June 26

ASSEMBLY REQUIRED - June 26, 2026

By Max Lucado

Do you want to see a father’s face go ashen as he discovers three words on the box of a just-bought toy: some assembly required. What follows are hours of squeezing A into B, bolting D into F, sliding R over Z, and hoping no one notices if steps four, five, and six were skipped altogether. I’m convinced the devil indwells the details of toy assembly. Somewhere in perdition is a warehouse of stolen toy parts.

“Some assembly required.” Not the most welcome sentence but an honest one. Life is a gift, albeit unassembled. The pieces don’t fit. When they don’t, take your problem to Jesus. He says, “Bring your problems to me.” In prayer, state them simply. Present them faithfully, and trust him reverently.

 Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

Read more Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

Psalm 7

The Message

7 1-2 God! God! I am running to you for dear life;

    the chase is wild.

If they catch me, I’m finished:

    ripped to shreds by foes fierce as lions,

    dragged into the forest and left

    unlooked for, unremembered.

3-5 God, if I’ve done what they say—

    betrayed my friends,

    ripped off my enemies—

If my hands are really that dirty,

    let them get me, walk all over me,

    leave me flat on my face in the dirt.

6-8 Stand up, God; pit your holy fury

    against my furious enemies.

Wake up, God. My accusers have packed

    the courtroom; it’s judgment time.

Take your place on the bench, reach for your gavel,

    throw out the false charges against me.

I’m ready, confident in your verdict:

    “Innocent.”

9-11 Close the book on Evil, God,

    but publish your mandate for us.

You get us ready for life:

    you probe for our soft spots,

    you knock off our rough edges.

And I’m feeling so fit, so safe:

    made right, kept right.

God in solemn honor does things right,

    but his nerves are sandpapered raw.

11-13 Nobody gets by with anything.

    God is already in action—

Sword honed on his whetstone,

    bow strung, arrow on the string,

Lethal weapons in hand,

    each arrow a flaming missile.

14 Look at that guy!

    He had sex with sin,

    he’s pregnant with evil.

Oh, look! He’s having

    the baby—a Lie-Baby!

15-16 See that man shoveling day after day,

    digging, then concealing, his man-trap

    down that lonely stretch of road?

Go back and look again—you’ll see him in it headfirst,

    legs waving in the breeze.

That’s what happens:

    mischief backfires;

    violence boomerangs.

17 I’m thanking God, who makes things right.

I’m singing the fame of heaven-high God.

Our daily bread reading and devotion:

Luke 10:30-37

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30-32Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

33-35“A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’

36“What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”

37“The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.

Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

Who’s My Neighbor?

“Who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:29

By Alyson Kieda

Today's Devotion

An elderly woman became unconscious on a hot sidewalk after a terrible fall. Several people stopped to help. One called 911. Another gently placed a coat under her head. Others put towels under her arms, and still another held an umbrella over her head until paramedics arrived. The person who posted the video wrote that it was an especially heartwarming scene because those who stopped included people of different ages and ethnicities—all working together to help someone in distress.

When an expert in God’s law asked Jesus who his neighbor was (Luke 10:29)—that is, who he was obligated to show love to—Jesus told a story of a man badly beaten by robbers, lying near death by the side of the road (vv. 30-31). A priest and then a Levite approached, but both passed by on the other side. Finally, a Samaritan stopped to help. What made this so unusual was that Jews and Samaritans had a bitter history of scorn for each other. Yet it was the Samaritan who stopped and “took pity” on the man (v. 33).

After telling this parable, Jesus asked which was a neighbor to the fallen man. The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him” (v. 37). Jesus told him, and us, “Go and do likewise.”

May God help us see that everyone we meet is our neighbor, another human created by Him and deserving of our aid.

Reflect & Pray

To whom do you find it difficult to be a good neighbor? How does Jesus show what it means to be a loving neighbor to others?

Dear God, please help me to love others—regardless of differences—as my neighbor.

Always Now

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS, June 26, 2026

As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. — 2 Corinthians 6:1

The grace you had yesterday won’t do for today. Grace is the overflowing, endlessly renewing favor of God; you can always count on there being enough.

Are you failing to draw upon God’s grace “in troubles, hardships and distresses” (2 Corinthians 6:4)? It is in difficulty that our patience is tested and in difficulty that we must learn to draw upon his grace. Each time you fail to do so, you are saying, “Oh well, this time doesn’t count.” It isn’t a question of praying and asking God to help you; it’s a question of accepting his grace, here and now.

We make prayer a kind of preparation. It is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God. It is the most practical thing. Don’t say, “I’ll endure this difficulty until I can get away and pray.” Pray now. Call upon the grace of God in the moment of need.

“In beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger . . .” (v. 5). In every hardship, draw upon the grace of God in a way that makes you a marvel to yourself and others. Draw now, not soon. One of the most important words in the spiritual vocabulary is now. Let circumstances bring you wherever they will. No matter where you find yourself, no matter how difficult the situation, keep drawing on the grace of God. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on his grace is that you can be humiliated without showing the slightest trace of anything but his grace.

“. . . having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (v. 10). God has given you a priceless treasure in his grace. Never be diplomatic or careful about the treasure God gives. Pour out the best you have, and always be poor. This is poverty triumphant.

Job 5-7; Acts 8:1-25

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.

Disciples Indeed, 395 

Lost But Looking Found - #10295

Ron Hutchcraft

Scripture:  Matthew 13:24

Occasionally I see this bumper sticker that says, “I brake for antique shops.” I’m not a bumper sticker guy, but I think we would have qualified for that over the years, depending on who was driving—my wife or me. If it was my wife, we were a lot more likely to break for an antique shop. But my wife was not so much into collecting old stuff, it was more about finding items that she had as a girl growing up on a farm that had very few modern conveniences. And she had an eye for what was real and what was just a reproduction: Depression Glass, pottery, butter churns, even old violins. Take the famous Stradivarius violin. We didn’t have one, there are relatively few originals. There are a lot of copies.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Lost But Looking Found.”

Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s a copy in antiques and in people; especially people who claim that they belong to Jesus Christ.

Jesus described both the real ones and the copies in the story He told in Matthew 13, beginning in verse 24. It’s our word for today from the Word of God. He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.” Jesus said the man’s servants wanted to go out and pull up the weeds, but he stopped them. “’No,’ He answered, ‘because while you are pulling out the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

When Jesus explained His parable later, He made clear that the wheat represents those who really do belong to Him, and the weeds; they represent those who look like they belong to Him, but they don’t. That’s a pretty sobering thought—sitting next to one another in church may be two people who are singing the same songs, believing the same beliefs, saying the same words, but one is headed for heaven and the other is headed for hell. And no one on earth can tell the difference. But on Judgment Day it will be very clear who was real and who was the look-alike. That’s why God says in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.”

For some of us church folks, the business of being a Christian is really more of a religion, or a performance, or maybe a belief, or a script where we’ve got all the right words. You can have all that and you can miss what this is all really about; a deep love personal relationship with Jesus Christ based on His dying for your sins. It is a relationship you can only begin one way. You begin it the day you tell Him you are putting your total trust in Him, consciously giving all of you to Him. With all your Christianity, it’s possible you've missed Christ, even though everyone around you thinks you know Him. That's everyone except Jesus.

It’s very hard to admit that you’ve never really given yourself to Him, but it’s fatal not to. So would you let this be the day that you finally, consciously and clearly make Jesus Christ your personal Savior from your personal sin. Tell Him, "Jesus, I want to know you for real. I'm pinning all my hopes on You like a drowning person would grab a rescuer."

Then go to our website and check that out. Because there you will find the information you need to secure your relationship with Christ and know for sure you've got this settled. Our website is ANewStory.com.

There’s all the difference in the world between someone who really belongs to Jesus and someone who just looks like they do. It’s actually the difference between heaven and hell.