Max Lucado Daily: TRIO OF PEAKS - November 29, 2023
You can’t run the world, nor are you expected to be all-powerful. You may think you can. But when you face your own grave or your own guilt, your power will not do the trick.
The Bible says “Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever.” A trio of peaks. Admire them, applaud them, but don’t climb them. You weren’t made to run a kingdom or to be all-powerful. And you certainly can’t handle all the glory.
Mount Applause is the most seductive of the three peaks. More than one person has stood at the top and shouted, “Mine is the glory!” only to lose their balance and fall. As you confess that God is in charge, you admit you aren’t. As you proclaim that God has power, you admit you don’t. And as you give God all the applause, there is none left to dizzy your brain.
Ephesians 4
To Be Mature
1–3 4 In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
4–6 You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.
7–13 But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. The text for this is,
He climbed the high mountain,
He captured the enemy and seized the booty,
He handed it all out in gifts to the people.
Is it not true that the One who climbed up also climbed down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.
14–16 No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
The Old Way Has to Go
17–19 And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can’t think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.
20–24 But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.
25 What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.
26–27 Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.
28 Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work.
29 Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.
30 Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.
31–32 Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Today's Scripture
Job 26:7–14
He spreads the skies over unformed space,
hangs the earth out in empty space.
He pours water into cumulus cloud-bags
and the bags don’t burst.
He makes the moon wax and wane,
putting it through its phases.
He draws the horizon out over the ocean,
sets a boundary between light and darkness.
Thunder crashes and rumbles in the skies.
Listen! It’s God raising his voice!
By his power he stills sea storms,
by his wisdom he tames sea monsters.
With one breath he clears the sky,
with one finger he crushes the sea serpent.
And this is only the beginning,
a mere whisper of his rule.
Whatever would we do if he really raised his voice!”
Insight
Hearing about Job’s sufferings, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar came to comfort him (Job 2:11). His three friends believed that his suffering was a result of sin. During three rounds of dialogue (chs. 4–31), they argued with him, trying to convince him to repent so that God would bless him again. Maintaining his innocence, Job rejected his friends’ explanation for human suffering. Bildad accused him of not knowing who God is (ch. 25). Responding, Job said he knew God better than Bildad. Job spoke of God as the Creator and described His mystery, supremacy, and majesty. He’s omnipotent—He created and controls everything (26:5–13). He’s also transcendent—what we see of Him in creation is but the fringes of His ways, and what we hear is but a whisper of His power! (v. 14). By: K. T. Sim
Just a Whisper
How faint the whisper we hear of Him! Job 26:14
The whispering wall in New York City’s Grand Central Station is an acoustic oasis from the clamor of the area. This unique spot allows people to communicate quiet messages from a distance of thirty feet. When one person stands at the base of a granite archway and speaks softly into the wall, soundwaves travel up and over the curved stone to the listener on the other side.
Job heard the whisper of a message when his life was filled with noise and the tragedy of losing nearly everything (Job 1:13–19; 2:7). His friends blabbered their opinions, his own thoughts tumbled endlessly, and trouble had invaded every aspect of his existence. Still, the majesty of nature spoke softly to him about God’s divine power.
The splendor of the skies, the mystery of the earth suspended in space, and the stability of the horizon reminded Job that the world was in the palm of God’s hand (26:7–11). Even a churning sea and a rumbling atmosphere led him to say, “these are but the outer fringe of [God’s] works; how faint the whisper we hear of him!” (v. 14).
If the world’s wonders represent just a fragment of God’s capabilities, it’s clear that His power exceeds our ability to understand it. In times of brokenness, this gives us hope. God can do anything, including what He did for Job as He sustained him during suffering. By: Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Reflect & Pray
How does God’s great power comfort you? Which parts of nature inspire you to stand in awe of Him?
Dear God, when my problems seem big, help me to remember that You’re bigger, and nothing is impossible for You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
The Supremacy of Jesus Christ
He will glorify Me… —John 16:14
The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, prayer, and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous. It did not cost the sufferings of God, nor is it stained with “the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). It is not marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit as being genuine, and it has no visual sign that causes people to exclaim with awe and wonder, “That is the work of God Almighty!” Yet the New Testament is about the work of God and nothing else.
The New Testament example of the Christian experience is that of a personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other kind of so-called Christian experience is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration— no being born again into the kingdom in which Christ lives and reigns supreme. There is only the idea that He is our pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the Savior long before He is the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion— a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He is the gospel of God!
Jesus said, “…when He, the Spirit of truth, has come,…He will glorify Me…” (John 16:13-14). When I commit myself to the revealed truth of the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit, who then begins interpreting to me what Jesus did. The Spirit of God does in me internally all that Jesus Christ did for me externally.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.” Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 35-36; 2 Peter 1
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Being the Harbor In Their Hurricane - #9623
It was a crazy Christmas at our house! Everybody in our family, three generations, is really excited about giving gifts to the others, and getting them. Well, sometimes our festivities aren't quite like "peace on earth." Such was this particular Christmas. The chatter was loud, the laughter was hearty, and the buzz was intense. Or, in the case of a two-year old grandchild at the time, it was just confusing. My wife had this finely-tuned grandma's radar, and she noticed that our little grandson seemed a little dazed by all this happy Christmas crossfire. So you know what? She just quietly slipped to the floor. (We didn't even notice.) She got down where he was and began working patiently with him on assembling a toy he had just opened. That precious scene had been going on for a few minutes I think before any of us even noticed in the chaos. But there was Grandma, quietly creating this island of sanity in a sea of craziness.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Being the Harbor In Their Hurricane."
That's what Grandma was for our little guy. She provided the human harbor that protected him from the storm that was blowing all around him. There are some people in your life who need a harbor like that - someone who will be for them a safe place in the middle of a life bombardment. God has put you there to be that harbor.
And He's given us a wonderful flesh-and-blood example of it in our word for today from the Word of God which begins in Acts 4:36 where a man named Joseph was renamed by the church leaders, "Joseph...whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement)." I love that. I mean, we've all been called some names we'd like to forget, but wouldn't it be great if people thought you should be called "Encouragement"?
Well, let's watch Mr. Encouragement in action. Saul, the chief persecutor of the early Christians, has just been brought miraculously to Christ. But with his reputation, man, he's radioactive. No one wants to risk letting him in the door, except for Barnabas. The Bible says, "When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles"'' (Acts 9:26-27). He was the harbor when no one else was there for Saul.
When Gentiles, who the Jewish believers weren't very excited about, reportedly came to Christ in Antioch, guess who was there for them? Yep, Barnabas. The Bible says, "He encouraged them all" (Acts 11:23). Saul became the Apostle Paul and he and Barnabas went out as the first Christian missionaries. But they got into a major disagreement over bringing a young man named Mark along. He'd washed out in a previous mission and Paul didn't want to take him along. But Barnabas, the guy who believed in second chances, he took Mark with him to another ministry assignment. Wouldn't you know, later in life, Paul wrote that Mark was "helpful to me in my ministry" (2 Timothy 4:11). I think that was because a guy named Barnabas kept believing in him.
Will you be the Barnabas for the people around you? While the world is going crazy and the bullets are flying, will you be the one who makes each person feel like they're the only person in the world when they're with you. You can be their island of sanity in an insane world just by giving each person your total focus and your undistracted listening. Human harbor folks like Barnabas give people the "Three Life-Changing A's": your attention, your affection, and your affirmation.
Those positive strokes will help them feel how special they really are. Not just to you, but to God. They know they can come to you and they'll be uncondemned, they will be unjudged, and they will be unafraid. There are few things you can do that will mean more in the midst of a storm than to pray, right then and there, with that person who's under pressure.
In the midst of the crossfire and the craziness of this very cold and confusing world, you have so much to give, because you have found your harbor in the arms of Jesus Christ.
Be what the people around you need so desperately. Be the one place that they will know they are safe.