Max Lucado Daily: HIS HIGHER PURPOSE - July 23, 2026
No moment, event, or detail falls outside of God’s supervision. God is the one who “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45 NIV). He isn’t making up this plan as he goes along. Daniel 5:21 (NKJV) says, “The most high God rules the kingdom of men, and sets over it whom he will.”
So if God is in charge, why does he permit challenges to come our way? Wouldn’t an almighty God prevent them? Not if they serve his higher purpose. The ultimate example is the death of Christ on the cross. Everyone thought the life of Jesus was over. Jesus was dead and buried, but God raised Him from the dead. God took the crucifixion of Friday and turned it into the celebration of Sunday. Can he not do a similar reversal for you?
Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World
Matthew 27:27-50
The Crucifixion
27–31 The soldiers assigned to the governor took Jesus into the governor’s palace and got the entire brigade together for some fun. They stripped him and dressed him in a red toga. They plaited a crown from branches of a thornbush and set it on his head. They put a stick in his right hand for a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mocking reverence: “Bravo, King of the Jews!” they said. “Bravo!” Then they spit on him and hit him on the head with the stick. When they had had their fun, they took off the toga and put his own clothes back on him. Then they proceeded out to the crucifixion.
32–34 Along the way they came on a man from Cyrene named Simon and made him carry Jesus’ cross. Arriving at Golgotha, the place they call “Skull Hill,” they offered him a mild painkiller (a mixture of wine and myrrh), but when he tasted it he wouldn’t drink it.
35–40 After they had finished nailing him to the cross and were waiting for him to die, they whiled away the time by throwing dice for his clothes. Above his head they had posted the criminal charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Along with him, they also crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”
41–44 The high priests, along with the religion scholars and leaders, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him: “He saved others—he can’t save himself! King of Israel, is he? Then let him get down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then! He was so sure of God—well, let him rescue his ‘Son’ now—if he wants him! He did claim to be God’s Son, didn’t he?” Even the two criminals crucified next to him joined in the mockery.
45–46 From noon to three, the whole earth was dark. Around mid-afternoon Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
47–49 Some bystanders who heard him said, “He’s calling for Elijah.” One of them ran and got a sponge soaked in sour wine and lifted it on a stick so he could drink. The others joked, “Don’t be in such a hurry. Let’s see if Elijah comes and saves him.”
50 But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, July 23, 2026
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Ephesians 2:1-10
He Tore Down the Wall
1–6 2 It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
7–10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Today's Insights
The creation account in Genesis says that “God created mankind in his own image” (1:27). Ephesians 2:10 also declares that “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Jesus set the example for us during His earthly ministry by doing “many good works from the Father” (John 10:32). Peter elaborates and says: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, . . . he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him” (Acts 10:38). The fruit of the Spirit’s work in us is “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). As believers in Christ, the Spirit will provide the opportunities and empowerment to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and do good works.
Prepared to Help
We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Ephesians 2:10
by Anne Cetas
My friend needed to practice parallel parking before her driving test that was coming up soon. I was prayerfully looking for a safe place to teach her when the idea came to go to a neighborhood church with an ample parking lot. After we set up what turned out to be a less-than-ideal practice parking space using folding chairs, she made her first attempt to back into the spot between the chairs.
Then the pastor came out with orange cones in hand, similar to the kind used in a driving test. He introduced himself and asked, “Could you use these cones?” He explained that just last week their church family had discussed ways to help neighbors new to the community. “We talked about letting people use these cones in our parking lot for parking practice.” They had prepared to help others, and what a blessing they were for my friend.
Prepared to help others. That’s exactly what God did for us and in us. He “prepared in advance” for us to do good works and care for others (Ephesians 2:10). The apostle Paul says, “We are God’s handiwork” (v. 10), so we serve under His direction and for His purposes. Salvation is a gift from God (v. 8), who is “rich in mercy” (v. 4). Our good works are a work of God through us. He’s prepared us and will give us the compassion and wisdom we need to reach out to others.
Reflect & Pray
How has God gifted you? In what ways could you join with others to serve people in your community?
Dear God, please help me to see others’ needs and know what You want me to do so You may be seen.
For further reflection, read The More Excellent Way.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, July 23, 2026
The Life Side of Sanctification
. . . Christ Jesus, who has become for us . . . our righteousness, holiness and redemption. —1 Corinthians 1:30
The mystery of sanctification is that the perfections of Jesus Christ are imparted to me instantly—not gradually, but at the very instant when, by faith, Jesus Christ realizes sanctification in me. Sanctification is nothing less than the holiness of Jesus made manifestly mine.
Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation. The one secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus but in letting his perfections manifest themselves in my physical body. Sanctification is “Christ in me.” It is Christ’s own wonderful life that is imparted to me by faith as a sovereign gift of God’s grace. Am I willing for God to make sanctification as real in me as it is in his word?
Sanctification means that Jesus gives me his patience, his love, his holiness, his faith, his purity, and his godliness. All these are manifested in and through every sanctified soul. Sanctification isn’t drawing the power to be holy from Jesus; it’s drawing his own holiness from him. It’s having the very same holiness that was manifested in him manifested in me.
The perfection of everything is in Jesus Christ. The mystery of sanctification is that all the perfections of Jesus are made available to me and, slowly but surely, I begin to live a life of indescribable order and sanity and holiness, a life “shielded by God’s power” (1 Peter 1:5).
Psalms 33-34; Acts 24
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it.
Not Knowing Whither, 900 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, July 23, 2026
A Real God Wants the Real You - #10314
Scripture: Hebrews 4:12
They often give you one when you check into some sprawling motel complex, or a big theme park, or a large convention facility. It’s a map of the place. And for the directionally challenged like me, there’s one important thing I look for on that map. It’s that “X” and those very helpful words, “You are here.” See, you’re not helping me very much by just giving me a drawing of where everything is. In order for me to use that to get where I want to go, I need that one fundamental piece of information - where am I right now?
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “A Real God Wants the Real You.”
It is important to know exactly where you are when you’re trying to get to a destination, and when you’re trying to get to God. In fact, the failure to talk to God about where you really are may explain why He seems a little farther away than He once did - a little less real than He once did.
Hebrews 4:16 is God’s powerful invitation to come boldly to His “throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” The verses that precede this promise of God’s total availability have to do with our total honesty. Hebrews 4 beginning in verse 12 is our word for today from the Word of God, and it begins by saying that God’s Word “is sharper than any double-edged sword.” In other words it opens up our soul surgically and exposes what’s really inside.
Verse 13 goes on to say, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” So you might as well come to God totally unmasked, because there’s nothing He doesn’t know about you. If you talk to Him about how you’re honestly feeling, He’s not going to say, “Oh, you’re kidding! Really? I didn't know that!” No, it’s understandable why you may not tell other people how you’re really feeling; they might think less of you. But God already knows, and there’s nothing you can do to make God love you more or love you less.
In fact, these words go on to remind us that “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence.” Why? Because God already knows all about us, and because we are coming to the Father through a Savior who has felt all the feelings of being human.
You might say, “Well, God already knows, why do I need to tell Him?” So you can open up that part of your heart and your life to His cleansing, His restoring, and His healing. He only goes where He’s invited. Maybe you’ve been saying, “Well, God doesn’t seem real to me right now.” Maybe He’s saying the same thing to you; you’re coming to Him all religious, all together, and all dressed up. If God doesn’t seem real to you, maybe it’s because you aren’t being real with Him. You aren’t starting where you really are. You’re coming as you think you’re supposed to be.
Tell it all to your Lord? Tell Him where you’re hurting, tell Him where you’re afraid, tell Him where you feel like giving up, where you’re angry, where you can’t forgive, where you can’t fight anymore, where you’re desperate for love. Tell Him when you’re spiritually flat. See, He already knows, but He’s waiting for you to open up that part of you so He can bring in His mercy and His grace and His love.
Your spiritual drifting, your distance from God, your unnecessary pain may be because you’ve been coming to God without the real you. You need to get your map out and mark where you are right now. Then your Lord will take you from there to where you need to be. When Jesus says, “If you will open the door, I will come in,” He invites us to come just as we are with a lifetime of sin and doubt that He died to pay for on a cross, and then prove that He could give us eternal life by walking out of His grave under His own power.
If you’ve never begun a relationship with Him, let today be the day. If you want to know how, check out our website: ANewStory.com.
There’s an old hymn that expresses this very well, the only way to come to Him. “Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me; and that Thou bidst me come to Thee. O Lamb of God, I come.”
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