MaxLucado.com: Vanderlei de Lima (2004 Olympics Athens)
He should’ve won the gold. He was leading when a deranged protester hurled himself into the runner–forcing him off course. De Lima resumed the race. But in the process he lost his rhythm, precious seconds, and his position. But he entered the stadium punching the air with his fists, both arms extended, weaving for joy!
I’m taking notes on this guy! He reminds me of another runner. Paul, the imprisoned apostle. His chains never come off. The guards never leave. He may appear to be bumped off track, but he’s actually right on target. Christ is preached. The mission is being accomplished.
Run the race!
Paul said, “I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. I Corinthians 9:23-24”
From Great Day Every Day
Exodus 34
God spoke to Moses: “Cut out two tablets of stone just like the originals and engrave on them the words that were on the original tablets you smashed. Be ready in the morning to climb Mount Sinai and get set to meet me on top of the mountain. Not a soul is to go with you; the whole mountain must be clear of people, even animals—not even sheep or oxen can be grazing in front of the mountain.”
4–7 So Moses cut two tablets of stone just like the originals. He got up early in the morning and climbed Mount Sinai as God had commanded him, carrying the two tablets of stone. God descended in the cloud and took up his position there beside him and called out the name, God. God passed in front of him and called out, “God, God, a God of mercy and grace, endlessly patient—so much love, so deeply true—loyal in love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. Still, he doesn’t ignore sin. He holds sons and grandsons responsible for a father’s sins to the third and even fourth generation.”
8–9 At once, Moses fell to the ground and worshiped, saying, “Please, O Master, if you see anything good in me, please Master, travel with us, hard-headed as these people are. Forgive our iniquity and sin. Own us, possess us.”
10–12 And God said, “As of right now, I’m making a covenant with you: In full sight of your people I will work wonders that have never been created in all the Earth, in any nation. Then all the people with whom you’re living will see how tremendous God’s work is, the work I’ll do for you. Take careful note of all I command you today. I’m clearing your way by driving out Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Stay vigilant. Don’t let down your guard lest you make covenant with the people who live in the land that you are entering and they trip you up.
13–16 “Tear down their altars, smash their phallic pillars, chop down their fertility poles. Don’t worship any other god. God—his name is The-Jealous-One—is a jealous God. Be careful that you don’t make a covenant with the people who live in the land and take up with their sex-and-religion life, join them in meals at their altars, marry your sons to their women, women who take up with any convenient god or goddess and will get your sons to do the same thing.
17 “Don’t make molten gods for yourselves.
18 “Keep the Feast of Unraised Bread. Eat only unraised bread for seven days in the month of Abib—it was in the month of Abib that you came out of Egypt.
19 “Every firstborn from the womb is mine, all the males of your herds, your firstborn oxen and sheep.
20 “Redeem your firstborn donkey with a lamb. If you don’t redeem it you must break its neck.
“Redeem each of your firstborn sons.
“No one is to show up in my presence empty-handed.
21 “Work six days and rest the seventh. Stop working even during plowing and harvesting.
22 “Keep the Feast of Weeks with the first cutting of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
23–24 “All your men are to appear before the Master, the God of Israel, three times a year. You won’t have to worry about your land when you appear before your God three times each year, for I will drive out the nations before you and give you plenty of land. Nobody’s going to be hanging around plotting ways to get it from you.
25 “Don’t mix the blood of my sacrifices with anything fermented.
“Don’t leave leftovers from the Passover Feast until morning.
26 “Bring the finest of the firstfruits of your produce to the house of your God.
“Don’t boil a kid in its mother’s milk.”
27 God said to Moses: “Now write down these words, for by these words I’ve made a covenant with you and Israel.”
28 Moses was there with God forty days and forty nights. He didn’t eat any food; he didn’t drink any water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.
29–30 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the two Tablets of The Testimony, he didn’t know that the skin of his face glowed because he had been speaking with God. Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, saw his radiant face, and held back, afraid to get close to him.
31–32 Moses called out to them. Aaron and the leaders in the community came back and Moses talked with them. Later all the Israelites came up to him and he passed on the commands, everything that God had told him on Mount Sinai.
33–35 When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face, but when he went into the presence of God to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. When he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they would see Moses’ face, its skin glowing, and then he would again put the veil on his face until he went back in to speak with God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, July 27, 2025
by Matt Lucas
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
1 Corinthians 4:9-13
It seems to me that God has put us who bear his Message on stage in a theater in which no one wants to buy a ticket. We’re something everyone stands around and stares at, like an accident in the street. We’re the Messiah’s misfits. You might be sure of yourselves, but we live in the midst of frailties and uncertainties. You might be well-thought-of by others, but we’re mostly kicked around. Much of the time we don’t have enough to eat, we wear patched and threadbare clothes, we get doors slammed in our faces, and we pick up odd jobs anywhere we can to eke out a living. When they call us names, we say, “God bless you.” When they spread rumors about us, we put in a good word for them. We’re treated like garbage, potato peelings from the culture’s kitchen. And it’s not getting any better.
Today's Insights
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to address specific problems that had arisen in the Corinthian church: criticism of his ministry (chs. 1-4); sexual immorality (ch. 5); lawsuits (ch. 6); marriage, divorce, and singleness (ch. 7); food offered to idols (chs. 8-10); women in ministry and the Lord’s Supper (ch. 11); use of spiritual gifts (chs. 12-14); resurrection (ch. 15); and offerings (ch. 16).
In chapter 4, he deals with the root cause of these problems. The Corinthians’ arrogance, self-importance, and self-sufficiency (vv. 6-13) had caused division in the church. Paul deliberately and confidently uses himself as an example to show how they could live a Christlike life of simplicity, transparency, integrity, and humility. And our ultimate example is the humility that Jesus showed even in suffering (see 1 Peter 2:23). He’s also our true defense when we suffer for Him.
Test of Our Faith
We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. 1 Corinthians 4:9
In ad 304, the Roman emperor Maximian victoriously entered the city of Nicomedia. Parades were ordered as the city gathered to thank pagan gods for the victory—everyone except for a church full of people who worshiped only the one true God. Maximian entered the church with an ultimatum: Escape punishment by renouncing faith in Christ. They refused. All were killed when Maximian ordered the church set on fire with the believers inside.
The apostle Paul understood the cost of following Christ. In 1 Corinthians 4, he confronted the believers living in the Greek city of Corinth with his testimony. Paul stated that the apostles had suffered for Jesus and for their sake. They had been “made a spectacle to the whole universe” (v. 9) as they served Christ.
Similarly, the apostle Peter reminded us how Jesus suffered on our behalf. “When they hurled their insults at [Jesus], he did not retaliate,” wrote Peter. “When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).
Still today, believers in Jesus suffer for their faith. Like the Nicomedian believers who willingly chose to suffer for the gospel, may any opposition we face serve to reveal the strength of our faith in Christ. We can entrust our lives to the one “who judges justly.”
Reflect & Pray
When have you felt like retaliating because of unfair treatment for your faith? How will you trust God to be your defense?
Dear Father, whatever I may face today—please help me entrust my life to You, as Jesus did.
Learn from the Bible on how to defend your faith.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, July 27, 2025
The Way to Knowledge
Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out . . . —John 7:17
The key to spiritual understanding isn’t intellect; it’s obedience. If I want scientific knowledge, intellectual curiosity is my guide. But if I want insight into the teachings of Jesus Christ, I can only get it by obedience. If what Jesus taught is dark to me, I can be sure that there is something I will not do. Intellectual darkness comes through ignorance. Spiritual darkness comes because there is something I don’t intend to obey.
No one ever receives a message from God without instantly being put to the test. We fail the test by disobeying, and then we wonder why we haven’t progressed spiritually. “If you are offering your gift at the altar,” Jesus said, “and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, . . . first go and be reconciled to them” (Matthew 5:23–24). Our Lord’s teaching hits us where we live. We can’t stand before Jesus for a single second without our hypocrisy being revealed. His Spirit lays bare the spirit of self-justification that resides within us. He educates us down to the scruple, making us sensitive to things we never thought of before.
When Jesus brings something home to you through his teaching, don’t shrug it off. If you do, you’ll become a religious hypocrite. Examine the things you’re shrugging off now, and you’ll know why you aren’t progressing spiritually. Obey what God tells you to do, even if others might call you fanatical, and you will gain the understanding you seek. When God says go, go.
Psalms 43-45; Acts 27:27-44
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come.
Shade of His Hand, 1226 L
