Max Lucado Daily: FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE - August 20, 2026
We’d prefer to fill a storehouse with a lifetime’s worth of courage, cash, and convictions. Yet God wants us to trust him day by day. Elijah’s word to the widow is God’s word to us: “The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry” (1 Kings 17:14 NIV). Elijah spoke to her with faith; she responded in faith. She turned and obeyed.
In order to swim upstream in a downstream culture, we, like the widow, have to make a choice. Will we obey God? When you are weary, God is your strength. Lonely, God is your friend. Weak, God is your provider. Fortitude follows faithful obedience. Do what the widow did. Go to the kitchen, empty the jar of oil and flour, trust. The God who filled it today will fill it again tomorrow.
Unbreakable Courage
Luke 23:26-56
Skull Hill
26–31 As they led him off, they made Simon, a man from Cyrene who happened to be coming in from the countryside, carry the cross behind Jesus. A huge crowd of people followed, along with women weeping and carrying on. At one point Jesus turned to the women and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children. The time is coming when they’ll say, ‘Lucky the women who never conceived! Lucky the wombs that never gave birth! Lucky the breasts that never gave milk!’ Then they’ll start calling to the mountains, ‘Fall down on us!’ calling to the hills, ‘Cover us up!’ If people do these things to a live, green tree, can you imagine what they’ll do with deadwood?”
32 Two others, both criminals, were taken along with him for execution.
33 When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.
34–35 Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Dividing up his clothes, they threw dice for them. The people stood there staring at Jesus, and the ringleaders made faces, taunting, “He saved others. Let’s see him save himself! The Messiah of God—ha! The Chosen—ha!”
36–37 The soldiers also came up and poked fun at him, making a game of it. They toasted him with sour wine: “So you’re King of the Jews! Save yourself!”
38 Printed over him was a sign: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals hanging alongside cursed him: “Some Messiah you are! Save yourself! Save us!”
40–41 But the other one made him shut up: “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him—he did nothing to deserve this.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.”
43 He said, “Don’t worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise.”
44–46 By now it was noon. The whole earth became dark, the darkness lasting three hours—a total blackout. The Temple curtain split right down the middle. Jesus called loudly, “Father, I place my life in your hands!” Then he breathed his last.
47 When the captain there saw what happened, he honored God: “This man was innocent! A good man, and innocent!”
48–49 All who had come around as spectators to watch the show, when they saw what actually happened, were overcome with grief and headed home. Those who knew Jesus well, along with the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a respectful distance and kept vigil.
50–54 There was a man by the name of Joseph, a member of the Jewish High Council, a man of good heart and good character. He had not gone along with the plans and actions of the council. His hometown was the Jewish village of Arimathea. He lived in alert expectation of the kingdom of God. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Taking him down, he wrapped him in a linen shroud and placed him in a tomb chiseled into the rock, a tomb never yet used. It was the day before Sabbath, the Sabbath just about to begin.
55–56 The women who had been companions of Jesus from Galilee followed along. They saw the tomb where Jesus’ body was placed. Then they went back to prepare burial spices and perfumes. They rested quietly on the Sabbath, as commanded.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, August 20, 2026
By Katara Patton
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Matthew 5:13-16
Salt and Light
13 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
14–16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Today's Insights
When we receive God’s gift of salvation, He begins His work of transformation in us. He does this through the Bible, God’s wisdom to us: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). As we read and meditate on the Scriptures, we learn about Him and what it means to be “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Through prayer, we come to Him for strength and guidance. And, as believers in Jesus, the Holy Spirit living inside us “will guide us into all the truth” (John 16:13). The Spirit helps us to understand and live out the gospel and to “shine” in this dark world by our words and actions, drawing others to Christ, the source of Light.
Shine Christ’s Light
Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16
In the dimly lit restaurant, our waitress quietly took our orders with a solemn expression. But then a customer kindly gave her a writing pen that had a little flashlight built into it. He told her it was so she could “see in the dark.”
Her face lit up, and her demeanor changed to reflect joy. It was evident that she was delighted by the gift—clicking the light off and on. When she left our table, the man smiled as he whispered to me, “I think she brightened up when I gave her the pen. It made her day!”
The God-given gift of light certainly brightens our days. Jesus is the ultimate gift of light—“light . . . come into the world” to save the world (John 3:16-19). God provided this gift because He loves us and wants to be in relationship with us. When we receive Christ as our Savior, our sins are forgiven, and we experience fellowship with Him. Jesus brightens our lives for all eternity. He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (8:12).
As believers in Jesus, we’re “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). When we receive the gift God gave us through Christ, we can walk in His light and “let [our] light shine before others” (v. 16). With Him as our source, let’s shine for Him today!
Reflect & Pray
How are you revealing the light of Christ? How can you brighten someone’s life this day?
Heavenly Father, please help me shine Your love and light to others today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, August 20, 2026
Completeness
And I will give you rest. — Matthew 11:28
Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to him at once and ask him to establish rest. Never allow anything that is causing dis-peace to remain. Treat every disturbance as something to wrestle against, not as something to endure. Say to the Lord, “Establish your consciousness in me.” Christ-consciousness will come, self-consciousness will go, and he will be all in all.
If you allow self-consciousness to continue, by slow degrees it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic. The self-pitying person thinks along these lines: “No one understands me; I’m owed an apology; I have to keep making my point until other people accept it.” Leave other people alone. Ask the Lord to give you Christ-consciousness, and he will steady you until your completeness in him is absolute.
The complete life is the life of the child. The child of God is not conscious of the will of God, because the child is the will of God. When you are consciously conscious, something is wrong; it is the sick person who knows what health is. If you are consciously asking God, “What is your will?” it’s a sign that you have deviated, however slightly, from his will. The child of God never prays to be conscious that God answers prayer. The child of God is restfully certain that God always does answer prayer.
Never try to overcome self-consciousness using common sense. You will only succeed in strengthening it. You must do what Jesus says: “Come to me . . . and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Wherever Jesus comes, he establishes rest—the perfect rest of activity that is unconscious of itself.
Psalms 105-106; 1 Corinthians 3
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance.
Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, August 20, 2026
Light in Your Dark Night - #10334
Our sons worked for many years on a Native American reservation. And it was one of the few places on that dark reservation. Dark because so few people had been reached for Christ and so few had any Christmas decorations up. But I was always impressed with that one village church where they had a lot of lights outlining all their church buildings, and there was a cross covered with lights on top of the church's steeple. It was pretty impressive. One Christmas I had a chance to visit there and I got to see the lights of the church and that cross. And, man, the cross really stands out against the darkness. And I met Rose. She's a Native woman who attends that church. Those lights are an important part of her story actually. She said, "I have struggled with alcohol for many years. And one night, during the Christmas season, I hit bottom. I was in the pit. I wandered outside and there it was – the cross all lit up in front of me. I came to where the cross was," she said, "and with the help of the pastor's wife, I finally found hope that night."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Light in Your Dark Night."
As that Native woman discovered that night when it was especially dark for her, the shape of hope is the cross of Jesus. For her, and maybe for you right now.
In our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 2:12, the Bible describes in eight little words how so many people feel. It talks about being (here we go!) "without hope and without God in the world." "Without hope" describes the feeling that things are always going to be like they've always been, I'm never going to change, my life is never going to change, I'll always come up empty, I'll always come up lonely, I'm always going to come up confused, I'm always going to come up feeling worthless. The habits, the failures, the weaknesses that have always brought me down, they're always going to bring me down. Rose, the woman I met at that reservation church, said it was like being "in the pit."
And the Bible suggests that the ultimate reason we are "without hope" is because we are "without God." That doesn't mean you don't believe in God or even know a lot about God. It means you don't have the personal love relationship with God that you were made for. We're without God because we've chosen to turn our backs on Him and run our own lives instead of letting Him run them. So the One who has all the meaning, all the love, and all the answers we've looked for our whole life is on the other side of a wall, and that wall is called sin.
Thankfully, this "without hope" statement in the Bible is followed by that hopeful word "but." "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near." Wow! Now, how does that happen? "Through the blood of Christ" it says. So we find ourselves at the same place Rose found herself that night she found hope - at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ. Why is this shedding of His blood on the cross so important? Because, as the Bible says, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness" (Hebrews 9:22). Sin has a death penalty, and a death penalty can only be paid by someone dying. And Jesus did so you don't have to.
When you put your total trust in Jesus to be your personal Savior from your personal sin, you're forgiven of every sin. You're guaranteed heaven when you die. You receive His power to change what you've never been able to change. It doesn't have to be the way it's always been. Hope is born when you follow the light of God to the cross of Jesus.
And that's where He's leading you this very day. It's what our website's all about, and that's why I want to ask you to go there. Let this be your hope destination today - ANewStory.com.
Hope is in the shape of a cross. And hope is born for you when you come to that cross and you say these two words that change everything, "For me. It was for me."
No comments:
Post a Comment