Max Lucado Daily: HE HOLDS IT ALL TOGETHER - December 9, 2025
Christmas is a season of interruptions. Some we enjoy, some we don’t. You may be facing an interruption during this season of life. What you wanted and what you received do not match, and now you’re troubled and anxious. Everything inside you and every voice around you says, “Get out. Get angry.” But don’t listen to those voices. You cannot face a crisis if you don’t face God first.
Colossians 1:16-17 (MSG) says, “For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.” God holds it all together, and he will hold it together for you.
Because of Bethlehem
Deuteronomy 23
No eunuch is to enter the congregation of God.
2 No bastard is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children.
3–6 No Ammonite or Moabite is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children, ever. Those nations didn’t treat you with hospitality on your travels out of Egypt, and on top of that they also hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Mesopotamia to curse you. God, your God, refused to listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing—how God, your God, loves you! Don’t even try to get along with them or do anything for them, ever.
7 But don’t spurn an Edomite; he’s your kin.
And don’t spurn an Egyptian; you were a foreigner in his land.
8 Children born to Edomites and Egyptians may enter the congregation of God in the third generation.
9–11 When you are camped out, at war with your enemies, be careful to keep yourself from anything ritually defiling. If one of your men has become ritually unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he must go outside the camp and stay there until evening when he can wash himself, returning to the camp at sunset.
12–14 Mark out an area outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourselves. Along with your weapons have a stick with you. After you relieve yourself, dig a hole with the stick and cover your excrement. God, your God, strolls through your camp; he’s present to deliver you and give you victory over your enemies. Keep your camp holy; don’t permit anything indecent or offensive in God’s eyes.
15–16 Don’t return a runaway slave to his master; he’s come to you for refuge. Let him live wherever he wishes within the protective gates of your city. Don’t take advantage of him.
17–18 No daughter of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute; and no son of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute. And don’t bring the fee of a sacred whore or the earnings of a priest-pimp to the house of God, your God, to pay for any vow—they are both an abomination to God, your God.
19–20 Don’t charge interest to your kinsmen on any loan: not for money or food or clothing or anything else that could earn interest. You may charge foreigners interest, but you may not charge your brothers interest; that way God, your God, will bless all the work that you take up and the land that you are entering to possess.
21–23 When you make a vow to God, your God, don’t put off keeping it; God, your God, expects you to keep it and if you don’t you’re guilty. But if you don’t make a vow in the first place, there’s no sin. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Keep the vow you willingly vowed to God, your God. You promised it, so do it.
24–25 When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want until you’re full, but you may not put any in your bucket or bag. And when you walk through the ripe grain of your neighbor, you may pick the heads of grain, but you may not swing your sickle there.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, December 09, 2025
by Anne Cetas
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Acts 2:36-47
“All Israel, then, know this: There’s no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross.”
37 Cut to the quick, those who were there listening asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers! Brothers! So now what do we do?”
38–39 Peter said, “Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites.”
40 He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, “Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!”
41–42 That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.
43–45 Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.
46–47 They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.
Today's Insights
Acts 2 offers a glimpse of early faith communities after the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost (vv. 1-13). In response to hearing that forgiveness, salvation, and the “gift of the Holy Spirit” (v. 38) were possible because of Jesus’ resurrection as “Lord and Messiah” (v. 36), “about three thousand” people became believers in Christ (v. 41). These new believers’ faith was deepened through “[devoting] themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (v. 42) and giving “to anyone who had need” (v. 45). God’s Spirit draws people into faith and deepens it through fellowship and service in community.
Being the Church
The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:47
On a sunny afternoon, I drew with sidewalk chalk with the Sudanese family next door. We could hear singing coming from the house next to theirs, where a small group holds worship services. The young mom I was talking with was curious about what was going on, so she and I walked over and listened in. They invited us to gather with them. A young man, standing in a tank filled with water for baptism, spoke about receiving forgiveness for his sins and committing himself to follow Jesus.
This was a unique opportunity for us to hear a testimony of salvation in the yard right next door. This group was being the church in our neighborhood.
Jesus is building His church around the world. In the days before His ascension, He told His followers that He would send the Spirit to live in them and that they would be His witnesses “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). He would build His church through their Spirit-empowered preaching and teaching. And immediately God began to add “to their number daily those who were being saved” (2:47).
We can be a part of building Christ’s church by being His church as we live out our faith in our neighborhoods and share with others what He’s done for us. He gave His life and was resurrected so that we might be forgiven and have eternal life. And He’ll help us learn how to serve others in His church today.
Reflect & Pray
In what ways might God be using you to build Jesus’ church? What more might you do?
Dear Jesus, thank You that You’re adding people to Your church daily.
Discover more about Acts 2 by reading Fulfillment, Foundation, and Foreshadowing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, December 09, 2025
The Offense of the Natural
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. — Galatians 5:24
The natural life isn’t sinful; the disposition that rules the natural life is sinful. Sin belongs to hell and the devil, while I, as a child of God, belong to heaven and God and the disposition he has put in me. I must have nothing to do with sin in any shape or form. This isn’t a question of giving up sin, per se, but rather of giving up my right to myself. I have to give up my natural independence and self–assertiveness; this is where the battle must be fought.
The natural life can be made spiritual only through sacrifice. If I fail to resolutely sacrifice the natural, the supernatural can never become natural in me. There’s no royal road I can take to get there, no smooth and well–marked path. I must make my own way. Sacrifice is not a question of praying but of performing; I have to strive if I wish to attain the highest goal.
The things that keep me from striving for God’s best and highest are those which, from a natural standpoint, appear right and noble and good. When I understand that natural virtues are at odds with my surrender to God, I bring my soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us are drawn by the sordid and evil and wrong, but many of us are drawn by the good. It is the good that hates the best. The higher we climb on the ladder of natural virtue, the more intense the opposition to Jesus Christ.
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh.” If you want to belong to Christ, it’s going to cost the natural part of you everything, not just something. When Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves” (Matthew 16:24), he meant that those who want to be his must entirely give up their right to themselves. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your independence.
Daniel 11-12; Jude
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it.
Not Knowing Whither, 900 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, December 09, 2025
WHAT YOU MISS WHEN YOU'RE A SELFIE - #10152
Jim cracked me up with the story he told in his recent family newsletter. He and his honey were enjoying some personal time at the Atlantic Ocean, which is really big. Jim decided to take a picture of himself and the ocean, which is really big. Later, he made a disturbing discovery which he reported this way. "I think I missed the ocean!" Which is really big. Oh, he's in the picture, but the Atlantic is nowhere to be seen. Now how can a smart guy miss something as big and as beautiful as the ocean? Well, by totally focusing on himself.
I've made that mistake. Missing the big thing because I was so focused on myself. I suspect I'm not alone.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What You Miss When You're a Selfie."
When we're hurting, when we're grieving, when we're grappling with this big problem, we tend to go inward and become all about ourselves. We miss the person we married because we're so focused on our frustrations with them. Before we married them, we magnified what we loved and minimized what bothered us. Now we're all about our frustrations with them, forgetting all we loved about them. So it's selfie time. All about me. Losing sight of the one we once could not live without. So we stop loving like we did, and they start responding to the change.
We can miss our kids the same way. By dwelling on how they're disappointing us, defying us, or distancing themselves from us. So we're sucked into a cycle of seeing - and talking about - only what they need to change. Not seeing - and talking about - the big picture of their strengths and their potential. We focus the lens on our hurt and our fear and our frustration, and we miss the big stuff. That masterpiece God made and entrusted to you in that child.
I know how much my picture can become a selfie when I'm going through a hurting time. Pain tends to make us selfish: self-centered, self-pitying and all those nasty self words. But my Bible tells me that there's always something bigger going on than the immediate situation. It's affirmed in our word for today from the Word of God from Romans 8:28, "All things work together for good to those who love God, and are called according to His purpose." And the Bible says, "I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11).
There's a Big Plan for my good. But I'll miss the big and beautiful part if I just focus on my pain. When my precious Karen was suddenly gone that May, my natural tendency was to be all about me - my grief, my life without her, my future.
But, thankfully, God quickly rescued me from my selfie. And He began to show me what I could become through this greatest heartbreak of my life. I can honestly say my heart is more open than it's ever been - open to God's voice, open to letting my journey help somebody else on their journey, open to broken and breaking hearts that are all around me.
What's scary is that our "selfie" can actually cause us to miss the biggest and most beautiful sight of all - the God who made us. We so want to have life our way that we live as if we've dethroned Him from the throne of our life. In the Bible's words, "Each of us has turned to His own way" (Isaiah 53:6). And, you know, all those choices where we've sort of said, "God, You run the universe, but I'll run me" - well, in the Bible's words they have "separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2). And you knew that without listening today, you could feel that gap between you and Him.
All about me. Missing the God who's the reason we're here; whose love we're made for. Who thought we were worth sending His Son to die for.
Maybe this is the day that you release the wheel of your life - your selfie life - to the One you were made to know and made to belong to. And the One who gave you your life is the One who's supposed to be running it. Would you tell Him today, "Jesus, from now on I'm yours."
Go to our website. There's so much more there about how to be sure you've begun a relationship with God. It's ANewStory.com.
The Ocean of God's great love is right there within my sight, that big thing, unless I'm blocking the view.
