that no friendship is perfect, no marriage is perfect, no person is perfect. With the resolve that you are going to make a relationship work, you can develop peace treaties of love and tolerance and harmony to transform a difficult situation into something beautiful.

“Walking with the Savior” by Max Lucado

A Heavenly Perspective

Ask, and God will give to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will open for you. Matthew 7:7

Go back and report to John what you hear and see: “The blind receive sight, the lame walk….. and the good news is preached to the poor.”
This was Jesus’ answer to John’s agonized query from the dungeon of doubt: “And you are the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
We don’t know how John received Jesus’ message, but we can imagine. I like to think of a slight smile coming over his lips as he heard what his Master said. For now he understood. It wasn’t that Jesus was silent; it was that John had been listening for the wrong answer. John had been listening for an answer to his earthly problems, while Jesus was busy resolving his heavenly ones.
That’s worth remembering the next time you hear the silence of God.

“The Applause of Heaven” by Max Lucado

Listen for His Voice

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. Hebrewa 13:5 NIV

Let me state something important. There is never a time during which Jesus is not speaking. Never. There is never a place in which Jesus is not present. Never. There is never a room so dark…a lounge so sensual…an office so sophisticated…that the ever-present, ever-pursueing, relentlessly tender Friend is not there, tapping gently on the doors of our hearts—waiting to be invited in.
Few hear His voice. Fewer still open the door.
But never interpret our numbness as His absence. For amidst the fleeting promises of pleasure is the timeless promise of His presence.
“Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20 NIV)…….
There is no chorus so loud that the voice of God cannot be heard….if we will but listen.

“In The Eye of the Storm” by Max Lucado

The Cloak of Humanity

Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be very sad and troubled. Mark 14:33

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death” (Heb. 5:7).
My, what a portrait! Jesus is in pain. Jesus is on the stage of fear. Jesus is cloaked, not in sainthood, but in humanity.
The next time the fog finds you, you might do well to remember Jesus in the garden. The next time you think that no one understands, reread the fourteenth chapter of Mark. The next time your self-pity convinces you that no one cares, pay a visit to Gethsemane. And the next time you wonder if God really perceives the pain that prevails on this dusty planet, listen to Him pleading among the twisted trees.

“No Wonder They Call Him the Savior” by Max Lucado

See What God Has Done!

The heavens tell the glory of God. Psalm 19:1

How vital that we pray, armed with the knowledge that God is in heaven. Pray with any lesser conviction and your prayers are timid, shallow, and hollaw. But spend some time walking in the workshop of the heavens, seeing what God has done, and watch how your prayers are energized……
Behold the sun! Every square yard of the sun is constantly emitting 130,000 horse power, or the equivalent of 450 eight-cylinder automobile engines. And yet our sun, as powerful as it is, is but one minor star in the 100 billion orbs which make up our Milky Way Galaxy. Hold a dime in your fingers and extend it at arm’s length toward the sky, allowing it to eclipse your vision, and you will block out fifteen million stars from your view…. By showing us the heavens, Jesus is showing us His Father’s workshop….. He taps us on the shoulder and says, “Your Father can handle that for you.”

“The Great House of God” by Max Lucado

The Basin of God’s Grace

The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from every sin. John 1:7

John tells us “We are being cleansed from every sin by the blood of Jesus.” In other words, we are always being cleansed. The cleansing is not a promise for the future but a reality in the present. Let a speck of dust fall on the soul of a saint, and it is washed away. Let a spot of filth land on the heart of God’s child, and the filth is wiped away….

Our Savior kneels down and gazes upon the darkest acts of our lives. But rather than recoil in horror, He reaches out in kindness and says, “I can clean that if you want.” And from the basin of His grace, He scoops a palm of mercy and washes away our sin.

But that’s not all He does. Because He lives in us, you and I can do the same. Because He has forgiven us, we can forgive others.

“Just Like Jesus” by Max Lucado

Loved by God

The Lord loves you. Deuteronomy 7:8 NLT

God loves you simply because He has chosen to do so. He loves you when you don’t feel lovely. He loves you when no one else loves you. Others may abandon you, divorce you and ignore you, but God will love you. Always. No matter what.

This is His sentiment: “I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved” (Rom. 9:25 MSG).

This is His promise: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself” (Jer. 31:3 NLT).

Do you know what else that means? You have a deep aquifer of love from which to draw. When you find it hard to love, then you need to drink! Drink deeply! Drink daily!

“A Love Worth Giving” by Max Lucado

The Flagship of Patience

Love is patient. 1 Corinthians 13:4

Paul presents patience as the premiere expression of love. Positioned at the head of the apostle’s Love Armada—- a boat-length or two in front of kindness, courtesy and forgiveness—–is the flagship known as patience. “Love is patient.”
The Greek word used here for patience is a descriptive one. It figuratively means “taking a long time to boil.” Think about a pot of boiling water. What factors determine the speed at which it boils? The size of the stove? No. The pot? The utensil may have an influence, but the primary factor is the intensity of the flame. Water boils quickly when the flame is high. It boils slowly when the flame is low. Patience “keeps the burner down.”
Helpful clarification, don’t you think? Patience isn’t naive. It doesn’t ignore misbehavior. It just keeps the flame low. It waits. It listens. It’s slow to boil. This is how God treats us. And, according to Jesus, this is how we should treat others.

“A Love Worth Giving” by Max Lucado