Max Lucado Daily: THE SPACE OF GRACE - May 15, 2025
Revenge builds a lonely house. Space enough for one person. The lives of its tenants are reduced to one goal: make someone miserable. They do—themselves!
Keep a sharp eye out for the weeds of bitter discontent. God’s healing includes a move out of the house of spite, toward the spacious ways of grace. Away from hardness, toward forgiveness. “Can he really?” you wonder. “Can he clean up this mess? This history of sexual abuse? This raw anger at the father who left my mother? Can God heal this ancient hurt in my heart?”
Begin the process of forgiveness. Turn your attention away from what they did to you to what Jesus did for you. And stay the course. You’ll spend less time in the spite house and more in the grace house. And as one who’s walked the hallways of both, believe me, you’re going to love the space of grace.
You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times
Matthew 21:23-46
True Authority
23 Then he was back in the Temple, teaching. The high priests and leaders of the people came up and demanded, “Show us your credentials. Who authorized you to teach here?”
24–25 Jesus responded, “First let me ask you a question. You answer my question and I’ll answer yours. About the baptism of John—who authorized it: heaven or humans?”
25–27 They were on the spot and knew it. They pulled back into a huddle and whispered, “If we say ‘heaven,’ he’ll ask us why we didn’t believe him; if we say ‘humans,’ we’re up against it with the people because they all hold John up as a prophet.” They decided to concede that round to Jesus. “We don’t know,” they answered.
Jesus said, “Then neither will I answer your question.
The Story of Two Sons
28 “Tell me what you think of this story: A man had two sons. He went up to the first and said, ‘Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.’
29 “The son answered, ‘I don’t want to.’ Later on he thought better of it and went.
30 “The father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, ‘Sure, glad to.’ But he never went.
31–32 “Which of the two sons did what the father asked?”
They said, “The first.”
Jesus said, “Yes, and I tell you that crooks and whores are going to precede you into God’s kingdom. John came to you showing you the right road. You turned up your noses at him, but the crooks and whores believed him. Even when you saw their changed lives, you didn’t care enough to change and believe him.
The Story of the Greedy Farmhands
33–34 “Here’s another story. Listen closely. There was once a man, a wealthy farmer, who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, put up a watchtower, then turned it over to the farmhands and went off on a trip. When it was time to harvest the grapes, he sent his servants back to collect his profits.
35–37 “The farmhands grabbed the first servant and beat him up. The next one they murdered. They threw stones at the third but he got away. The owner tried again, sending more servants. They got the same treatment. The owner was at the end of his rope. He decided to send his son. ‘Surely,’ he thought, ‘they will respect my son.’
38–39 “But when the farmhands saw the son arrive, they rubbed their hands in greed. ‘This is the heir! Let’s kill him and have it all for ourselves.’ They grabbed him, threw him out, and killed him.
40 “Now, when the owner of the vineyard arrives home from his trip, what do you think he will do to the farmhands?”
41 “He’ll kill them—a rotten bunch, and good riddance,” they answered. “Then he’ll assign the vineyard to farmhands who will hand over the profits when it’s time.”
42–44 Jesus said, “Right—and you can read it for yourselves in your Bibles:
The stone the masons threw out
is now the cornerstone.
This is God’s work;
we rub our eyes, we can hardly believe it!
“This is the way it is with you. God’s kingdom will be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom life. Whoever stumbles on this Stone gets shattered; whoever the Stone falls on gets smashed.”
45–46 When the religious leaders heard this story, they knew it was aimed at them. They wanted to arrest Jesus and put him in jail, but, intimidated by public opinion, they held back. Most people held him to be a prophet of God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, May 15, 2025
by Monica La Rose
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Strength from Weakness
1–5 12 You’ve forced me to talk this way, and I do it against my better judgment. But now that we’re at it, I may as well bring up the matter of visions and revelations that God gave me. For instance, I know a man who, fourteen years ago, was seized by Christ and swept in ecstasy to the heights of heaven. I really don’t know if this took place in the body or out of it; only God knows. I also know that this man was hijacked into paradise—again, whether in or out of the body, I don’t know; God knows. There he heard the unspeakable spoken, but was forbidden to tell what he heard. This is the man I want to talk about. But about myself, I’m not saying another word apart from the humiliations.
6 If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I’d still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I’ll spare you. I don’t want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you’d encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk.
7–10 Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
Today's Insights
Paul doesn’t explicitly name what “thorn” (2 Corinthians 12:7) plagued him, but we know it caused distress, even though it didn’t prevent him from preaching and traveling. New Testament scholar Ben Witherington III has argued that an eye disease is a plausible candidate for what afflicted him. In Galatians 4:13-15, Paul describes the onset of an illness that the Galatians responded to with such kindness that, if they could, they “would have torn out [their] eyes and given them to [him]” (v. 15). Whatever his condition was, he experienced “Christ’s power” through his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). By God’s grace, we can do the same.
Such Glorious Knowledge
I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas endured much to dedicate himself to a life of seeking God. His family imprisoned him for a year in an attempt to discourage him from joining the Dominican Order, a monastic group dedicated to a life of simplicity, study, and preaching. After a lifetime of studying Scripture and creation, and writing nearly one hundred volumes, Aquinas had such an intense experience of God that he wrote, “I can no longer write, for God has given me such glorious knowledge that all contained in my works are as straw.” He died only three months later.
The apostle Paul also described an experience from God so overwhelming that it was impossible to put into words, when he was “caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell” (2 Corinthians 12:4). “Because of these surpassingly great revelations,” Paul was given an unidentified “thorn in [his] flesh” (v. 7) to keep him humble and reliant on God. He was told, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (v. 9).
The more we understand about God, the more we understand how impossible it is for us to capture who He is in words. Yet in our weakness and in our loss for what to say, Christ’s grace and beauty shines clearly through.
Reflect & Pray
What experiences from God do you find impossible to put into words? How have these experiences changed you?
Thank You, God, for Your beauty and the way it changes me. Please help me humbly rest in You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 15, 2025
The Habit of Rising to the Occasion
. . . that you may know the hope to which he has called you.— Ephesians 1:18
Do you remember why you have been saved? So that the Son of God will be manifested in your life. Now you must harness all your powers to realize your election as a child of God; rise to the occasion, every time.
You can’t do anything for your salvation, but you must do something to manifest it in the world. You must work out what God has worked in. Are you working it out with your mind, your tongue, your body? Or are you still the same miserable, cranky person, set on having your own way? If you are, it’s a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you.
“With my God I can scale a wall” (Psalm 18:29). God is the Master Engineer. He allows difficulties in order to see if you can overcome them. Because you are his child, he will never shield you from his requirements. Peter says, “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you” (1 Peter 4:12). Rise to the occasion. Do the difficult thing. As long as a trial gives God the opportunity to manifest himself in your body, in whatever way he wants, it doesn’t matter how much it hurts. The aim of the disciple’s life is to let the Son be manifested so that the Father can do whatever he wants with us. We are not here to dictate to God. We are here to submit to his will, so that he may work through us, using us to feed and nourish others.
God never has museums. We have to keep ourselves ready, so that the Son of God can be manifested in us here and now. May God find the whine in us no longer. May he find us instead full of spiritual pluck and daring, eager to face anything he brings.
2 Kings 22-23; John 4:31-54
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God.
Not Knowing Whither
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, May 15, 2025
HOW THE CUTS THAT HURT HELP SO MUCH - #10004
There was this plant in my office that had seen some good days and some bad days. It had really seen some pretty bad days for a while, and it looked like it was about to be a memory and there was going to be a little empty spot in the corner of my office. But one of our staff very lovingly took a knife to that plant. That doesn't sound very nice, but the plant was on its last legs and so she went and pruned out some of the dead or dying branches.
I've got good news! If you're a plant lover, and I hope you're not one of those who talks to plants. Do you? I've never really understood that, but I understand there are people who do. Anyway, here was this plant that almost didn't make it and now it was coming back to life, looking good! I call it the Lazarus plant - it sort of returned from the dead, except it didn't smell quite as bad as he did. The plant was back, and you know, it was that knife that did it. Oh, it looked like the knife was destroying the plant, but it was making it more alive.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How The Cuts That Hurt Help So Much."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God is from John 15:1-2. "Jesus said, 'I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch'" - whoa! Sounds like my office and that plant - "'He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.'" Notice here that God throws away dead branches. But do you also notice what He does with the branches that He likes, the ones that are bearing fruit? He starts cutting on them. God prunes what He believes in.
Now, if He believes in you, He might be showing it right now by cutting you back. Yes, it is love. Yes, it will focus all of the resources on a few branches. I think that's what happened to my plant. Instead of the life going out to many branches, by pruning some, the life and resource was focused so the plant could flourish. And right now God loves you enough to bring out your very best, so He's removing some branches so you can be more alive than ever.
But if you're a plant and you're being pruned, you would probably say, "He's killing me!" And he might be saying to you, "No, no, I'm helping you! I'm giving you life. Oh, I know it feels like you're dying, but you're growing." Maybe you can feel the hand of God cutting on you and trimming you, challenging you, stretching you. You say, "God, what's wrong?" Maybe nothing's wrong. Maybe He's just pruning what He believes in so you can be more fruitful than ever.
He may be asking you to deal with an overload that's developed in your life. You've taken on too much, or maybe you've got an attitude that needs work, or there's some personal stronghold that's dragging you down. Hebrews 12:1 says, "As we run our race we should lay aside every weight that we carry." Maybe He's trying to get you to lose some spiritual weight. But don't fear the pruning of God. Oh, it may feel as if you're losing. It might even feel like you're dying, but this is divine surgery that will soon lead to new life.
He's cutting you back so you'll be more alive than ever. You are experiencing the knife that gives life.