Max Lucado Daily: GOD WILL PRAISE YOU - January 30, 2025
“God will praise each one of them” (1 Corinthians 4:5 NCV). What an incredible promise! God will praise each of them. That day is coming. Your day is coming. God will put a crown on your head and a hand on your shoulder, and he will bless you.
Each child you hugged, he will praise you for it. Every time you forgave, he will praise you for it. Every penny you offered, every truth you taught, every prayer you prayed, he will praise you for it. He’ll praise you for the day you refused to give in and the season you refused to give up. But most of all, he’ll praise you for saying yes to Jesus.
What Happens Next
Matthew 3
Thunder in the Desert!
1–2 3 While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called “the Baptizer,” was preaching in the desert country of Judea. His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”
3 John and his message were authorized by Isaiah’s prophecy:
Thunder in the desert!
Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
4–6 John dressed in a camel-hair habit tied at the waist by a leather strap. He lived on a diet of locusts and wild field honey. People poured out of Jerusalem, Judea, and the Jordanian countryside to hear and see him in action. There at the Jordan River those who came to confess their sins were baptized into a changed life.
7–10 When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It’s your life that must change, not your skin! And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.
11–12 “I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I’m a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”
13–14 Jesus then appeared, arriving at the Jordan River from Galilee. He wanted John to baptize him. John objected, “I’m the one who needs to be baptized, not you!”
15 But Jesus insisted. “Do it. God’s work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism.” So John did it.
16–17 The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, January 30, 2025
by Anne Cetas
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Luke 18:9-17
The Story of the Tax Man and the Pharisee
9–12 He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’
13 “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’ ”
14 Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”
15–17 People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. “Let these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.”
Today's Insights
The parable of the tax collector (Luke 18:9-17) was specifically told to those who, like the Pharisee, were confident in their own righteousness. It wasn’t a warning against being righteous but against trusting in our righteousness, thinking that doing certain things or following certain rules puts us in correct standing with God. Jesus says the opposite is true. God looks with grace and mercy upon those who in humility recognize their need of Him, regardless of their actions. James reminds us of this same truth: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10).
What Would You Ask Jesus?
Let the little children come to me. Luke 18:16
“If Jesus were physically seated at the table with us this morning, what would you want to ask Him?” Joe inquired of his children at breakfast. His boys thought of their toughest questions. They decided they wanted to ask Jesus the most difficult math problems and have Him tell them how big the universe really is. Then his daughter replied, “I would ask Him for a hug.”
Can’t you picture the love in Jesus’ eyes for these children? I think He would be glad to comply with the requests, don’t you? I imagine Him bantering with the boys and opening his arms to the little girl. He might especially like the desire of Joe’s daughter for a hug, which seems to demonstrate a heart of love for Him and a desire for His love.
Children have a sense of their dependence, and they know that Jesus is strong and loving. He said, “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:17). Christ longs for us to recognize our need for His grace, forgiveness, and salvation. He enjoys humble hearts that long to be near Him.
Is there something you’d like to ask Jesus? We’ve certainly all had our questions! Or maybe you just want to be close to Him? Run to Him now for that hug and so much more that you need.
Reflect & Pray
What do you think you will say or do when you first see Jesus? What does it mean to have the faith of a child?
Heavenly Father, I’m thankful to be Your child and that You draw me close.
For further study, read at Character Comes from the Story We Tell Ourselves.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 30, 2025
The Dilemma of Obedience
Samuel . . . was afraid to tell Eli the vision. —1 Samuel 3:15
When God speaks, it is never startling, seldom obvious. He comes to us in our circumstances, moving so subtly and mysteriously through our lives that we wonder, “Is that God’s voice?” Isaiah said that God spoke to him with a “strong hand”—the all-encompassing hand of circumstance, holding and guiding him (Isaiah 8:11). Nothing touches our lives that God isn’t speaking through.
What do we see in our own circumstances? The hand of God, or simply accidents? When we begin to understand that there are no accidents, that all is God, life begins to change. We begin to say, “Speak, Lord,” and to listen. We begin to realize that difficulty does more than discipline us; it brings us to the place where, attentive and hungry, we say, “Speak, Lord.” Get into the habit of saying, “Speak, Lord,” and life becomes a romance.
Perhaps we’ve already heard the call, but we were afraid to answer, fearing that answering would hurt someone we love. God called to Samuel, and Samuel hesitated, wanting to protect Eli. But Eli knew that Samuel must obey; if he did not, he would turn himself into an amateur providence. As cruel as it may seem, we must not prevent the gouging out of the eye, the cutting off of the hand (Matthew 5:29–30). We too are circumstances God is using to speak to others.
Every time circumstances press, say, “Speak, Lord,” and make time to listen. As you listen, your ears grow sharp, until, like Jesus, you hear God all the time.
Exodus 23-24; Matthew 20:1-16
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you.
My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, January 30, 2025
When You've Been Hurt By Love - #9929
Governors' desks were vacant. Senators' offices were empty. They might as well have just put a sign on the door - "Gone to Iowa." Yep! It was the election season of 2016. We've been through another one recently but I'm thinking about that one. It had been the time when everyone goes to New Hampshire and South Carolina and on and on in the wild and crazy year when so many people were wanting to be president.
For a long time, the Iowa caucuses saturated cable news because that's where it all started. It was over and I was still trying to understand how it worked. But there's no doubt that the road to the White House started in the cornfields and ethanol wells of Iowa.
Every four years, cash becomes Iowa's bumper crop. Restaurants, motels, TV and radio stations, stores - they open their arms to the invading political army for months. And then, in a single day, boom! They're all gone; Iowa in the rear view mirror. Next primary states, here we come!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You've Been Hurt By Love."
One Iowa store had some pretty funny caucus shirts back then. One said, "Is there a bale of hay I can interview you in front of?" Another one captured the cynicism of a state that knew the Iowa-fest was over when people voted, "Don't forget to wave next time you fly over."
"We love you, Iowa, and then we leave you" after they've served their political purpose, of course. That kind of "love ya as long as you can do something for me" is one thing when it comes to a state. But it's a broken heart when it's a person dumped by someone who said they loved them.
The "'til death do us part" that changed to "I just don't love you anymore." The company you gave the best years of your life to that says one day, "We don't need you anymore." The people who cheered for you once are nowhere to be found now. The lover whose l-o-v-e seems now more like u-s-e-d. When "love ya!" turns to "see ya!" it hurts. It really hurts.
I've spent a lot of my life sharing with people the good news about love that changed my life and millions of others. Because I'm profoundly grateful that there's a love that will never betray me, never abandon me, never die on me.
It's obviously got to be bigger than any human love. But it's a love even little kids can understand. I know. Because I sang about it a lot when I was a kid - like millions of kids still do. "Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so."
Yes, it does. The Bible says in Romans 8:39, our word for today from the Word of God, "Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" - nothing on earth, nothing in heaven, nothing in hell, nothing in death. Jesus guaranteed this in Hebrews 13:5, I will never leave you or forsake you." And He said, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
The more love has hurt you, the harder it is to believe that. Before that "nothing can separate us," God says, "He did not spare even His own Son for us." That's when Jesus hung on a cross, to pay the death penalty for our hijacking the running of our life. For taking it out of God's hands to run it with our own.
Today it is possible for you to embrace the love that will never let you go. You've lived this long without the love of Jesus. Don't live another day without Him if you want to begin a relationship with Him. He went to a cross to have this relationship. He walked out of His grave to prove to you He can deliver love that will last forever. Right now you could say, "Jesus, I'm yours." Tell Him that today, put all your hopes on Him.
And then would you go to our website please? I've set it up in such a way that it has information there that is easy to grasp that will help you make sure you really do belong to Him. Check out ANewStory.com.
If Jesus was ever going to turn His back on you, it would have been when He was going through your hell on that cross. But He didn't. He went the distance for you. He will never break your heart. His was broken for you. Jesus loves you. This I know.
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