UCB Word For Today

We could precisely translate the word glory as ‘brilliance’. Our new bodies may have a shiny quality to them. Recorded in Exodus 34:29, Moses spent time with the Lord and something uncommon happened to him – his face became luminous and began to shine. A similar thing happened to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (see Luke 9:28-29). In Revelation 21:23, we read that the entire city of New Jerusalem will be brightly illuminated by the light radiating from God’s glory and the resurrected Christ. Daniel 12:3 tells us that the resurrected saints ‘shall shine like the brightness of the firmament’ (NKJV). Matthew 13:43 says, ‘The righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father’ (NKJV). ‘For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour…who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body’ (Philippians 3:20-21 NKJV). ‘Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is’ (1 John 3:2 NKJV). A pastor writes that ‘the Lord Jesus Christ, in His own resurrection, provided the payment, the proof, and the pattern for our own resurrection.’ ‘As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man’ (1 Corinthians 15:49 NKJV). Just as we now bear the image of the first Adam, we will bear the image of the last Adam – who is Jesus. The truth is your new resurrection body will be glorious!

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Benjamin Franklin, who was a printer, wrote an epitaph for his grave. And even though it never ended up on his tombstone, it has been passed down in history for its cleverness and wisdom. ‘The body of Benjamin Franklin, printer; (like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out, and script [stripped] of its lettering and gilding), lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be lost, for it will, as he believed, appear once more, in a new & more elegant edition, revised and corrected by the Author.’ What a wonderful way to describe what’s going to happen to us someday. The apostle Paul used seeds as a metaphor: ‘But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined’ (vv. 35-38 NIV). A pastor explains: ‘When you plant your garden, you may toss a kernel of corn into the furrow and cover it. When it comes out of the ground, it will still be corn; it will be the same in essence. But what comes out of the ground is not the kernel. It’s the whole stalk. It’s much bigger, much better, and much more impressive.’ And your new resurrection body will be as superior to your old body as the stalk is superior to the seed; it will be a body specifically designed for everlasting life.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

The Bible talks about heaven over five hundred times, with details about our eternal home. Shortly before He returned to heaven, Jesus comforted His disciples by saying, ‘In My Father’s house are many mansions…I go to prepare a place for you. And…I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also’ (vv. 2-3 NKJV). The Greek term translated ‘place’ in verse 2 is ‘topos’, which refers to a specific and locatable place. Heaven is a real, physical place, where we will one day live with Jesus and our redeemed loved ones. And God has set inside each of our hearts a hunger for heaven (see Ecclesiastes 3:11). During World War II, Franklin Roosevelt had a difficult time travelling among the troops because of his disability, so his wife, Eleanor, took his place. She actually became a favourite of the soldiers. She sent cables and letters back to the president, serving as his eyes and ears. On one trip to the Pacific, she invested an evening in chatting with a group of soldiers, and afterward told her husband they had only one thought on their minds – the longing to finish the battle so they could return home. That’s how God’s redeemed children feel about heaven. We’re deployed on planet Earth, but our assignment is only temporary. The psalmist said, ‘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 NKJV). That’s what we are anticipating, isn’t it? Living in the house of the Lord forever.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

If you’re wondering, ‘How can I be sure God is willing to heal me?’, read this: ‘And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed…and they came to him from every quarter’ (Mark 1:40-42, 45 KJV). Not only is God willing to heal us, but He responds to our sickness and suffering with compassion. ‘He departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion towards them, and he healed their sick’ (Matthew 14:13-14 KJV). One day two blind men were sitting on the roadside when they heard that Jesus was passing by. Immediately they cried out: ‘“Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David.”…And Jesus…said, “What will ye that I shall do unto you?” They say unto him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.” So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him’ (Matthew 20:30, 32-34 KJV). Has Christ’s power diminished? No. Does He have less compassion towards His redeemed children today than He had for the multitude back then? No. So, come to Him with confidence, praying and believing for your healing.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

A pastor writes: ‘Around the turn of the twentieth century, a pioneering psychologist named Alfred Adler proposed the counterintuitive theory of compensation. Adler believed that perceived disadvantages often prove to be disguised advantages because they force us to develop attitudes and abilities that would have otherwise gone undiscovered. And it’s only as we compensate for those disadvantages that our greatest gifts are revealed. Seventy per cent of the art students that Adler studied had optical anomalies. He observed that some of history’s greatest composers, Mozart and Beethoven among them, had degenerative traces in their ears. He cited a…wide variety of vocations, of those who leveraged their weakness by discovering new strengths. Adler concluded that perceived disadvantages, such as birth defects, physical ailments, and poverty, can be springboards to success. And that success is not achieved in spite of those perceived disadvantages. It’s achieved because of them…In one study of small-business owners…35 per cent of them [self-identified as having dyslexia]…That disadvantage forced this group of entrepreneurs to cultivate different skill sets. Some of them became more proficient at oral communication because reading was so difficult. Others learned to rely on well-developed social skills to compensate for the challenges they faced in the classroom. And all of them cultivated a work ethic that might have remained dormant if reading had come easy for them…Our greatest advantages may actually be hidden in our greatest disadvantages, if we learn to leverage them.’ That’s sufficient reason to praise God for your perceived disadvantages and challenges.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Designer clothes brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren are recognised by their designs and by their trademarks. These trademarks make them immensely visible and identifiable. Sometimes workers in certain industries are identified by their attire, such as a surgeon who wears scrubs, or a policeman who wears a uniform, or a judge who wears robes. And Jesus has given to us something as irrefutable evidence that we are close to God – a test whereby you can evaluate your own spiritual growth. In fact, so amazing is this trademark that He said it would be the foremost declaration of your faith. Jesus said it like this: ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another’ (vv. 34-35 NKJV). Francis Schaeffer, the great Christian apologist, said, ‘Love is the final apologetic. It is the defence for which there is no defence.’ When a woman is pregnant with a child, there comes a point where we say that she is ‘showing’. The life growing inside her begins to grow and show on the outside. Likewise, the Bible says, ‘The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us’ (Romans 5:5 KJV). And John writes, ‘Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another’ (1 John 4:11 NKJV). Love; it’s the ultimate test of your discipleship.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Who am I? What’s my calling? The apostle Paul, who considered himself ‘not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles’ (2 Corinthians 11:5 NASB), answers simply: ‘I am Paul. My role is serving. I am a servant to the gospel and the body of Christ.’ Certain people in the early church tried to determine which of the apostles were the greatest. Some claimed Paul, and others Apollos. But Paul challenged them, ‘What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe’ (1 Corinthians 3:5 NIV). Whatever your calling, be it pastor of a megachurch or a lay member, you’re no more – and no less – than a servant. In God’s kingdom class distinctions don’t count. ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek…slave nor free…male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’ (Galatians 3:28 NASB). We’re servants called to do the will of God, wherever He appoints us to serve. And that’s a good thing! In being a servant there’s relief from ‘the pressure to perform’. No one has the right to judge you except your Master. ‘Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls’ (Romans 14:4 NASB). We should be concerned about what pleases God, not people. He alone can evaluate our service. Jesus came to serve His Father, saying, ‘I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me’ (John 5:30 KJV). And He has also sent you to do God’s will, promising that, ‘If any man serve me, him will my Father honour’ (John 12:26 KJV).

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

‘Heavenly Father, although I’ve repented and genuinely regret my actions, the guilt of my sin continually torments me. The burden of it is too heavy for me to bear any longer, so I am turning to you for deliverance. Your Word declares that you are ready to forgive me (see Nehemiah 9:17), and that you have an abundance of mercy for all who call upon you (see Isaiah 55:7). The problem is, I’m having a hard time accepting your forgiveness and releasing myself from the remorse of my sin. Help me to comprehend and receive your promise that says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 KJV). You said in your Word, “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins” (Isaiah 43:25 KJV). Drawing on the power of your Spirit, I choose to no longer let thoughts of guilt and condemnation rob me of the peace and joy you offer. I stand on your Word which says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far you have removed my transgressions from me” (see Psalm 103:12). You have said, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17 NKJV). Since you have chosen not to remember it, help me to forget it and stop rehearsing it. Beginning today I declare, “The blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses me from all sin!”’ (see 1 John 1:7).

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

When British Prime Minister William Gladstone was facing one of the greatest crises of his political life, he sat down one morning at two o’clock to write the speech he hoped would help him win a political victory in Parliament the following day. At that same hour, the mother of a dying child saw the light on in his home and knocked on his door. She asked him to come and bring a message of hope and cheer to her son. Without hesitation, Gladstone left his half-finished speech on his desk and spent the remainder of the night with the child, leading him to Christ before he died. As the morning light was breaking, he went back to his study and faced his own day with a smile of confidence, peace, and power. He said to a friend later that morning, ‘I am the happiest man in the world today.’ When asked why, he replied that the previous night he had been allowed to serve a child in the name of his Master. Later that day Gladstone made what many consider to be the greatest speech of his life. The House of Commons was won over and his cause triumphed. Were the two events related? Gladstone was convinced that they were. Before leaving the leaders of the church at Ephesus for the last time, Paul told them: ‘I have shown you in every way, by labouring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”’

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Here is a description of Saul, Israel’s first king: ‘There was not a more handsome person…among the children of Israel’ (1 Samuel 9:2 NKJV). But his looks couldn’t compensate for his lack of character, and he died prematurely in shame and defeat. When Samuel the prophet went to the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons as Israel’s next king, God said, ‘Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’ Many years ago a boy was born in Russia who thought himself to be so ugly, he was certain there would be no happiness for him in life. He bemoaned the fact that he had a wide nose, thick lips, small grey eyes, and big hands and feet. He was so distraught about his appearance that he asked God to work a miracle and turn him into a handsome man. He vowed that if God would do this, he would give Him all he possessed. That boy was Count Tolstoy, who became one of the world’s foremost authors, best known for his epic War and Peace. In his books he admits that through the years, he discovered that the beauty of physical appearance he had once sought was not the only beauty in life – and it was not the best beauty. Instead, Tolstoy came to regard the beauty of a strong character as having the greatest good in God’s sight. Character is not a matter of money or looks, but of doing what is right apart from money and standing up for what’s right apart from appearances.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.