Max Lucado Daily: Majesty in the Mundane - December 22, 2021
Mary is wide awake. The pain has been eclipsed by wonder. She looks into the face of the baby. Her son. Her Lord. His Majesty. At this point in history, the human being who best understands who God is and what he is doing is a teenage girl in a smelly stable. She can’t take her eyes off of him. Somehow Mary knows she is holding God. She remembers the words of the angel. “His kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:33).
He looks like anything but a king. His face is prunish and red. His cry, though strong and healthy, is still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. He is absolutely dependent upon Mary for his well-being. Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager, and in the presence of a carpenter.
Mark 11:1-18
Entering Jerusalem on a Colt
When they were nearing Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany on Mount Olives, he sent off two of the disciples with instructions: “Go to the village across from you. As soon as you enter, you’ll find a colt tethered, one that has never yet been ridden. Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks, ‘What are you doing?’ say, ‘The Master needs him, and will return him right away.’”
4-7 They went and found a colt tied to a door at the street corner and untied it. Some of those standing there said, “What are you doing untying that colt?” The disciples replied exactly as Jesus had instructed them, and the people let them alone. They brought the colt to Jesus, spread their coats on it, and he mounted.
8-10 The people gave him a wonderful welcome, some throwing their coats on the street, others spreading out rushes they had cut in the fields. Running ahead and following after, they were calling out,
Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!
Blessed the coming kingdom of our father David!
Hosanna in highest heaven!
11 He entered Jerusalem, then entered the Temple. He looked around, taking it all in. But by now it was late, so he went back to Bethany with the Twelve.
The Cursed Fig Tree
12-14 As they left Bethany the next day, he was hungry. Off in the distance he saw a fig tree in full leaf. He came up to it expecting to find something for breakfast, but found nothing but fig leaves. (It wasn’t yet the season for figs.) He addressed the tree: “No one is going to eat fruit from you again—ever!” And his disciples overheard him.
15-17 They arrived at Jerusalem. Immediately on entering the Temple Jesus started throwing out everyone who had set up shop there, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of the bankers and the stalls of the pigeon merchants. He didn’t let anyone even carry a basket through the Temple. And then he taught them, quoting this text:
My house was designated a house of prayer for the nations;
You’ve turned it into a hangout for thieves.
18 The high priests and religion scholars heard what was going on and plotted how they might get rid of him. They panicked, for the entire crowd was carried away by his teaching.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Today's Scripture
Colossians 2:1–5
(NIV)
I want you to know how hard I am contendingz for you and for those at Laodicea,a and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heartb and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mysteryc of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.d 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.e 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spiritf and delight to see how disciplinedg you are and how firmh your faith in Christi is.
Insight
The significance of Paul’s relationship with the believers in Jesus in Colossae is noted in his word choices: “I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea” (Colossians 2:1). The words “how hard I am contending” are a translation of helíkos, “how great” (see also James 3:5), and ag?n, a place where people assembled “to celebrate solemn games.” Figuratively, ag?n referred to the contests, fights, and races that took place there. Paul used this word in 2 Timothy 4:7, where it’s translated as “fight”: “I have fought the good fight.” Though Paul was in prison (or under house arrest), that didn’t diminish his concern for the spiritual well-being of the Colossian believers. His prayers for them were constant (Colossians 1:3, 9), and his teaching was meant to help them battle the spiritual forces that lurked among them to turn them away from the supremacy of Christ (2:8–23). By: Arthur Jackson
Virtual Presence
Though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit.
Colossians 2:5
As the novel coronavirus marched across the globe, health experts advised increased physical distance between people as a means to slow the spread. Many countries asked their citizens to self-quarantine or shelter in place. Organizations sent employees home to work remotely if they could, while others suffered a financially debilitating loss of employment. Like others, I participated in church and small-group meetings through digital platforms. As a world, we practiced new forms of togetherness despite being physically disconnected.
It isn’t just the internet that lets us maintain a sense of connection. We connect to one another as members of the body of Christ through the Spirit. Paul expressed this notion centuries ago in his letter to the Colossians. Though he hadn’t personally founded their church, he cared deeply for them and their faith. And even though Paul couldn’t be with them in person, he reminded them that he was “present with [them] in spirit” (Colossians 2:5).
We can’t always be with those we love for financial, health, or other practical reasons, and technology can help fill that gap. Yet any form of virtual connection pales in comparison to the “togetherness” we can experience as fellow members of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). In such moments, we can, like Paul, rejoice in one another’s firmness of faith and, through prayer, encourage each other to fully “know the mystery of God, namely, Christ” (Colossians 2:2). By: Kirsten Holmberg
Reflect & Pray
How have you experienced a sense of connection with other members of the body of Christ? Who needs your prayers of encouragement today?
Jesus, thank You for being with me even when no other person can be physically present. Thank You for the connection You give me to others through the Holy Spirit.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
The Drawing of the Father
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him… —John 6:44
When God begins to draw me to Himself, the problem of my will comes in immediately. Will I react positively to the truth that God has revealed? Will I come to Him? To discuss or deliberate over spiritual matters when God calls is inappropriate and disrespectful to Him. When God speaks, never discuss it with anyone as if to decide what your response may be (see Galatians 1:15-16). Belief is not the result of an intellectual act, but the result of an act of my will whereby I deliberately commit myself. But will I commit, placing myself completely and absolutely on God, and be willing to act solely on what He says? If I will, I will find that I am grounded on reality as certain as God’s throne.
In preaching the gospel, always focus on the matter of the will. Belief must come from the will to believe. There must be a surrender of the will, not a surrender to a persuasive or powerful argument. I must deliberately step out, placing my faith in God and in His truth. And I must place no confidence in my own works, but only in God. Trusting in my own mental understanding becomes a hindrance to complete trust in God. I must be willing to ignore and leave my feelings behind. I must will to believe. But this can never be accomplished without my forceful, determined effort to separate myself from my old ways of looking at things. I must surrender myself completely to God.
Everyone has been created with the ability to reach out beyond his own grasp. But it is God who draws me, and my relationship to Him in the first place is an inner, personal one, not an intellectual one. I come into the relationship through the miracle of God and through my own will to believe. Then I begin to get an intelligent appreciation and understanding of the wonder of the transformation in my life.
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L
Bible in a Year: Micah 6-7; Revelation 13
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
What I Found Hiding in the Christmas Story - #9118
Christmas is always kind of a love fest with our family. And they're all so good at paying attention to what people want and need, and getting the great gifts. You know? So I expect good things, and I hope what I'm giving fits the description as well this Christmas. And you know what? Sometimes, occasionally I will find a little gift that I forgot to give. No, I don't save it for next Christmas. It might be "Happy New Year" or something like that.
You know what? Before this Christmas I found a gold nugget. Yeah. Well, actually it was a gift in the Bible. It was in the Luke 2 account of Jesus' birth. That's a passage of Scripture I've traveled many a time. But there was a nugget I didn't ever find there before.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What I Found Hiding in the Christmas Story."
Here's what hit me during the Christmas celebration. In those warm but familiar words, the angel said, "Behold, I bring you good news (you know) of great joy which shall be for all people." Okay, whoa, stop right there. From the first moments of Jesus' arrival on earth, heaven made clear that the good news about Jesus wasn't just for a few people in the club. It was for "all people." "Good news for all people!"
Thirty-three years later, Jesus would give His final orders before returning to heaven that He came from that first Christmas. Our word for today from the Word of God - Mark 16:15, tells us this: "Go and tell the Good News to everybody, everywhere!" It was there when He came. It was there when He left. A mandate to get the Good News about Him to "all people." The shepherds got it. The Bible says that as soon as they saw Him, "they spread the word."
Now, fast forward 2,000 years. When a church becomes a club, made for its members, focusing on the clubhouse, collecting dues from the members, it has gone deaf to Jesus' orders. When believers don't tell the people they know about the Savior they have, the Good News dies with their silence. And the lost folks they know will die without hope.
So, the whole message that came that first Christmas, the whole command of Jesus before He left, was to be aware of the people who don't have Jesus yet. How can we continue to just focus on ourselves and have meetings and activities that are just for us, sometimes in words only we understand?
How can we be content to be the people who are in essence "in a lifeboat" that have been rescued and surrounded by people who are dying without hope? How can we be content to be the people in the lifeboat who've been rescued, surrounded by people now who are dying without hope and not turn our lifeboat around and rescue them? We can't just be the folks in the lifeboat who are singing our lifeboat songs, and going to our lifeboat committee meetings, and building a bigger and better more comfortable lifeboat for the people who are already in it. We're surrounded by dying people.
Jesus said this isn't just for the people who are already in the boat. It's for the people who are dying right now who need to be saved. And people die because the people who are already saved do nothing about the people who are dying.
And so, as we look at Christmas now, let's look at the prospect also of a brand new year. Let's commit ourselves to the commission for which Jesus came. Which wasn't to start the Jesus Club, but to start a rescue mission that would spread across the planet. As we prepare for Christmas, and think about the news that was for all people, let's put our influence, our time, our prayer, our church budgets, our church meetings, our lives, our money into that for which Jesus came - the rescuing of the dying whatever it takes.
The Great Commission of Jesus came with His birth. It was His final word before He left. Whatever the years before have been, let's make this next year, as never before, the "Year of our Lord." The year each of us fulfills our destiny, fulfills our Lord's orders to make sure the News about Jesus gets to "all the people."
From my daily reading of the bible, Our Daily Bread Devotionals, My Utmost for His Highest and Ron Hutchcraft "A Word with You" and occasionally others.