Max Lucado Daily: THE GREATEST GIFT YOU CAN GIVE - November 14, 2025
Crankcase oil coursed my dad’s veins. He repaired engines for a living; Dad loved machines. God gave my dad a mechanical moron, a son who couldn’t differentiate between a differential and a brake disc. Dad tried to teach me. I tried to learn. Honestly, I did. Machines anesthetized me, but books fascinated me.
What does a mechanic do with a son who loves books? He gives him a library card. Buys him a few volumes for Christmas. Places a lamp by his bed so he can read at night. Pays tuition so his son can study college literature in high school. My dad did that. You know what he didn’t do? Never once did he say, “Why can’t you be a mechanic like your dad and granddad?”
Study your children while you can. The greatest gift you can give your children is not your riches, but revealing to them their own.
The Lucado Inspirational Reader
Luke 2:25-52
In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God:
God, you can now release your servant;
release me in peace as you promised.
With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation;
it’s now out in the open for everyone to see:
A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,
and of glory for your people Israel.
33–35 Jesus’ father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words. Simeon went on to bless them, and said to Mary his mother,
This child marks both the failure and
the recovery of many in Israel,
A figure misunderstood and contradicted—
the pain of a sword-thrust through you—
But the rejection will force honesty,
as God reveals who they really are.
36–38 Anna the prophetess was also there, a daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was by now a very old woman. She had been married seven years and a widow for eighty-four. She never left the Temple area, worshiping night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God, and talked about the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem.
39–40 When they finished everything required by God in the Law, they returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth. There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him.
They Found Him in the Temple
41–45 Every year Jesus’ parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up as they always did for the Feast. When it was over and they left for home, the child Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents didn’t know it. Thinking he was somewhere in the company of pilgrims, they journeyed for a whole day and then began looking for him among relatives and neighbors. When they didn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem looking for him.
46–48 The next day they found him in the Temple seated among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. The teachers were all quite taken with him, impressed with the sharpness of his answers. But his parents were not impressed; they were upset and hurt.
His mother said, “Young man, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been half out of our minds looking for you.”
49–50 He said, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father?” But they had no idea what he was talking about.
51–52 So he went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with them. His mother held these things dearly, deep within herself. And Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, November 14, 2025
by inn Collier
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Lamentations 3:22-33
God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.
25–27 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
to the woman who diligently seeks.
It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
quietly hope for help from God.
It’s a good thing when you’re young
to stick it out through the hard times.
28–30 When life is heavy and hard to take,
go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:
Wait for hope to appear.
Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.
The “worst” is never the worst.
31–33 Why? Because the Master won’t ever
walk out and fail to return.
If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
in throwing roadblocks in the way:
Today's Insights
The prophet Jeremiah wrote with heavy sorrow regarding Jerusalem’s destruction by Babylon (586 BC) and the captivity of his people: “How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! . . . After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile” (Lamentations 1:1, 3). His call to be a prophet to Judah began during the righteous reign of King Josiah (Jeremiah 1:1-3). Josiah’s reforms didn’t last, and the people quickly returned to their idolatry. Jeremiah prophesied the Israelites’ seventy-year captivity and their return from exile. Despite all he suffered personally and in his role as prophet, however, he expresses hope and trust in God and stands firm in his faith: “Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). We also can share in this great hope as we patiently wait on God and trust Him to work in our lives.
Waiting for God
The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. Lamentations 3:24
When a country erupted in civil war, authorities conscripted a man into military service. However, he objected: “I don’t want any part in destroying [my country].” So he left it. Because he didn’t have proper visas, however, he eventually found himself stuck in another country’s airport. For months, airport employees gave the man food and thousands followed his tweets as he roamed terminals, knitted scarves, and clung to hope. Hearing of his perpetual plight, a community in Canada raised money and found him a job and a house.
The book of Lamentations presents the cry of Jeremiah, who waited for God and the end of His discipline for the sins of his people. The prophet remained confident in an everlasting God who he knew could be trusted. “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him” (3:25). God’s people can experience hope even when troubles overwhelm and relief seems impossible. Though they might need to humbly accept God’s discipline, they can cling to the reality that “there may yet be hope” (v. 29). Those who know God can experience a hope that flows from Him. “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (v. 26).
Without answers or any clear way of escape, we wait for the God who’s proven Himself faithful over and over again to help us.
Reflect & Pray
What situation comes to mind when you think about waiting on God? Why is this difficult, and how is God meeting you there?
Dear God, please help me patiently wait for You to act out Your will in my life.
For further study, watch Waiting in Hard Times.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 14, 2025
Discovering Divine Designs
As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey. —Genesis 24:27
We have to be so one with God that we do not need to continually ask for his guidance. Sanctification means that we have been made God’s children, and the natural life of a child is obedience—until the child wishes to be disobedient. The instant we are disobedient, we get a warning; a kind of intuitive jolt alerts us. In the spiritual domain, this jolt comes from the Spirit of God. When he checks us, we have to stop at once and be renewed in the spirit of our mind so that we may discern God’s will.
If we have been born again of the Spirit, we do not dictate to God where he should guide us. We simply know that “the Lord has led” us on our journey. When we look back, we see the presence of an amazing design, a design which, because we’ve been born of God, we credit entirely to him.
Anyone can see God in exceptional things, but it requires spiritual discipline to see him in every detail. If we have this discipline, we’re ready to discover divine designs everywhere. What appears random and haphazard to most people is to us nothing less than God’s appointed order.
Beware of making a fetish of consistency to your own convictions instead of being devoted to God. If you are following Jesus Christ, you’ll probably find yourself doing things you swore you’d never do, because there was never a more inconsistent being on this earth than our Lord. But he was never inconsistent to his Father. The one consistency of the disciple is loyalty not to a conviction or a principle but to the divine life. It is the divine life which continually makes more and more discoveries about the divine mind. It’s easier to be a fanatic than a faithful soul, because there is something amazingly humbling—particularly to our religious conceit—about being loyal to God.
Lamentations 3-5; Hebrews 10:19-39
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of nothing else.
The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, November 14, 2025
MOM, DAD, I'M HOME - #10135
Not many parents can sleep real soundly until they know their children are in for the night. At our house, we asked our kids - big teenage guys to stop by our room no matter how late it was and just say, "Hey, we're here." Sometimes they get delayed, or sometimes they're in a situation where they couldn't call. And it's natural, I think, for a mom or a dad to be anxious until they can get a fix on where their kids are, and the great time of relief is when they come in the door and we know everything's okay. Right? I guess some of the most beautiful words in the English language are, "Mom, Dad, I'm home." Maybe you know a child who's way overdue.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Mom, Dad, I'm Home."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 7, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 12. "As Jesus approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out; the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Now, a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, 'Don't cry.' Then He went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying stood still." This is truly a dramatic moment here. "He said, "Young man, I say to you, 'Get up!'" The dead man sat up and began to talk. And Jesus gave him back to his Mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God."
That's a powerful story! And the most touching words of all for me are these, "And Jesus gave him back to his Mother." You know, Jesus is still in the business of giving children back to their parents, even when it appears hopeless they'll ever come back. Maybe you or someone you know has a son or a daughter who's away right now; spiritually, emotionally, physically. My word of encouragement is this simple word from the Lord. He's still in the business of giving children back to their parents.
I don't know, for some reason, I just thought that this day should be the time when we should talk about this for someone who needs that little word of encouragement.
Maybe you know better than I do why we're talking about this today. Sometimes maybe it seems like your prayers just are not being answered for the one you love. But remember, much of God's work is invisible. Like plants getting ready to sprout and come out, and flowers blooming in the spring. We don't see anything going on all winter, looks like nothing is going on under the ground. But God is at work all the time. Much that God is doing to bring that child home, you can't see. But you'd better believe it's going on under the ground where you can't see it.
Secondly, the hound of heaven - the Holy Spirit - pursues that child wherever he goes. They can get away from you; they can't get away from Him. Thirdly, open arms do more than open mouths to bring kids home. Sometimes we can talk too much and push them so hard we actually push them away from the Lord. The Father of the prodigal son didn't chase the son. He just kept his arms open for him to come home.
And then fourthly, remember God does answer prayer. Release that child again to the Lord. Don't try to do God's job of changing that child's heart. I understand that John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace said his conversion came in a storm at sea with a mast crashing down on him as he cried, "My Mother's God save me!" And her prayers were answered.
Continue to claim that child for Jesus Christ. Do not give up! "Be not weary in well doing, for in due season you will reap if you do not give up!" Jesus is still in the business of bringing kids home to their parents and home to Him. Because of His love, I believe one day you will hear, "Mom... Dad... I'm home."
No comments:
Post a Comment