Max Lucado Daily: KEEP AN EYE TOWARD THE SKY - January 24, 2025
The rapture of the Christians sounds fantastical. Yet, before you write it off, remember this is how God works. Did he not flood the earth? Did he not turn the Red Sea into a red carpet so the Hebrews could escape bondage?
God is the God of divine interruptions. Holy surprises. Who could have imagined God living on earth? But he came. Who could’ve imagined God hanging on a cross? But he died. Who could have imagined the empty tomb? But he rose from the dead. He intervenes in mighty and miraculous ways. He has before. He will again.
In the meantime keep an eye toward the sky, and live in such a way that Christ will find you faithfully looking for him. “Always be ready, because you don’t know the day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42 NCV).
Genesis 5
The Family Tree of the Human Race
1–2 5 This is the family tree of the human race: When God created the human race, he made it godlike, with a nature akin to God. He created both male and female and blessed them, the whole human race.
3–5 When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son who was just like him, his very spirit and image, and named him Seth. After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters. Adam lived a total of 930 years. And he died.
6–8 When Seth was 105 years old, he had Enosh. After Seth had Enosh, he lived another 807 years, having more sons and daughters. Seth lived a total of 912 years. And he died.
9–11 When Enosh was ninety years old, he had Kenan. After he had Kenan, he lived another 815 years, having more sons and daughters. Enosh lived a total of 905 years. And he died.
12–14 When Kenan was seventy years old, he had Mahalalel. After he had Mahalalel, he lived another 840 years, having more sons and daughters. Kenan lived a total of 910 years. And he died.
15–17 When Mahalalel was sixty-five years old, he had Jared. After he had Jared, he lived another 830 years, having more sons and daughters. Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years. And he died.
18–20 When Jared was 162 years old, he had Enoch. After he had Enoch, he lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters. Jared lived a total of 962 years. And he died.
21–23 When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he had Methuselah. Enoch walked steadily with God. After he had Methuselah, he lived another 300 years, having more sons and daughters. Enoch lived a total of 365 years.
24 Enoch walked steadily with God. And then one day he was simply gone: God took him.
25–27 When Methuselah was 187 years old, he had Lamech. After he had Lamech, he lived another 782 years. Methuselah lived a total of 969 years. And he died.
28–31 When Lamech was 182 years old, he had a son. He named him Noah, saying, “This one will give us a break from the hard work of farming the ground that God cursed.” After Lamech had Noah, he lived another 595 years, having more sons and daughters. Lamech lived a total of 777 years. And he died.
32 When Noah was 500 years old, he had Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, January 24, 2025
by Adam R. Holz
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Colossians 2:6-12
From the Shadows to the Substance
6–7 My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
8–10 Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.
11–15 Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it’s an initiation ritual you’re after, you’ve already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ.
Today's Insights
Paul wrote the book of Colossians to the church in Colossae, which was possibly founded by Epaphras (Colossians 1:6-7). Paul wrote this letter during his first Roman imprisonment to address false beliefs and warn of the danger of falling prey to “hollow and deceptive” teaching (2:8). He knew the best way not to be led astray was to be “rooted and built up in [Christ]” (v. 7) through a relationship with Him and familiarity with Scripture. Elsewhere, the apostle warned of false teachers (themselves deceived by Satan) who deceived “naive people” through “smooth talk and flattery” (Romans 16:18) and “empty words” (Ephesians 5:6). He urged believers to battle deception by being “strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” by putting on “the full armor of God, so that [we] can take [our] stand against the devil’s schemes” (6:10-11). With God, we can “stand firm” (v. 14).
Christ Matters Most
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy. Colossians 2:8
My wife and I like cheesy, feel-good romantic movies. I could say it’s her thing. But I like ’em too. Their charm and appeal lies in their predictable path toward happily ever after. Recently, we watched one that offered some questionable romantic advice. Love is a feeling, it said. Then, Follow your heart. Finally, Your happiness matters most. Our emotions matter, of course. But self-focused emotionalism is a lousy foundation for a lasting marriage.
Mainstream culture dishes up many ideas that sound good initially but crumble upon closer inspection. And careful inspection is exactly what Paul has in mind in Colossians 2. There, he emphasizes that being “rooted and built up in [Christ], strengthened in the faith” (v. 7) enables us to identify our culture’s lies. The apostle calls such lies “hollow and deceptive philosophy,” built “on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ” (v. 8).
So the next time you watch a movie, ask yourself or those you’re with, “What does this movie suggest is wise? How does that compare to what Scripture says is true?” And remember that it’s Christ that matters most. Only in Him can we find true wisdom and wholeness (vv. 9-10).
Reflect & Pray
How does popular culture shape how you see the world? How does your faith help you evaluate the values you encounter in entertainment?
Father, our world is filled with stories that promise life but ultimately run counter to Your truth. Please give me a hunger for Your wisdom that I might walk in Your ways.
For further study, read The Story of God’s Quest of Redemption.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, January 24, 2025
The Overmastering Relationship
I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness. —Acts 26:16
Paul’s vision on the road to Damascus was no passing dream. It was a vision that brought with it clear and emphatic instructions. Jesus told Paul that from now on Paul’s whole life was to be mastered: it was to be subdued, to have no end, aim, or purpose except Christ’s. “I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant.”
All of us, when we are born again, have visions of what Jesus wants us to be. The big thing we must learn is not to be disobedient to the vision; we must not say that it can’t be attained. We think it can’t be attained because our faith doesn’t have the proper foundations. It isn’t enough to believe that God has redeemed the world, or that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did come alive in us. We must have the basis of a personal relationship with him. Paul wasn’t given a script or a doctrine to proclaim; he was brought into a vivid, personal, overmastering relationship with Jesus Christ, and on this basis he became a witness.
We too must have as the foundation of our faith a personal relationship with Jesus. This is the only way our vision will be attained, and the only way we’ll succeed in obeying it. Verse 16 is immensely commanding: “to appoint you as a servant and as a witness.” There is nothing there apart from a personal relationship.
Paul was devoted to a person, not a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ’s. He saw nothing else; he lived for nothing else. “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
Exodus 9-11; Matthew 15:21-39
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The sympathy which is reverent with what it cannot understand is worth its weight in gold.
Baffled to Fight Better, 69 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, January 24, 2025
You're Free - #9925
For three months, Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer were prisoners of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, accused along with other aid workers of trying to convert Afghans to Christianity. In October of 2001 their prison cells were suddenly shaken by the thunder of U.S. bombs falling on the city of Kabul. Weeks later, after a cold, sleepless night in a steel shipping container, the girls and their colleagues found themselves in a new prison south of Kabul, with rockets crashing down on the contested town they were in. Suddenly, there were men banging on their prison doors. They thought their Taliban captors were returning, and now their fate was clearly uncertain as the situation around them dissolved into total chaos. Then, to their surprise, an anti-Taliban soldier came in with reams of ammunition around his neck. He was just shouting two wonderful words, "You're free! You're free!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "You're Free!"
What a feeling to be imprisoned, to be in great danger, and then to have a liberator suddenly come crashing into your chaos shouting, "You're free!" Well, that's an experience shared by many who have met the ultimate Liberator.
His rescue of folks like you and me is described in the Bible in John 8, beginning with verse 34. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "Jesus replied, 'I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.'" When Jesus talks about "sin," He's talking about something a lot deeper than breaking some religion's rules. He's referring to the fact that we've all decided to run our own lives instead of letting God run them - which has led us to a lot of selfish choices, a lot of hurtful actions, and a lot of accumulated garbage in our lives. There's not one of us who doesn't know the weight of the guilt of our mistakes; the bondage to our dark side that has made it impossible for us to shake some of the junk that we really don't want in our lives.
But Jesus moves from talking about our slavery to our dark side to the promise of something better - freedom! In fact, He goes on to say, "If the Son (that's Him - the Son of God) sets you free, you will be free indeed." Now, Jesus Christ is offering to you and me the promise of being liberated forever from the guilt, the shame, and the slavery of this sin-prison we're in - something no religion could ever do for you.
He wants to remove your guilt with total forgiveness for every wrong thing you have ever done - a total new beginning. He wants to remove the shame and replace it with a new sense of cleanness and worth. He wants to give you the spiritual power to stop doing the things you've never been able to shake.
But for Jesus to be able to rescue you from the prison of your sin, He had to give His life. He went to the cross to pay for and remove your death penalty for every wrong thing you have ever done. There is a death penalty. Sin is a capital crime against the God of the universe. And only paying the death penalty can set us free. And Jesus said, "I'll take it instead of you."
So He stands ready to make this day your Liberation Day if you'll tell Him you're opening your life to Him...that you're going to depend totally on Him to be your personal Rescuer from your personal sin. If you've never done that, you can swing open the door to Him right now. You can tell Him right where you are, "Jesus, I turn from the running of my own life. I believe when You died on the cross You did it for every sin I've ever committed. I believe you're alive, and I am now pinning all my hopes on You. I am yours."
Go to our website, I think it will help you get this settled. Just check out ANewStory.com.
You know what this day could be for you? This could be the day that Jesus, the great Liberator, comes into your life and makes this awesome announcement, "You're free! You're free!"
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