Max Lucado Daily: LOOK AT GOD - August 11, 2022
Children have a tendency to say, “Look at me!” On the tricycle: “Look at me go!” On the trampoline: “Look at me bounce!” On the swing set: “Look at me swing!” Such behavior is acceptable for children, yet many adults spend their grown-up years saying the same. “Look at me drive this fancy car!” “Look at me make money!” “Look at me wear provocative clothes, or use big words, or flex my muscles. Look at me!”
Isn’t it time we grew up? We were made to live a life that says, “Look at God!” People are to look at us and see not us but the image of our Maker. This is God’s plan. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “We are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Because God’s promises are unbreakable our hope is unshakable.
Unshakable Hope
Read more Unshakable Hope
John 1:29-51
The God-Revealer
29-31 The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I’ve been talking about, ‘the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.’ I knew nothing about who he was—only this: that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God.”
32-34 John clinched his witness with this: “I watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him. I repeat, I know nothing about him except this: The One who authorized me to baptize with water told me, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay, this One will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ That’s exactly what I saw happen, and I’m telling you, there’s no question about it: This is the Son of God.”
Come, See for Yourself
35-36 The next day John was back at his post with two disciples, who were watching. He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby, and said, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb.”
37-38 The two disciples heard him and went after Jesus. Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, “What are you after?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 He replied, “Come along and see for yourself.”
They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day. It was late afternoon when this happened.
40-42 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s witness and followed Jesus. The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, “We’ve found the Messiah” (that is, “Christ”). He immediately led him to Jesus.
Jesus took one look up and said, “You’re John’s son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas” (or Peter, which means “Rock”).
43-44 The next say Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, “Come, follow me.” (Philip’s hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)
45-46 Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!” Nathanael said, “Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding.”
But Philip said, “Come, see for yourself.”
47 When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”
48 Nathanael said, “Where did you get that idea? You don’t know me.”
Jesus answered, “One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.”
49 Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!”
50-51 Jesus said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, August 11, 2022
Today's Scripture Romans 11:33–36
Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out.
Is there anyone around who can explain God?
Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do?
Anyone who has done him such a huge favor that God has to ask his advice?
Everything comes from him;
Everything happens through him;
Everything ends up in him.
Always glory! Always praise!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Insight
Paul isn’t the first biblical writer to speak of God being unknowable (Romans 11:33–35). Two thousand years earlier, Job (who is believed to have lived around the time of Abraham) asked, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God?” (Job 11:7). The prophet Isaiah aptly summed up our incapacity to fully know God: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8). But God desires us to know Him: “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord” (Jeremiah 24:7; see Hebrews 8:10–11). The apostle John tells us that “no one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God . . . has made him known” (John 1:18). Jesus Himself affirmed, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (8:19). Even though we can’t comprehend everything about God, John says everyone who knows Jesus knows Him (17:3). By: K. T. Sim
Untold Riches
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
Romans 11:33
In an orbit between Mars and Jupiter zooms an asteroid worth trillions and trillions of dollars. Scientists say 16 Psyche consists of metals such as gold, iron, nickel, and platinum worth unfathomable amounts of money. For now, earthlings are not attempting to mine this rich resource, but the United States is planning to send a probe to study the valuable rock.
The promise of untold riches just out of reach can be both tantalizing and frustrating. Surely in time there will be people who will champion the cause of reaching 16 Psyche for its treasure.
But what about the prospect of riches that are within our reach? Wouldn’t everyone go for that? Writing to the first-century church at Rome, the apostle Paul spoke of attainable riches—those we find in our relationship with God. He wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Romans 11:33). Bible scholar James Denney described these riches as “the unsearchable wealth of love that enables God to . . . far more than meet the [great needs] of the world.”
Isn’t that what we need—even more than gold nuggets from some far-off asteroid? We can mine the riches of God’s wisdom and knowledge found in the Scriptures as the Holy Spirit helps us. May God lead us to dig into those riches and to know and treasure Him more.
Reflect & Pray
What does it mean for you to be rich in God’s love? How can you dig more for riches that last?
Father God, help me to seek out Your wisdom and knowledge, Your judgments, and Your paths as I seek to follow You.
For further study, read New Life: The Transforming Power of the Gospel.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, August 11, 2022
This Experience Must Come
Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha…saw him no more. —2 Kings 2:11-12
It is not wrong for you to depend on your “Elijah” for as long as God gives him to you. But remember that the time will come when he must leave and will no longer be your guide and your leader, because God does not intend for him to stay. Even the thought of that causes you to say, “I cannot continue without my ‘Elijah.’ ” Yet God says you must continue.
Alone at Your “Jordan” (2 Kings 2:14). The Jordan River represents the type of separation where you have no fellowship with anyone else, and where no one else can take your responsibility from you. You now have to put to the test what you learned when you were with your “Elijah.” You have been to the Jordan over and over again with Elijah, but now you are facing it alone. There is no use in saying that you cannot go— the experience is here, and you must go. If you truly want to know whether or not God is the God your faith believes Him to be, then go through your “Jordan” alone.
Alone at Your “Jericho” (2 Kings 2:15). Jericho represents the place where you have seen your “Elijah” do great things. Yet when you come alone to your “Jericho,” you have a strong reluctance to take the initiative and trust in God, wanting, instead, for someone else to take it for you. But if you remain true to what you learned while with your “Elijah,” you will receive a sign, as Elisha did, that God is with you.
Alone at Your “Bethel” (2 Kings 2:23). At your “Bethel” you will find yourself at your wits’ end but at the beginning of God’s wisdom. When you come to your wits’ end and feel inclined to panic— don’t! Stand true to God and He will bring out His truth in a way that will make your life an expression of worship. Put into practice what you learned while with your “Elijah”— use his mantle and pray (see 2 Kings 2:13-14). Make a determination to trust in God, and do not even look for Elijah anymore.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.
Not Knowing Whither
Bible in a Year: Psalms 81-83; Romans 11:19-36
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, August 11, 2022
CHOOSING YOUR BATTLES - #9284
Many Civil War scholars would consider the Battle of Gettysburg as the turning point - or certainly one of the turning points - of that bloody war. And Civil War buffs have discussed for decades what factors actually decided the outcome of the battle that may have decided the outcome of the war. One key factor happened before the real battle actually began those three days in July of 1863. Soldiers from both North and South were on the move as General Lee's troops launched an invasion of Union territory. Union General Buford unintentionally encountered some of the advance Confederate forces. Well, he sized up the terrain around Gettysburg, and he decided that the ground called Cemetery Ridge would be the decisive high ground when the forces of Blue and Gray finally came to blows. And he determined to keep the advanced southern troops from having that ground, and he succeeded. In so doing, he secured for the North, ground that would indeed help decide the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Choosing Your Battles."
Throughout military history, victories have been won because someone knew which battle was worth fighting and which battleground was best to fight on. It might be an important part of whether or not you'll win in some of the battles you're fighting right now as a parent, or at work, in keeping people together, maybe in your church.
King David! There's a veteran warrior, and he understood that it was important to be sure that you're fighting the right battles. In 2 Samuel 5, beginning with verse 18, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible says: "Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; so David inquired of the Lord, 'Shall I go and attack the Philistines?'... The Lord answered him, 'Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you.' So David went...and he defeated them."
Later, the Philistines invaded again. "So David inquired of the Lord, and He answered, 'Do not go straight up...'" Now, notice here, David did not undertake a battle until he had checked with God to see if this was a battle he should fight. That's a powerful model for you and me.
Some of us as parents or leaders, we tend to make everything a battle. We just can't keep our mouth shut, we can't let anything pass. And even if you're fighting good battles, if you're always fighting, people become immune to you. And when you've got a really important issue to fight for, they'll just say, "Here he goes again." That's not good. Some of us parents, we so want our kids to do the right thing that we're like all over them all the time. And they eventually just turn us off. Same with any of us who are always fighting.
So don't make every issue a battleground. Don't make everything a battle. Fight for the real issues, not over every incident. Don't try to settle issues based on an incident that's got everybody all inflamed right now. Deal with it at a time when there's not an incident. Save your ammunition for the battles that really matter.
Above all, always check with God to see if this is His battle; one that He thinks is worth fighting and that you're the one to fight it. So that you can say with David against Goliath, "The battle is the Lord's." Choosing your battles, choosing your battlegrounds, and sometimes holding your fire. Those are keys to winning the battles that decide the war.