Max Lucado Daily: FIND A WAY TO GIVE THANKS - May 12, 2025
God notices the grateful heart. He took a praise-singing shepherd boy and made him a king. There’s no hint of God getting out of sorts if we aren’t thankful, but there is evidence we’re affected by our own ingratitude. What of the disastrous days? The nights I can’t sleep and the hours I can’t rest. Are we still grateful then?
Jesus was. The Bible records, “On the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it” (1 Corinthians 11:23-24 NLT). It’s not often you see the words betrayed and thanks in the same sentence, much less in the same heart. In the midst of the darkest night of the human soul, Jesus found a way to give thanks. Anyone can thank God for the light. Jesus teaches us to thank God for the night. He says to us, “you’ll get through this!” And we will.
You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times
Matthew 21:1-22
The Royal Welcome
1–3 21 When they neared Jerusalem, having arrived at Bethphage on Mount Olives, Jesus sent two disciples with these instructions: “Go over to the village across from you. You’ll find a donkey tethered there, her colt with her. Untie her and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you’re doing, say, ‘The Master needs them!’ He will send them with you.”
4–5 This is the full story of what was sketched earlier by the prophet:
Tell Zion’s daughter,
“Look, your king’s on his way,
poised and ready, mounted
On a donkey, on a colt,
foal of a pack animal.”
6–9 The disciples went and did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They led the donkey and colt out, laid some of their clothes on them, and Jesus mounted. Nearly all the people in the crowd threw their garments down on the road, giving him a royal welcome. Others cut branches from the trees and threw them down as a welcome mat. Crowds went ahead and crowds followed, all of them calling out, “Hosanna to David’s son!” “Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!” “Hosanna in highest heaven!”
10 As he made his entrance into Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken. Unnerved, people were asking, “What’s going on here? Who is this?”
11 The parade crowd answered, “This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth in Galilee.”
He Kicked Over the Tables
12–14 Jesus went straight to the Temple and threw out everyone who had set up shop, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of loan sharks and the stalls of dove merchants. He quoted this text:
My house was designated a house of prayer;
You have made it a hangout for thieves.
Now there was room for the blind and crippled to get in. They came to Jesus and he healed them.
15–16 When the religious leaders saw the outrageous things he was doing, and heard all the children running and shouting through the Temple, “Hosanna to David’s Son!” they were up in arms and took him to task. “Do you hear what these children are saying?”
Jesus said, “Yes, I hear them. And haven’t you read in God’s Word, ‘From the mouths of children and babies I’ll furnish a place of praise’?”
17 Fed up, Jesus turned on his heel and left the city for Bethany, where he spent the night.
The Withered Fig Tree
18–20 Early the next morning Jesus was returning to the city. He was hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree alongside the road, he approached it anticipating a breakfast of figs. When he got to the tree, there was nothing but fig leaves. He said, “No more figs from this tree—ever!” The fig tree withered on the spot, a dry stick. The disciples saw it happen. They rubbed their eyes, saying, “Did we really see this? A leafy tree one minute, a dry stick the next?”
21–22 But Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Yes—and if you embrace this kingdom life and don’t doubt God, you’ll not only do minor feats like I did to the fig tree, but also triumph over huge obstacles. This mountain, for instance, you’ll tell, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it will jump. Absolutely everything, ranging from small to large, as you make it a part of your believing prayer, gets included as you lay hold of God.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, May 12, 2025
by
John Blase
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Luke 12:13-21
The Story of the Greedy Farmer
13 Someone out of the crowd said, “Teacher, order my brother to give me a fair share of the family inheritance.”
14 He replied, “Mister, what makes you think it’s any of my business to be a judge or mediator for you?”
15 Speaking to the people, he went on, “Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.”
16–19 Then he told them this story: “The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: ‘What can I do? My barn isn’t big enough for this harvest.’ Then he said, ‘Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll gather in all my grain and goods, and I’ll say to myself, Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!’
20 “Just then God showed up and said, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods—who gets it?’
21 “That’s what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God.”
Today's Insights
Jesus’ warnings against “all kinds of greed” (Luke 12:15) connect to a broader emphasis in Luke’s gospel on the dangers of wealth, as well as God’s concern for the poor. In Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-55, she praises God as the one who “filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty” (v. 53). In chapter 6, Christ says, “Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry” (vv. 24-25).
In Jesus’ parable of a wealthy farmer building larger barns to store excess produce, we’re given a look into the man’s inner thoughts (12:18-19). There we find someone with no concern for those around him who were in need; his only plans were for himself—to “take life easy; eat, drink and be merry” (v. 19). God can help us live wisely without regret.
No Regrets
You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Luke 12:20
There was no mention made of the stuff we often spend our lives chasing. That’s what palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware discovered as she sat with the dying. She intentionally questioned them: “Would you do anything differently if you could do it again?” Common themes surfaced, and she compiled a list of the top five regrets of the dying: (1) I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself. (2) I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. (3) I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings. (4) I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. And (5) I wish I’d let myself be happier.
Ware’s list brings to mind the parable Jesus tells in Luke 12. A rich man decides to build bigger barns to store his great harvest, after which he tells himself he’ll retire in style, sit back and relax, and live until he dies (vv. 18-19). But in that moment, God demands his life with a rather harsh address: “You fool!”—followed by a haunting question: in essence, “And what will become of all your stuff?” (v. 20).
Is it possible to die with zero regrets? That’s hard to know for certain. But what we do know is clearly expressed in Scripture—storing up stuff for ourselves is a dead end. True riches come from a life invested in God.
Reflect & Pray
What if your life was demanded of you today? Would wise or foolish be applied to you? Why?
Dear Jesus, when the time comes, I want to have as few regrets as possible. Please help me to live wisely, building a life rich in You.
For further study, read Die First, Then Comes the End.
Learn to store up heavenly treasures instead of earthly treasures by reading The Fool's Greed and God's Generosity.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 12, 2025
Make a Habit of Having No Habits
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. — 2 Peter 1:8
When we first begin to form a habit, we are highly aware of what we are doing. If we are cultivating habits of patience and godliness, we might consciously think, “Look at how patient and godly I’m being!” This kind of conscious awareness is a stage we must pass through. If we get stuck in it, we’ll become spiritual snobs.
Our spiritual life continually calls us to look within ourselves. When we do, we see that there are some qualities we’re still missing. Our god may be our little Christian habit—praying at bedtime or reading the Bible in the morning. “I can’t do that right now; it’s my hour with God,” you say. No, it’s your hour with your habit. Watch how the Father will upset these times if you begin to worship your habit instead of him. If this is the case in your life, recognize that there is a quality missing in you, and look for the opportunity to set things right.
The right thing to do with habits is to lose them in the life of the Lord, until every habit is so automatic that there is no awareness of it at all. Ultimately, the relationship between our souls and Christ should be very simple: it should be based on love. Love means that there is no detectable habit. You have come to the place where the habit has been lost in the bliss of unconscious devotion. If you are consciously holy, there are certain things you think you can’t do, certain places you feel you can’t go. The only supernatural life is the life the Lord Jesus lived, and Jesus was at home with God anywhere.
Where do you not feel at home with God? Let God press through in that place until you find him, and your life will become the simple life of the child.
2 Kings 15-16; John 3:1-18
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus.
We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, May 12, 2025
The Wall in Your Heart - #10001
I was speaking for an Easter Sunrise Service in the Ozarks, and I saw something that seemed strangely out of place. In front of this church, there's a ten-foot section of a brick wall with a sign in front of it that says, "Berlin Wall." I was thousands of miles from Berlin, but here was a chunk of what used to be the most famous, and maybe the most infamous wall in the world. Many of us remember how the Berlin Wall represented for decades the Cold War division of our world into Communists on one side and free on the other. The Communists built it on the border between East Berlin and free West Berlin. In spite of that wall, many people still risked everything to scale it and escape to freedom. A few made it. Many died trying.
Then came that amazing day - a day few of us could have ever imagined - when the revolution taking place against Communist rule allowed Berliners to start tearing down that wall. All night long, they went after that wall with everything from sledge hammers to their bare hands. And then there were 100,000 Berliners, celebrating in the square, and they were chanting four incredible words over and over again, "The wall is gone! The wall is gone!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Wall In Your Heart."
For many of us, there's a wall that's still standing that is costing us the most important things in life. It's a wall between us and the God who made us. In fact, you probably didn't need me to tell you there's a wall. We know there's something between us and God. What we may not know is what that wall is keeping us from; like the meaning and purpose of your life. The only person who can show you why you're here is the One who put you here, and He's on the other side of the wall. The only love that can ultimately satisfy the loneliness in your heart is God's love. If we die with that wall still there, it's there forever. The Bible calls that hell.
The Bible describes the wall this way: "Your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2). The bricks in the wall between me and God are all the countless times that I've chosen to do things my way instead of His way - my sins. Every wrong thing I've ever done, every lie I've ever told, every person I've ever hurt, every mean thing I've ever said, every selfish thing I've ever done, every dirty thing I've ever thought or done, and everything and everyone I've ever let be more important than God in my life. Those are my sins. I'm cut off from God because of that sin-wall. And there's no way you or I can tear it down no matter how decent, how religious, or how sincere we are.
The only One who can do that is the very God we've rebelled against, and that's what He did the day His Son, Jesus, paid for our sin on the cross. For centuries, God's people, the Jews, had worshipped in a temple or tabernacle which had at its core, the Holy of Holies - God's place. Between them and that place was a curtain through which no man could ever go, except once a year when the High Priest entered to offer a sin sacrifice on behalf of the people. Our word for today from the Word of God, Matthew 27:51, describes the astonishing thing that happened the moment Jesus died: "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom."
The curtain separating man from God could never have been removed by man from the bottom to the top. Only God could let us into His presence. So He split the curtain from top to bottom. There's the picture of what can happen to the wall between you and God this very day. God will tear it down forever if you'll bring the sins of your life to Jesus to be forgiven; if you'll tell Him you're putting your total trust in Him and what He did on the cross for you.
If that's what you want, I want to be all the help I can at this decisive moment in your life. Go to our website. It's ANewStory.com. Right there you can be sure the wall is gone between you and Him.
This could be the day you celebrate the greatest, most liberating miracle of your life; the day you can finally say, "The wall is gone!"
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