Max Lucado Daily: Peripety - November 25, 2021
If you need a synonym for plot twist, try peripety. It’s a literary device that describes a redirected story line. It’s that moment in the book that causes you to stay up past your bedtime because you can’t believe what just happened. The Red Sea was uncrossable one minute and a pathway the next. Goliath defied Israel for forty days, but then David loaded a peripety in his sling and let it fly.
In God’s hands no script is predictable, no story line is inevitable, no outcome is certain. He is ever a turn of the page from a turn-on-a-dime turnaround. Look in the Bethlehem barn. Who saw this coming? Or better asked, who saw him coming? He held the universe in one moment and squeezed Mary’s pinkie the next. He is the God of grand reversals.
Mark 6:1-29
Just a Carpenter
6 1-2 He left there and returned to his hometown. His disciples came along. On the Sabbath, he gave a lecture in the meeting place. He stole the show, impressing everyone. “We had no idea he was this good!” they said. “How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such ability?”
3 But in the next breath they were cutting him down: “He’s just a carpenter—Mary’s boy. We’ve known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?” They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further.
4-6 Jesus told them, “A prophet has little honor in his hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child.” Jesus wasn’t able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that’s all. He couldn’t get over their stubbornness. He left and made a circuit of the other villages, teaching.
The Twelve
7-8 Jesus called the Twelve to him, and sent them out in pairs. He gave them authority and power to deal with the evil opposition. He sent them off with these instructions:
8-9 “Don’t think you need a lot of extra equipment for this. You are the equipment. No special appeals for funds. Keep it simple.
10 “And no luxury inns. Get a modest place and be content there until you leave.
11 “If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way.”
12-13 Then they were on the road. They preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different; right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits.
The Death of John
14 King Herod heard of all this, for by this time the name of Jesus was on everyone’s lips. He said, “This has to be John the Baptizer come back from the dead—that’s why he’s able to work miracles!”
15 Others said, “No, it’s Elijah.”
Others said, “He’s a prophet, just like one of the old-time prophets.”
16 But Herod wouldn’t budge: “It’s John, sure enough. I cut off his head, and now he’s back, alive.”
17-20 Herod was the one who had ordered the arrest of John, put him in chains, and sent him to prison at the nagging of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. For John had provoked Herod by naming his relationship with Herodias “adultery.” Herodias, smoldering with hate, wanted to kill him, but didn’t dare because Herod was in awe of John. Convinced that he was a holy man, he gave him special treatment. Whenever he listened to him he was miserable with guilt—and yet he couldn’t stay away. Something in John kept pulling him back.
21-22 But a portentous day arrived when Herod threw a birthday party, inviting all the brass and bluebloods in Galilee. Herodias’s daughter entered the banquet hall and danced for the guests. She charmed Herod and the guests.
22-23 The king said to the girl, “Ask me anything. I’ll give you anything you want.” Carried away, he kept on, “I swear, I’ll split my kingdom with you if you say so!”
24 She went back to her mother and said, “What should I ask for?”
“Ask for the head of John the Baptizer.”
25 Excited, she ran back to the king and said, “I want the head of John the Baptizer served up on a platter. And I want it now!”
26-29 That sobered the king up fast. But unwilling to lose face with his guests, he caved in and let her have her wish. The king sent the executioner off to the prison with orders to bring back John’s head. He went, cut off John’s head, brought it back on a platter, and presented it to the girl, who gave it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and got the body and gave it a decent burial.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, November 25, 2021
Today's Scripture
Colossians 4:2–6
(NIV)
Further Instructions
Devote yourselves to prayer,p being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a doorq for our message, so that we may proclaim the mysteryr of Christ, for which I am in chains.s 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wiset in the way you act toward outsiders;u make the most of every opportunity.v 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace,w seasoned with salt,x so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Insight
In Colossians 4:2–6, Paul draws our attention to his commitment to the Great Commission. Before we tell others about Jesus, Paul instructs us to spend time talking with God about those who don’t yet believe in Him. The Greek word translated “devote” (v. 2) means “to give attention to; to spend much time together.” Effective evangelism begins with praying for opportunities to share our faith in Jesus, asking for courage to talk about Him and for clarity of our message (vv. 3–4). We’re to “make the most of every opportunity” when it comes to sharing the good news (v. 5). Paul advocates living a life that draws others to Christ (v. 6). Jesus spoke of letting our “light shine before others, that they may see [our] good deeds” (Matthew 5:15–16). Peter tells us to “be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks . . . the reason for the hope that [we] have” (1 Peter 3:15). By: K. T. Sim
A Thankful Heart
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Colossians 4:2
Seneca, the great philosopher of ancient Rome (4 bc–ad 65), was once accused by the empress Messalina of adultery. After the Senate sentenced Seneca to death, the emperor Claudius instead exiled him to Corsica, perhaps because he suspected the charge was false. This reprieve may have shaped Seneca’s view of thankfulness when he wrote: “homicides, tyrants, thieves, adulterers, robbers, sacrilegious men, and traitors there always will be, but worse than all these is the crime of ingratitude.”
A contemporary of Seneca’s, the apostle Paul, may have agreed. In Romans 1:21, he wrote that one of the triggers for the downward collapse of humankind was that they refused to give thanks to God. Writing to the church at Colossae, three times Paul challenged his fellow believers in Christ to gratitude. He said we should be “overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:7). As we let God’s peace “rule in [our] hearts,” we’re to respond with thankfulness (3:15). In fact, gratitude ought to characterize our prayers (4:2).
God’s great kindnesses to us remind us of one of life’s great realities. He not only deserves our love and worship, He also deserves our thankful hearts. Everything that’s good in life comes from Him (James 1:17).
With all we’ve been given in Christ, gratitude should be as natural as breathing. May we respond to God’s gracious gifts by expressing our gratitude to Him. By: Bill Crowder
Reflect & Pray
What are some of the biggest, most enduring blessings you’ve received in life? What everyday blessings have you experienced that are often easy to forget?
Loving Father, forgive me for the times I’ve taken You and Your blessings for granted. Create in me a thankful heart, so I’ll honor and praise You for all You’ve done and are doing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, November 25, 2021
The Secret of Spiritual Consistency
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “…it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.…we preach Christ crucified…” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 24-26; 1 Peter 2
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, November 25, 2021
Pardoning Turkeys - #9099
Well, the President of the United States - let's see, he's got wars to manage, a wild economy to handle. You know what? Every Thanksgiving he steps up to one of the most decisive responsibilities of his office. He pardons a turkey; well, actually, two turkeys. This is really serious business. Actually they even have a backup turkey (this is the truth) just in case Turkey #1 isn't able to serve as, well, what one writer called the ungobbled gobbler.
Of course, these lucky birds have names. One year "Biscuit" and "Gravy"; yeah, they escaped the ax. And then there was "Marshmallow" and "Yam" another year. (I'm not making these up.) And then there was "May" and "Flower," and then another year, "Apple" and "Cider." Come on.
Well, after this Summit meeting with the President, the turkeys are sent to Disneyland, and they didn't even win the Super Bowl. Turkey #1 gets to ride with The Mouse as the Honorary Grand Marshal of Disneyland's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I'm thinkin' - only in America.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Pardoning Turkeys."
Now, I've been thinking about that word "pardon" because, well actually, it's become a deeply personal word for me. "May" and "Flower" got pardoned by the highest authority in the land. My pardon comes from the highest authority in the universe. And as for it being a turkey who got pardoned, well, I'm not going there.
What I can tell you is there's no way I deserved the pardon I received. Not this stubborn rebel who's pushed God to the margins of my life so many times...who's time and again said, in essence, "God, You run the universe, and I will run me, thank you." Now, I've never killed anybody, never committed a major crime against society. But I'm guilty of infinite counts of doing the selfish thing, the angry thing, the proud thing.
Now, our word today from the Word of God, Romans 3:23 says that I am a sinner, and everybody listening is. "All have sinned (the Bible says) and fall short of the glory of God." Not only is the verdict in, so is the penalty. "The wages of sin (the Bible says) is death" (Romans 6:23). That's "death" as in forever separation from God. I stand on the spiritual equivalent of Death Row, but for the pardon. Which the dictionary says is to "exempt the guilty party from punishment."
The Bible says, "Who is a God like You, who pardons sin and forgives the transgressions?" He is the God who is willing to "hurl all your iniquities into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:18-19). Buried. Erased from my record - my eternal death penalty. Well, it wasn't cancelled. It was paid by someone else - by the very Son of God Himself. "Christ died for our sins," the Bible says, "the righteous (that's Him) for the unrighteous (that's you and me), to bring you to God" (1 Peter 3:18). An unspeakable sacrifice for me, for all of us condemned sinners.
But, you know, there's something strange about a pardon. You have to take it. And who wouldn't? Well, George Wilson didn't. Condemned to hang for a crime that he committed, he was pardoned at the last minute by the then President Andrew Johnson. But as unbelievable as it sounds, he wouldn't take the pardon. As the government tried to force the pardon on Wilson, the case went all the way to the Supreme Court. The Attorney General said, "The Court cannot give the prisoner the benefit of the pardon unless he claims the benefit of it." And the Chief Justice concluded, "A pardon is an act of grace...from the power entrusted with the execution of the laws...Delivery is not complete without acceptance." Wow!
Do you know, you have to accept the pardon Jesus died to give you. You can ignore it. You can choose to keep running your own life. You can try to depend on your religion or your goodness. But then, like George Wilson, you'll pay a death penalty you don't have to pay. Jesus already paid it.
I pray that this day you would reach out and accept the blood-bought pardon of Jesus Christ. We've set up our website to help you know exactly how to begin that relationship with Him - ANewStory.com.
This is the day you can accept your pardon that came at an incredibly high price. What a Thanksgiving!