Max Lucado Daily: Give Thanks
Some things just weren’t made to coexist. Long-tailed cats and rocking chairs? Bulls in a china shop? Not a good idea. Blessings and bitterness? The mixture doesn’t go over well with God. Combine heavenly kindness with earthly ingratitude and expect a sour concoction. Perhaps you’ve sampled it. Gratitude doesn’t come naturally. Self-pity does. Bellyaches do. Grumbles and mumbles—no one has to remind us to offer them. Yet they don’t mix well with the kindness we’ve been given.
Gratitude gets us through the hard stuff. To reflect on your blessings is to rehearse God’s accomplishments. To rehearse His accomplishments is to discover His heart. Gratitude always leaves us looking at God and away from dread. “Give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).
From You’ll Get Through This
Psalm 9
A David Psalm
1–2 9 I’m thanking you, God, from a full heart,
I’m writing the book on your wonders.
I’m whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy;
I’m singing your song, High God.
3–4 The day my enemies turned tail and ran,
they stumbled on you and fell on their faces.
You took over and set everything right;
when I needed you, you were there, taking charge.
5–6 You blow the whistle on godless nations;
you throw dirty players out of the game,
wipe their names right off the roster.
Enemies disappear from the sidelines,
their reputation trashed,
their names erased from the halls of fame.
7–8 God holds the high center,
he sees and sets the world’s mess right.
He decides what is right for us earthlings,
gives people their just deserts.
9–10 God’s a safe-house for the battered,
a sanctuary during bad times.
The moment you arrive, you relax;
you’re never sorry you knocked.
11–12 Sing your songs to Zion-dwelling God,
tell his stories to everyone you meet:
How he tracks down killers
yet keeps his eye on us,
registers every whimper and moan.
13–14 Be kind to me, God;
I’ve been kicked around long enough.
Once you’ve pulled me back
from the gates of death,
I’ll write the book on Hallelujahs;
on the corner of Main and First
I’ll hold a street meeting;
I’ll be the song leader; we’ll fill the air
with salvation songs.
15–16 They’re trapped, those godless countries,
in the very snares they set,
Their feet all tangled
in the net they spread.
They have no excuse;
the way God works is well-known.
The cunning machinery made by the wicked
has maimed their own hands.
17–20 The wicked bought a one-way
ticket to hell.
No longer will the poor be nameless—
no more humiliation for the humble.
Up, God! Aren’t you fed up with their empty strutting?
Expose these grand pretensions!
Shake them up, God!
Show them how silly they look.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 29, 2026
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Hebrews 10:1-10
The Sacrifice of Jesus
1–10 10 The old plan was only a hint of the good things in the new plan. Since that old “law plan” wasn’t complete in itself, it couldn’t complete those who followed it. No matter how many sacrifices were offered year after year, they never added up to a complete solution. If they had, the worshipers would have gone merrily on their way, no longer dragged down by their sins. But instead of removing awareness of sin, when those animal sacrifices were repeated over and over they actually heightened awareness and guilt. The plain fact is that bull and goat blood can’t get rid of sin. That is what is meant by this prophecy, put in the mouth of Christ:
You don’t want sacrifices and offerings year after year;
you’ve prepared a body for me for a sacrifice.
It’s not fragrance and smoke from the altar
that whet your appetite.
So I said, “I’m here to do it your way, O God,
the way it’s described in your Book.”
When he said, “You don’t want sacrifices and offerings,” he was referring to practices according to the old plan. When he added, “I’m here to do it your way,” he set aside the first in order to enact the new plan—God’s way—by which we are made fit for God by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.
Today's Insights
As the writer of Hebrews explains the thorough effectiveness of the sacrifice Christ made for us, he makes it clear that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (10:4). So what was the point of the sacrificial system the Hebrew people practiced for centuries? It was “only a shadow of the good things that are coming” (10:1). This is why John the Baptist declared of Jesus, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). What the slaughter of animals couldn’t do, Christ did. As a result, “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).
Learn more about the hope that resurrection gives us by reading Hunting for Resurrection Hope.
Jesus—Our Substitute by John Blase
We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:10
As the US Civil War (1861-65) dragged on, both sides resorted to conscription (the draft) to fill their ranks. Under the Confederate law, a draftee could dodge service by hiring a man who was exempt from the draft to replace him—in most cases someone under or over the conscription age. Generally, the “principal” (as one evading the draft was called) paid a fee to the government as well as a large sum to his substitute. Only the wealthy could afford substitutes.
The apostle Paul writes of the cosmic spiritual war, where “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and “the wages of sin is death” (6:23). There was no clause or loophole that gave those with “means” some way out. But what about a substitute for us all? The writer to the Hebrews praises God, who in His infinite mercy sent Jesus to be our substitute—to bear the punishment our sin deserved, to pay our debt by sacrificing “the body of Jesus Christ once for all” so that we would be “made holy” through His substitutionary sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10). We have “died with Christ,” and one day “we will also live with him” (Romans 6:8).
That’s the good news right there. Christ died for you and for me; the substitute took our place. We’re now more than simply survivors of the war. We’ve become the sons and daughters of God.
Reflect & Pray
How does it make you feel to realize that Jesus died in your place? How might you explain this good news to a friend?
Dear Jesus, I praise You for being my substitute and securing for me life eternal.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 29, 2026
The Direction of Discipline
And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. — Matthew 5:30
Pay close attention to the words Jesus speaks here. Jesus doesn’t say that everyone, without exception, must cut off their right hand. He says that if your right hand causes you to stumble, then you must cut it off. Yet even with this condition, Jesus’s command is the toughest discipline ever to strike humankind. Your right hand is one of the best and most useful things you have—and still Jesus says it must go if it causes you to stumble.
After God changes you through spiritual rebirth, you will find that there are a hundred and one perfectly legitimate things you dare not do, because they break your concentration on him. These things are like your right hand: in your eyes and the eyes of the world, they appear good, even necessary. When you begin to cut them out, your life will be maimed and scarred. Unspiritual people will be appalled. “What on earth is wrong with that?” they’ll ask. “How absurd you’re being!” Remember, when this happens, how and why you’ve been given your new insight. Jesus Christ is using his Spirit to warn you away from things which are no longer right for you. These things may still be perfectly fine for everyone else. Make sure you do not use your new limits to criticize others.
There has never been a saint who didn’t lead a maimed life at first. But it is better to enter into life maimed and lovely in God’s sight than to be lovely in the eyes of the world and unfit in God’s. Take heart, and remember that your life will not always be maimed. In Matthew 5:48, Jesus gives a picture of the life he desires you to lead, a life that is full-orbed, a life in him: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Job 14-16; Acts 9:22-43
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible.
Biblical Psychology, 199 R
No comments:
Post a Comment