Luke 2:1-24, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: For His Highest - February 15, 2022

In 1910 Biddy Chambers and her husband were married and busy about their dream of starting a Bible college. Biddy took careful notes of her husband’s lectures and turned them into correspondence courses. Then complications from appendicitis rendered Biddy a widow. The teaching ministry would need to be abandoned, right? No. Biddy turned her husband’s notes into pamphlets. Eventually they were compiled into a book. My Utmost for His Highest was published in 1927. It has since sold more than thirteen million copies.

The work of Oswald Chambers surely exceeded his fondest hopes. But it was the sincere faith of his wife that made the difference. She gave what she had to Jesus. Let’s follow her example.

Luke 2:1-24

The Birth of Jesus

 About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.

6-7 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.
An Event for Everyone

8-12 There were shepherds camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”

13-14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

15-18 As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the shepherds talked it over. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the shepherds were impressed.

19-20 Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The shepherds returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they’d been told!
Blessings

21 When the eighth day arrived, the day of circumcision, the child was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived.

22-24 Then when the days stipulated by Moses for purification were complete, they took him up to Jerusalem to offer him to God as commanded in God’s Law: “Every male who opens the womb shall be a holy offering to God,” and also to sacrifice the “pair of doves or two young pigeons” prescribed in God’s Law.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Today's Scripture
Romans 12:1–5
(NIV)

Place Your Life Before God

1–2     12 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

3     I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

4–6     In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body,

Insight

Romans 12 marks a turning point in Paul’s letter. Previously the apostle had been explaining the work of God in salvation, describing Jesus as the second Adam who came to redeem what had been lost through our first parents’ disobedience in Eden. Now he turns his attention to the way this salvation is to be lived out by those bought by Christ’s sacrifice. It starts with the redeemed becoming a “living sacrifice” (v. 1), whose focus is on being useful to God in the lives of others. This is followed by a list of spiritual gifts to equip God’s children in service to others (vv. 3–8). Another group of spiritual gifts appears in 1 Corinthians 12:7–11, and a list of leadership roles (gifts to the church) is found in Ephesians 4:11. Through the provision of these gifts and roles, the Spirit enables us to be useful in our spiritual service. By: Bill Crowder

We Are One

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Romans 12:2

In a small farming community, news travels fast. Several years after the bank sold the farm David’s family had owned for decades, he learned the property would be available for sale. After much sacrifice and saving, David arrived at the auction and joined a crowd of nearly two hundred local farmers. Would David’s meager bid be enough? He placed the first bid, taking deep breaths as the auctioneer called for higher bids. The crowd remained silent until they heard the slam of the gavel. The fellow farmers placed the needs of David and his family above their own financial advancement.

This story about the farmers’ sacrificial act of kindness demonstrates the way the apostle Paul urges followers of Christ to live. Paul warns us not to conform to the “pattern of this world” (Romans 12:2), by placing our selfish desires before the needs of others and scrambling for self-preservation. Instead, we can trust God to meet our needs as we serve others. As the Holy Spirit renews our minds, we can respond to situations with God-honoring love and motives. Placing others first can help us avoid thinking too highly of ourselves as God reminds us that we’re a part of something bigger—the church (vv. 3–4).

The Holy Spirit helps believers understand and obey the Scriptures. He empowers us to give selflessly and love generously, so we can thrive together as one. By:  Xochitl Dixon

Reflect & Pray

How can you place someone else’s needs before your own? How has your faith been impacted by someone placing your needs before their own?

Father God, please rid me of my selfishness so I can love selflessly and stand as one with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, February 15, 2022

“Am I My Brother’s Keeper?”

None of us lives to himself… —Romans 14:7

Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible spiritually to God for other people? For instance, if I allow any turning away from God in my private life, everyone around me suffers. We “sit together in the heavenly places…” (Ephesians 2:6). “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it…” (1 Corinthians 12:26). If you allow physical selfishness, mental carelessness, moral insensitivity, or spiritual weakness, everyone in contact with you will suffer. But you ask, “Who is sufficient to be able to live up to such a lofty standard?” “Our sufficiency is from God…” and God alone (2 Corinthians 3:5).

“You shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8). How many of us are willing to spend every bit of our nervous, mental, moral, and spiritual energy for Jesus Christ? That is what God means when He uses the word witness. But it takes time, so be patient with yourself. Why has God left us on the earth? Is it simply to be saved and sanctified? No, it is to be at work in service to Him. Am I willing to be broken bread and poured-out wine for Him? Am I willing to be of no value to this age or this life except for one purpose and one alone— to be used to disciple men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ. My life of service to God is the way I say “thank you” to Him for His inexpressibly wonderful salvation. Remember, it is quite possible for God to set any of us aside if we refuse to be of service to Him— “…lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.… We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be. My Utmost for His Highest, January 6, 736 R

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 17-18; Matthew 27:27-50

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Making a Man Feel Safe - #9157

"Should I call her, dad?" My then teenage son used to say that. And like all boys his age, he was unsure of what kind of response he would get from a girl. "Should I call her?" Well, I'll tell you, it seems like just yesterday I was asking that question when I was a teenage boy. I'd stare at the phone for about 45 minutes, wondering if I dared to call. And, man, sometimes no matter how suave I tried to be, all of a sudden I'd get on that phone and I'd go, "Hello." It's amazing how intimidating a girl can be. There were a couple of girls, though, that I didn't even have to think twice about calling. I just picked up the phone and started talking naturally. But, you know, it was because they made me feel safe. It is amazing the power of a woman to make a man feel safe or unsafe.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Making a Man Feel Safe."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Proverbs 31. I have often talked with my daughter or my wife about that Proverbs 31 woman; the greatest description probably in all the Bible of what a woman can be at her "womanliest." Is that a word? Well, it is now. And it says some of these things about her. She has noble character, she is worth far more than rubies, her children rise up and call her blessed." And then it tells us that her husband is respected at the city gate where he takes his seat among the leaders of the land. What a tremendous description! I mean any woman would like to be worth far more than rubies and have her children call her blessed, and be of noble character.

Well, one of her secrets is given in this chapter; the secret of a woman who has healthy relationships, who brings out the best in the men in her life. And it's summed up in these words, Proverbs 31:11, "Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value." I'm going to put that in other words. Her man feels safe with her.

See, men are usually evaluated in our world on the basis of how they perform, their athletic prowess, or their macho image, or they're always under control, or they're successful in their career. And most men just continue this performance kind of love right into their relationships with women until a loving, affirming woman lets him know he does not have to perform for her. He does not have to impress her. He's safe with her. He can share his secrets and know they will never be violated. He can be weak around her. He can be frustrated. He can be scared.

Every man needs a woman who will love the little boy inside him. Now, I know every woman needs a man who will make her feel safe. But that's another program. Today's about Proverbs 31. Men are very self-assured outside. But listen, we're very self-conscious on the inside. Men are very lonely people, because, well, we're not that good at the relationship side of things. And a lot of our relationships are superficial. But God raises up a special breed. Sometimes He'll give you a women in your life who's about able to give a man a harbor; a mother who makes her son feel safe; a teacher that makes the boy in her class feel safe; the woman who is not hunting men or chasing men or using men, but who wants to minister acceptance and security to the men in her world. The Bible calls her, "a woman who fears the Lord."

See, she's brought her needs to the Lord so she feels safe. So she can gently, consistently provide the safe harbor that a man so desperately needs. That kind of woman a man can call on any time and she will bring out his best. And that's the kind of woman Jesus creates when a woman brings her heart to Him. He makes a woman feel safe. She is. He gives a woman love without strings; never leave you love. If He was ever going to leave you, He would have when He was dying on the cross for your sin. No conditions; no end to it - supernatural love.

Man or woman, if you've never experienced that love for yourself, get started in a relationship with Him today. You can find out how at our website ANewStory.com.

When you belong to Jesus, He plants in you a supernatural, transforming love because you know what it is to be eternally loved by God Himself.