Max Lucado Daily: Who Do You Believe Jesus Is? - January 25, 2022
Jesus asked, “But who do you say that I am?” (Luke 9:20). Flip back the flaps of your soul, and you’ll see a series of beliefs that serve like poles to stabilize the tent of your life and faith. Your belief system is your answer to fundamental questions about life. Is anyone in control of the universe? Does life have a purpose? Is this life all there is?
Your belief system has nothing to do with your skin color, your appearance, your talents, or your age. It is the set of convictions—all of them unseen—upon which your life depends. If your belief system is strong, you will stand. If it is weak, the storm will prevail.
Belief always precedes behavior. To change the way a person responds to life, change what a person believes about life. So…who do you believe Jesus is?
Numbers 23
Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and then prepare seven bulls and seven rams.”
2 Balak did it. Then Balaam and Balak sacrificed a bull and a ram on each of the altars.
3 Balaam instructed Balak: “Stand watch here beside your Whole-Burnt-Offering while I go off by myself. Maybe God will come and meet with me. Whatever he shows or tells me, I’ll report to you.” Then he went off by himself.
4 God did meet with Balaam. Balaam said, “I’ve set up seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.”
5 Then God gave Balaam a message: “Return to Balak and give him this message.”
6-10 He went back and found him stationed beside his Whole-Burnt-Offering and with him all the nobles of Moab. Then Balaam spoke his message-oracle:
Balak led me here from Aram,
the king of Moab all the way from the eastern mountains.
“Go, curse Jacob for me;
go, damn Israel.”
How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I damn whom God has not damned?
From rock pinnacles I see them,
from hilltops I survey them:
Look! a people camping off by themselves,
thinking themselves outsiders among nations.
But who could ever count the dust of Jacob
or take a census of cloud-of-dust Israel?
I want to die like these right-living people!
I want an end just like theirs!
11 Balak said to Balaam, “What’s this? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and all you’ve done is bless them.”
12 Balaam answered, “Don’t I have to be careful to say what God gives me to say?”
* * *
13 Balak said to him, “Go with me to another place from which you can only see the outskirts of their camp—you won’t be able to see the whole camp. From there, curse them for my sake.”
14 So he took him to Watchmen’s Meadow at the top of Pisgah. He built seven altars there and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
15 Balaam said to Balak, “Take up your station here beside your Whole-Burnt-Offering while I meet with him over there.”
16 God met with Balaam and gave him a message. He said, “Return to Balak and give him the message.”
17-24 Balaam returned and found him stationed beside his Whole-Burnt-Offering and the nobles of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What did God say?” Then Balaam spoke his message-oracle:
On your feet, Balak. Listen,
listen carefully son of Zippor:
God is not man, one given to lies,
and not a son of man changing his mind.
Does he speak and not do what he says?
Does he promise and not come through?
I was brought here to bless;
and now he’s blessed—how can I change that?
He has no bone to pick with Jacob,
he sees nothing wrong with Israel.
God is with them,
and they’re with him, shouting praises to their King.
God brought them out of Egypt,
rampaging like a wild ox.
No magic spells can bind Jacob,
no incantations can hold back Israel.
People will look at Jacob and Israel and say,
“What a great thing has God done!”
Look, a people rising to its feet, stretching like a lion,
a king-of-the-beasts, aroused,
Unsleeping, unresting until its hunt is over
and it’s eaten and drunk its fill.
25 Balak said to Balaam, “Well, if you can’t curse them, at least don’t bless them.”
26 Balaam replied to Balak, “Didn’t I tell you earlier: ‘All God speaks, and only what he speaks, I speak’?”
* * *
27-28 Balak said to Balaam, “Please, let me take you to another place; maybe we can find the right place in God’s eyes where you’ll be able to curse them for me.” So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, with a vista over the Jeshimon (Wasteland).
29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for sacrifice.”
30 Balak did it and presented an offering of a bull and a ram on each of the altars.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Today's Scripture
1 John 4:10–21
(NIV)
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved usn and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.o 11 Dear friends,p since God so loved us,q we also ought to love one another.r 12 No one has ever seen God;s but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.t
13 This is how we knowu that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.v 14 And we have seen and testifyw that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.x 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,y God lives in them and they in God.z 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love.a Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.b 17 This is how love is made completec among us so that we will have confidenced on the day of judgment:e In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,f because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.g 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sisterh is a liar.i For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen,j cannot love God, whom they have not seen.k 21 And he has given us this command:l Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Insight
Scholars believe 1 John was written by the apostle John, the author of the fourth gospel. Some ten years after writing his gospel, John wrote this letter to teach believers how to “live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6)—putting love into action. Reminiscent of the language of John 3:16–17, John reminds us that God “sent his one and only Son into the world . . . as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9–10). “Atoning sacrifice” describes what Jesus did on the cross in “removing guilt and purifying sinners (expiation), and appeasing God’s anger toward sinners (propitiation)” (NIV Zondervan Study Bible). By: K. T. Sim
Loving God
We know and rely on the love God has for us.
1 John 4:16
The professor ended his online class in one of two ways each time. He’d say, “See you next time” or “Have a good weekend.” Some students would respond with “Thank you. You too!” But one day a student responded, “I love you.” Surprised, he replied, “I love you too!” That evening the classmates agreed to create an “I love you chain” for the next class time in appreciation for their professor who had to teach to a screen on his computer, not in-person teaching as he preferred. A few days later when he finished teaching, the professor said, “See you next time,” and one by one the students replied, “I love you.” They continued this practice for months. The teacher said this created a strong bond with his students, and he now feels they’re “family.”
In 1 John 4:10–21, we, as part of God’s family, find several reasons to say “I love you” to Him: He sent His Son as a sacrifice for our sin (v. 10). He gave us His Spirit to live in us (vv. 13, 15). His love is always reliable (v. 16), and we never need to fear judgment (v. 17). He enables us to love Him and others “because he first loved us” (v. 19).
The next time you gather with God’s people, take time to share your reasons for loving Him. Making an “I love you” chain for God will bring Him praise and bring you closer together.
Reflect & Pray
Why do you love God? How can you show others His love?
I’m grateful to know Your love and to be a part of Your family, Father. Show me ways to creatively express that love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Leave Room for God
When it pleased God… —Galatians 1:15
As servants of God, we must learn to make room for Him— to give God “elbow room.” We plan and figure and predict that this or that will happen, but we forget to make room for God to come in as He chooses. Would we be surprised if God came into our meeting or into our preaching in a way we had never expected Him to come? Do not look for God to come in a particular way, but do look for Him. The way to make room for Him is to expect Him to come, but not in a certain way. No matter how well we may know God, the great lesson to learn is that He may break in at any minute. We tend to overlook this element of surprise, yet God never works in any other way. Suddenly—God meets our life “…when it pleased God….”
Keep your life so constantly in touch with God that His surprising power can break through at any point. Live in a constant state of expectancy, and leave room for God to come in as He decides.
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.
Bible in a Year: Exodus 12-13; Matthew 16
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Hitting Pause - #9142
I could tell that our first grandson was going to be a busy little guy when he was just a little guy. He wasn't even in school yet, and he was already immersed in a project of some kind. And when I mean he got immersed, he got immersed. One day he was involved first in a detailed coloring project where he was intently working to have it just right, you know. And then there was a large puzzle he was focused on completing. And what he hadn't taken time for recently, well, was what a lot of little boys don't take time for...a bathroom stop. Too busy you know. Knowing this boy understood video functions very well, his Dad just said, "Time for a bathroom break. Don't you think it's time to hit 'pause'?" Without looking up from his current project, our grandson said in all sincerity, "I don't have a 'pause.'"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hitting Pause."
Some of us have a father, actually a Heavenly Father, who's saying to us, "It's time to hit 'pause.'" But we're moving really fast. We're focused on the demands and the projects in front of us and we're saying, "I don't have a 'pause.'" That's a bad idea.
In Psalm 46:10, our word for today from the Word of God, He says, "Be still, and know that I am God." Hit pause and remember who's really in charge here, whose battle this really is, and whose plans you're supposed to be pursuing. God may be trying to get you to slow down or stop right now so He can show you some things that you're never going to see if you're on the run.
It could be you've been running ahead of the Lord's timing, or you've been pursuing what you want instead of what He wants. Isaiah quotes the Lord as saying, "Woe to the obstinate children...to those who carry out plans that are not Mine..." (Isaiah 30:1). Those are pretty sobering words. Often we can't see that we're trying desperately to make something work that wasn't God's idea in the first place. He has to pull us over to the side of the road for us to realize we're on the wrong road.
Or maybe you've been neglecting the regular timeout that God calls a "Sabbath"; you're all accelerator and no brakes, you're violating God's created order of taking regular rest. It's possible that God's been trying to say some very important things to you, things that would bring sense to your swirling world, but you can't hear Him because you're running so fast. Whatever the reason for your non-stop pace, I know there has to be someone listening right now to whom God is saying, "It's time to hit 'pause.'" Don't ignore His call to "be still and know that He is God."
If we don't choose to slow down, He will as the 23rd Psalm says, "make us lie down in green pastures." He has a lot of creative ways to get you to slow down if you don't choose to slow down - health, finances, crises, family problems. He asks us to pause, or ultimately makes us pause, not to punish us, but to refit us.
He's wanting to slow you down for work that needs to be done, for refueling that you desperately need, for retooling, for redirecting you back into the center of His will. And He's actually wired us to do what His Son did at the beginning of His unbelievably busy days here on earth - to spend quiet time with Him. To hit 'pause' each new day so we can hear our Master's voice before we hear any other, so we can appropriate our Master's resources, see things through His eyes, experience our Master's healing touch, and receive our Master's orders for that day.
When you don't hit "pause," you'll end up running right past the God that you can't do without.
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.