Genesis 15, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: COME CLEAN WITH GOD - February 6, 2025

In Psalm 32:5 (TLB), David says, “I confess my rebellion to the Lord. And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.”

Confession is not complaining. If I merely recite my problems and tell you how tough my life is, I’m not confessing. Confession is not blaming. Pointing fingers at others may feel good for a while, but it does nothing to remove the conflict within me. Confession is coming clean with God.

David discovered this. As if his affair with Bathsheba wasn’t enough. As if the murder of her husband wasn’t enough. David danced around the truth. It took a prophet to bring the truth to the surface, but when he did, David did not like what he saw. He confessed. He came clean with God. And the result? He proclaimed, “And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.”

Want to get rid of your guilt? Come clean with God.

Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions

Genesis 15

After all these things, this word of God came to Abram in a vision: “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I’m your shield. Your reward will be grand!”

2–3  Abram said, “God, Master, what use are your gifts as long as I’m childless and Eliezer of Damascus is going to inherit everything?” Abram continued, “See, you’ve given me no children, and now a mere house servant is going to get it all.”

4  Then God’s Message came: “Don’t worry, he won’t be your heir; a son from your body will be your heir.”

5  Then he took him outside and said, “Look at the sky. Count the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You’re going to have a big family, Abram!”

6  And he believed! Believed God! God declared him “Set-Right-with-God.”

7  God continued, “I’m the same God who brought you from Ur of the Chaldees and gave you this land to own.”

8  Abram said, “Master God, how am I to know this, that it will all be mine?”

9  God said, “Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, and a dove and a young pigeon.”

10–12  He brought all these animals to him, split them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. But he didn’t split the birds. Vultures swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram scared them off. As the sun went down a deep sleep overcame Abram and then a sense of dread, dark and heavy.

13–16  God said to Abram, “Know this: your descendants will live as outsiders in a land not theirs; they’ll be enslaved and beaten down for 400 years. Then I’ll punish their slave masters; your offspring will march out of there loaded with plunder. But not you; you’ll have a long and full life and die a good and peaceful death. Not until the fourth generation will your descendants return here; sin is still a thriving business among the Amorites.”

17–21  When the sun was down and it was dark, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch moved between the split carcasses. That’s when God made a covenant with Abram: “I’m giving this land to your children, from the Nile River in Egypt to the River Euphrates in Assyria—the country of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, February 06, 2025

by Matt Lucas

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Genesis 2:4-9

This is the story of how it all started,

of Heaven and Earth when they were created.

Adam and Eve

5–7  At the time God made Earth and Heaven, before any grasses or shrubs had sprouted from the ground—God hadn’t yet sent rain on Earth, nor was there anyone around to work the ground (the whole Earth was watered by underground springs)—God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!

8–9  Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil.

Today's Insights

In Genesis 2, we’re given a description of the garden of Eden, where God placed the first humans so they could care for what He created (vv. 8, 15). The garden was delightful—God caused trees to provide fruit (v. 9) and rivers to water the ground (v. 10). He asked our first parents to care for it, but this request came with a commandment (vv. 15-17). This is a picture of how God continues to interact with humanity. He brings blessing but also gives us instructions in how to live. We’re given the choice to obey Him or not. We honor Him when we choose obedience as the Spirit helps us.

A Cultivated Life in Christ

There was no one to work the ground. Genesis 2:5

When we built our home, it stood on little more than a muddy, empty lot at the end of a gravel road. We needed grass, trees, and shrubs to match the surrounding Oregon foothills. As I got out my lawn tools and set to work, I thought of the first garden waiting for humans: “No shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, . . . and there was no one to work the ground” (Genesis 2:5).

The creation account in Genesis 1 repeats God’s assessment of creation: it “was good” or “very good” (vv. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). However, it wasn’t complete. Adam and Eve needed to cultivate the ground—to exercise stewardship of God’s creation (v. 28). They weren’t meant to live in an unchanging paradise but one that needed care and development.

Since the beginning, God has been inviting humans to partner with Him in His creation. He did it in the garden of Eden, and He does it with “the new creation” He makes of us when we put our faith in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Upon salvation, we’re not made perfect. As the apostle Paul says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world” (Romans 12:2). God works in us as we pursue a life pleasing to Him, “conformed to the image of his Son” (8:29).

Whether it’s caring for the earth or caring for our new life in Christ, God has given us a gift we need to cultivate.

Reflect & Pray

What work do you enjoy most? What might God be calling you to cultivate in your community?

Father, thank You for inviting me to participate in the work You’re doing in the world and in me. 

For further study, read Worshipping God Means More than Singing.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, February 06, 2025

Are You Ready to Be Offered?

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering. — 2 Timothy 4:6 (R. V. Marg.)

To be ready to be offered is a question of will, not feelings. If we always wait to act until we feel like it, we might never do anything at all. But if we take the initiative and decide to act, exerting our will, if we tell God that we are ready to be offered and that we will accept the consequences, whatever they may be, we will find that no matter what he asks, we are able to do it without complaint.

God puts each of us through crises we must face alone. These are trials intended just for us; no one else can help us with them. But if we prepare for these challenges internally first—if we say, “I will meet this challenge, no matter what”—then we’ll be able to rise to the challenge when it actually comes, taking no thought for the cost to ourselves. If we don’t make this kind of determined, private agreement with God in advance, we’ll end up falling into self-pity when difficulty arises.

“Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27 kjv). The altar represents the purifying fire, the fire that burns away every attachment God has not chosen for us, every connection that isn’t a connection to him. We don’t choose what gets burned away; God does. Our job is to bind the sacrifice, and to make sure we don’t give in to self-pity when the fire starts. After we’ve traveled this way of fire, there is nothing that can oppress us or make us afraid. When crises come, we realize that things cannot touch us as they once did.

Tell God you are ready to be offered, and God will prove himself all you ever dreamed he was.

Exodus 39-40; Matthew 23:23-39

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Christianity is not consistency to conscience or to convictions; Christianity is being true to Jesus Christ. 

Biblical Ethics, 111 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, February 06, 2025

When Life Feels Meaningless - #9934

Well, several years ago it was our turn again for the cicadas to pay us a brief visit. You can't really complain; they only drop by every 17 years. What a life these critters have! They suck on a root in the ground for a while, they finally emerge, they climb a tree, they make a lot of noise for about three weeks, and they die. You talk about "get a life!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Life Feels Meaningless."

Live a little while, make some noise, and then you're gone. Ecclesiastes 1, our word for today from the Word of God; the diary of one of the richest, most successful, most brilliant men who ever lived - the Jewish King Solomon. He opens his life's testimony with his bottom line on living. Here's what he says, "Meaningless, meaningless, utterly meaningless, everything is meaningless." Man alive! He says, "I haven't found meaning in anything I've done!" Then he goes on to say, "The eye has never enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing." So he says there's never enough!

As he passed through his life cycle, here are some of the noises that Solomon made. He says in 1:17, "I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, but this too is chasing after the wind." Then he says, "I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good. But that also proved to be meaningless. I surveyed all that my hands had done and all that I have toiled to achieve," which, by the way, was pretty incredible. He said, "Everything was meaningless." And then finally, "Like the fool, the wise man too must die."

After a life full of pleasure, achievement, relationships and learning, Solomon sums it all up in one word: meaningless! Like those cicadas, a short stay, make a little noise, and then you're gone. Solomon's search and Solomon's conclusion have been repeated over and over again in millions of lives...maybe yours. Maybe there's been activity but not much meaning. You've lived long enough to feel the hollowness of so many things that were supposed to make your life fulfilling. Nothing has really done it for you.

You might be interested though, in the key that Solomon finally found in the meaning that had eluded him his whole colorful life - chapter 3, verse 11 of Ecclesiastes: "God has set eternity in the hearts of men." See, there's this eternity vacuum in us that can never be filled by anything or anyone that earth has to offer. We're not just 70-year cicadas going through a largely meaningless lifestyle for 70 years. We're built for eternity!

In his final chapter he says things like, "Remember your Creator." Now he's looking for meaning in the only direction it can possibly come from - the One who gave us our life in the first place. The Bible actually says, speaking of Jesus Christ, "You were created by Him and for Him." You can't find your purpose until you find the One you were made by and made for, and that's Jesus. That's why He can make this exciting promise in John 10:10, "I have come that they might have life and have it to the full." All the life you were made for is in Jesus Christ. But for you to have life, it cost Jesus His life.

The next verse says, "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." It's no mistake Jesus refers to us as sheep. We've wandered away from God, like sheep, the Bible says. It's called sin. The penalty is death. But Jesus, God's own Son, paid that penalty on the cross for you and me. Your last meaningless day is the day you reach out to the author of your life; the day you tell Jesus you are putting all of your trust in Him. And this could be that day.

That's why I want to invite you to visit our website. Because right there I will lay out for you in simple and non-religious language how you can be sure you have begun the relationship that begins life the way it was meant to be. Our website - ANewStory.com. Will you go there?

One day it was very quiet in our yard again. That short, seemingly meaningless life of the cicadas was over. You were made for so much more than that. You were made for eternity, and that begins the moment that you begin with Jesus.

Genesis 14, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: NOT GOOD ENOUGH - February 5, 2025

Simply put, we are not good enough to go to heaven. So what can we do? We could start doing good deeds. Perhaps if we do enough good deeds, they’ll offset our bad deeds.

The question then becomes how many good deeds? If I spend one year being greedy, how many years should I be generous? No one knows the answer to that question. A rule sheet can’t be found. A code has not been discovered. Why? Because God doesn’t operate this way.

God has been so kind to us. We have no way of balancing the scales. All we can do is ask for mercy. And God, because of his kindness, gives it. God turned over our sins to his Son. Jesus Christ died for us. He did what we could not do so that we might become what we dare not dream—citizens of heaven!

Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions

Genesis 14

Then this: Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim went off to war to fight Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar.

3–4  This second group of kings, the attacked, came together at the Valley of Siddim, that is, the Salt Sea. They had been under the thumb of Kedorlaomer for twelve years. In the thirteenth year, they revolted.

5–7  In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him set out and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El Paran on the far edge of the desert. On their way back they stopped at En Mishpat, that is, Kadesh, and conquered the whole region of the Amalekites as well as that of the Amorites who lived in Hazazon Tamar.

8–9  That’s when the king of Sodom marched out with the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar. They drew up in battle formation against their enemies in the Valley of Siddim—against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five.

10–12  The Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into the tar pits, but the rest escaped into the mountains. The four kings captured all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, all their food and equipment, and went on their way. They captured Lot, Abram’s nephew who was living in Sodom at the time, taking everything he owned with them.

13–16  A fugitive came and reported to Abram the Hebrew. Abram was living at the Oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and Aner. They were allies of Abram. When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken prisoner, he lined up his servants, all of them born in his household—there were 318 of them—and chased after the captors all the way to Dan. Abram and his men split into small groups and attacked by night. They chased them as far as Hobah, just north of Damascus. They recovered all the plunder along with nephew Lot and his possessions, including the women and the people.

17–20  After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and his allied kings, the king of Sodom came out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh, the King’s Valley. Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine—he was priest of The High God—and blessed him:

Blessed be Abram by The High God,

Creator of Heaven and Earth.

And blessed be The High God,

who handed your enemies over to you.

Abram gave him a tenth of all the recovered plunder.

21  The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me back the people but keep all the plunder for yourself.”

22–24  But Abram told the king of Sodom, “I swear to God, The High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, this solemn oath, that I’ll take nothing from you, not so much as a thread or a shoestring. I’m not going to have you go around saying, ‘I made Abram rich.’ Nothing for me other than what the young men ate and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; they’re to get their share of the plunder.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, February 05, 2025

by Jasmine Goh

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

John 5:36-40

But the witness that really confirms me far exceeds John’s witness. It’s the work the Father gave me to complete. These very tasks, as I go about completing them, confirm that the Father, in fact, sent me. The Father who sent me, confirmed me. And you missed it. You never heard his voice, you never saw his appearance. There is nothing left in your memory of his Message because you do not take his Messenger seriously.

39–40  “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.

Today's Insights

In John 5:39-40, Jesus acknowledges the importance of studying the Scriptures yet asserts that they ultimately point to Him. Both the Old and New Testaments declare Scripture’s impact. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul encourages Timothy to continue in the Scriptures, and he notes that “all Scripture is God-breathed” and trains and equips us for personal growth in holiness and to serve others (vv. 16-17). Before installing Joshua as the new Israelite leader, God urged him to “meditate on [the Law] day and night” so that he’d be “prosperous and successful” in leading the Israelites into Canaan (Joshua 1:8). In Psalm 19, David declares that the words of God refresh the soul, make wise the simple, and give joy to the heart and light to the eyes. By them we’re warned and find great reward (vv. 7-11). Through keeping and treasuring Scripture, God makes our way clear (Psalm 119:1-3, 105; Proverbs 2:1-5).

Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

[Jesus said], “These are the very Scriptures that testify about me.” John 5:39

June’s eyes were fixed on the gray car beside her. She had to change lanes to exit the highway, but each time she tried to overtake the vehicle, the other driver seemed to speed up too. Finally, she managed to cut in front. Smug in her moment of triumph, June looked in the rearview mirror and smirked. At the same time, she noticed her destination exit passing her by.

With a rueful smile, she recounted: “I was so fixated on overtaking that I missed my exit.”

Such a slip can also happen in our desire to walk in God’s ways. When the religious leaders persecuted Jesus for not keeping the Jewish law (John 5:16), He warned that they’d become so fixated on studying and enforcing the law that they were missing the person the law pointed to: “These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (vv. 39-40).

In trying to be right before God, the religious leaders focused on following the Jewish law and making sure everyone else did too. Likewise, in our zeal for God, we may keep up with good things—church attendance, Bible study, charity work—and even get others to join us. But we can become so focused on them that we miss the person we’re doing them for—Jesus.

In all we do, let’s ask God to help us fix our eyes on Christ (Hebrews 12:2). He alone is “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

Reflect & Pray

What are you focused on today? What does it mean for you to fix your eyes on Jesus? 

Dear God, thank You for giving me life through Christ. Please help me to keep Him at the center of all I do.

Learn to find God when you read Scripture by checking out Don't Miss the Point.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, February 05, 2025

Are You Ready to Be Offered?

I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith. — Philippians 2:17

Are you ready to be offered, to become broken bread and poured-out wine in the hands of the Lord? Or are you full of hesitation, saying to yourself, “I’m not going to be offered up just yet. I’m not going to let God choose my work or the setting of my sacrifice. I’ll only offer myself when the ‘right’ kind of people are watching, so they can congratulate me and say, ‘Well done’”?

It’s one thing to go about God’s business unnoticed, walking a lonely path and filled with dignified heroism; it’s quite another to become a doormat under other people’s feet. Sometimes, the role God wants you to play is the lowly role. He wants to teach you to say, “I know how to be humbled.”

Are you ready to be offered up like this? To be just a drop in the bucket, so hopelessly insignificant that no one even thinks of you in connection to the deeds you’ve done? Are you willing to spend and be spent, not seeking to be served but to serve (Matthew 20:28)?

Some saints are too holy for menial work. Are you one of them? Or will you decide that nothing God gives you to do is beneath you?

Exodus 36-38; Matthew 23:1-22

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Civilization is based on principles which imply that the passing moment is permanent. The only permanent thing is God, and if I put anything else as permanent, I become atheistic. I must build only on God (John 14:6).

The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, February 05, 2025

Why Together is Better Than Turf - #9933

Marty and his Great Puppy Adventure. That was the lunch time talk around our office when one of our team members became the proud owner of eight new puppies - thanks to his trusty dog, Sister. Each day seemed to bring a new episode; especially as Marty would compare the way of the puppy with the ways of people. He told us one day about trying to replenish their food. His intention was to load up their container with a lot of good things. But they really made it very difficult. See, the puppies were too busy fighting over two little pieces that were left in the corner.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Together is Better Than Turf."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 133:1, "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity...it is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows His blessing, even life forevermore."

Do you get what God's saying here? "I've got so many good things I want to give you." Notice when He gives it, when we "live together in unity." I wonder how often God feels a little like my friend Marty did. He wanted to pour out good things for the puppies, "I want to, but they're all getting in the way. You're too busy fighting over a little piece for yourself."

It happens in marriages. God wants to do some wonderful things in a couple, for a couple, but they're just focused on each defending their territory, getting their way in their marriage. God wants to bless some parents and children, but they're too busy staking out their ground, trying to again get their way. When people are just fighting for what they think are their rights, their way, the Lord just can't give them all He wants them to have. He responds to people working together, not working separately. He blesses peace and unity. He likes people looking out for each other, not looking out for themselves.

This same preoccupation with "my stuff" limits God's blessing on ministries and on churches. Where Christian leaders are only concerned with their turf, their work, their needs, then the atmosphere there is stressful, self-centered, and even cold. If they only knew the power and the joy they could have with God's unhindered blessing on them.

But they're living way below what could be because there isn't that unselfishness and unity where God says He'll pour out His blessing.

Even whole communities are missing God's outpouring because churches, ministries and leaders are not working together. Again, each one is fighting for their program, their budget, their territory, and God just turns away and says, "If you only knew what could happen in your town if you could ever get together."

You know if you take five fingers and slap yourself in the face with that, you're going to find out it might have a little sting. Now, pull those same separate fingers together and make it a fist. Now hit yourself...that's going to hurt! Of course we know that fingers together are far more powerful than fingers apart. Why can't we get that spiritually? We're operating so often like separate fingers in the Kingdom of God. How about if we pulled those together and made a fist in Satan's face and said, "You've taken enough lives, we're coming together to take them back."

Those crazy puppies - they missed so much because they were so busy only caring about their own little piece. Just like us. Would you be willing to lay down your sense of entitlement, to release your rights, your interests, your little piece and let God pour out all those good things that He's been wanting to give you? He can now, because you're working together.

Genesis 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD IS IN YOUR CORNER - February 4, 2025

I was seven years old. I’d had enough of my father’s rules and decided I could make it on my own, thank you very much! I got to the end of the alley and remembered I was hungry, so I went back home. Did Dad know of my insurrection? I suspect he did. Was I still his son? Apparently so – no one else was sitting in my place at the table.

Suppose someone had asked my father, “Mr. Lucado, your son says he has no need of a father. Do you still consider him your son?” What do you think he would have said? He considered himself my father even when I didn’t consider myself his son. His commitment to me was greater than my commitment to him. So is God’s. I can count on him to be in my corner no matter what! And you can too.

Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions

Genesis 13

So Abram left Egypt and went back to the Negev, he and his wife and everything he owned, and Lot still with him. By now Abram was very rich, loaded with cattle and silver and gold.

3–4  He moved on from the Negev, camping along the way, to Bethel, the place he had first set up his tent between Bethel and Ai and built his first altar. Abram prayed there to God.

5–7  Lot, who was traveling with Abram, was also rich in sheep and cattle and tents. But the land couldn’t support both of them; they had too many possessions. They couldn’t both live there—quarrels broke out between Abram’s shepherds and Lot’s shepherds. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living on the land at the time.

8–9  Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have fighting between us, between your shepherds and my shepherds. After all, we’re family. Look around. Isn’t there plenty of land out there? Let’s separate. If you go left, I’ll go right; if you go right, I’ll go left.”

10–11  Lot looked. He saw the whole plain of the Jordan spread out, well watered (this was before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah), like God’s garden, like Egypt, and stretching all the way to Zoar. Lot took the whole plain of the Jordan. Lot set out to the east.

11–12  That’s how they came to part company, uncle and nephew. Abram settled in Canaan; Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent near Sodom.

13  The people of Sodom were evil—flagrant sinners against God.

14–17  After Lot separated from him, God said to Abram, “Open your eyes, look around. Look north, south, east, and west. Everything you see, the whole land spread out before you, I will give to you and your children forever. I’ll make your descendants like dust—counting your descendants will be as impossible as counting the dust of the Earth. So—on your feet, get moving! Walk through the country, its length and breadth; I’m giving it all to you.”

18  Abram moved his tent. He went and settled by the Oaks of Mamre in Hebron. There he built an altar to God.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, February 04, 2025

by Amy Boucher Pye

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 31:1-2, 8-16

 I run to you, God; I run for dear life.

Don’t let me down!

Take me seriously this time!

Get down on my level and listen,

and please—no procrastination!

Your granite cave a hiding place,

your high cliff aerie a place of safety.

You didn’t leave me in their clutches

but gave me room to breathe.

Be kind to me, God—

I’m in deep, deep trouble again.

I’ve cried my eyes out;

I feel hollow inside.

My life leaks away, groan by groan;

my years fade out in sighs.

My troubles have worn me out,

turned my bones to powder.

To my enemies I’m a monster;

I’m ridiculed by the neighbors.

My friends are horrified;

they cross the street to avoid me.

They want to blot me from memory,

forget me like a corpse in a grave,

discard me like a broken dish in the trash.

The street-talk gossip has me

“criminally insane”!

Behind locked doors they plot

how to ruin me for good.

14–18  Desperate, I throw myself on you:

you are my God!

Hour by hour I place my days in your hand,

safe from the hands out to get me.

Warm me, your servant, with a smile;

save me because you love me.

Today's Insights

The book of Psalms is divided into five books or sections. Book I (chs. 1-41) and Book II (chs. 42-72) carry the majority of David’s psalms, and many of them are in the form of lament. Psalm 31 falls into this category. We might think it’s inappropriate to “complain” to God, but that’s what a lament is—a complaint about a circumstance in life. The difference between biblical lament and complaining, however, is that biblical lament almost always resolves in hope and praise. The psalmist finds this resolution in verses 19-24. He concludes: “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord” (v. 24).

God’s Spacious Place

You . . . have set my feet in a spacious place. Psalm 31:8

When theologian Todd Billings received a diagnosis of incurable blood cancer, he described his imminent mortality as like lights in distant rooms turning off or flickering. “As the father of a one- and three-year-old, I tended to think of the next few decades as an open expanse, assuming I would see Neti and Nathaniel grow and mature. . . . But in being diagnosed . . . there is a narrowing that takes place.”

In thinking about these limitations, Billings reflected on Psalm 31, how God set David in “a spacious place” (v. 8). Although David spoke of being afflicted by his enemies, he knew that God was his refuge and place of safety (v. 2). Through this song, the psalmist voiced his trust in God: “My times are in your hands” (v. 15).

Billings follows David in placing his hope in God. Although this theologian, husband, and father faces a narrowing in life, he agrees that he also lives in a spacious place. Why? Because God’s victory over death through Christ’s sacrifice means that we dwell in Christ, “the most spacious place imaginable.” As he explains, “What could be broader and more expansive than to share in His life by the Holy Spirit?”

We too may cry in lament, but we can take refuge in God, asking Him to lead us and guide us (vv. 1, 3). With David we can affirm that we live in a spacious place.

Reflect & Pray

What does it mean to you to live in a spacious place? What are some concrete ways you can put your hope in God today?

Heavenly Father, You allowed Your Son to die to set me free. Thank You for the gift of a spacious place.

God never forsakes us, even in our hardest moments. Learn more by reading From Anguish to Assurance. 

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, February 04, 2025

In God’s Grip

For Christ’s love compels us. —2 Corinthians 5:14

When Paul says that he is compelled by Christ’s love, he means that he is overruled, overmastered, held by an iron grip. Most of us have no idea what it means to be held in the grip of God’s love. We are held only by our experience. The one thing that held Paul was love. Whenever you see someone held like this, you know there is nothing standing in the way of the Spirit of God.

For some time after we are saved, our testimony tends to focus on what God has done for us. The baptism of the Holy Spirit takes our focus off ourselves, and places it on Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). He didn’t say “witnesses to what I have done for you.” It isn’t wrong to share personal testimony, but Christ wants us to pass on to a deeper, more profound kind of witness. He wants us to learn to view everything that happens to us as if it were happening to him—any praise we receive, any persecution we suffer. This is why we must be overruled by love and by the majesty of our Lord’s personal power. If we aren’t, we won’t be able to stand for him.

Paul lived to persuade people of the judgment seat of God and the love of Christ. Some called him insane, but Paul didn’t care. He understood the reason behind his actions: the love of Christ had him in its grip.

When we too are filled with this love, everything we do will give the impression of God’s holiness and power, never our own. Then we will truly be witnesses, and our lives will bear wonderful fruit.

Exodus 34-35; Matthew 22:23-46

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Always keep in contact with those books and those people that enlarge your horizon and make it possible for you to stretch yourself mentally.

The Moral Foundations of Life, 721 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, February 04, 2025

Always Caught - #9932

This could surely come under the heading of "You know it's going to be a bad day when..." Yeah, my wife and I were stopped at a stop light during the rush hour one morning. We were on a local street that intersects the busiest highway in the area in that town. There were two lanes. We were in the left one - the left turn lane. The light turned green, I started turning left. Well, I noticed another car next to me on my right turning from the right lane. Well that's not allowed. You're not supposed to do that; it's illegal, and it's very dangerous at this intersection. Well, suddenly, I guess this guy saw in his rearview mirror - this blinking light behind him. He had just made that illegal turn right in front of a police officer. Needless to say, he was pulled over on the shoulder before he even cleared the intersection. I mean he's not even out of the neighborhood yet and he's been caught.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Always Caught."

Now the Bible has some unsettling news in Numbers 32:23. It says, "Be sure your sin will find you out." See, if God knows, you're already caught. And God hasn't missed a moment. His video camera rolls 24 hours a day; it's inescapable. His recorder catches every word you speak. Our neighbor at the light thought if the law doesn't see me, this is fine. Boom! Caught!

In fact, when it comes to people catching us, we often do get away with sin. Your parents may never find out, your mate may never know, your boss may never catch you, your friends may never find out, your pastor, your congregation. It sets you up for the myth that you're actually getting away with it. Nobody ever gets away with sin. The bill may be delayed, but the bill always comes. Whatever a man sows, that he will reap.

Adam and Eve's death sentence came later, but it came. Postponed judgment never means judgment has been canceled. Now, our word for today from the Word of God: 1 Timothy 5:24 - "The sins of some men are obvious; reaching the place of judgment ahead of them. The sins of others trail behind them." Now, one way or the other we get caught; sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Which is better? Well, the longer it takes for the bill to come, the more the interest accumulates.

That might be the reason God's asking me to talk about this today. Because He's telling you, through this, to face that sin before it faces you with much greater consequences than if you choose to deal with it right now. Today, this is the least expensive day you will ever have to face that sin. The bill continues to increase. Maybe it's a sin that you've committed. Maybe it's lying, or immorality, cheating, stealing or even backbiting or it's lust. It could be rebellion. It could be messing with the occult or verbal or physical abuse of someone.

And then again, it may be a sin of omission: you're neglecting your mate or your children, or a commitment you've made, or time with your Lord. But every day the sin calculator is running, the consequences are growing, and the gap between you and God is increasing. You're driving with your eyes on the rearview mirror wondering if you're going to get caught. Wouldn't you like to be free; wouldn't you like to be forgiven?

It's far better to freely come to God with that sin than to have God come to you with it. And he took all of that sin on that first Good Friday and put it on His son so Jesus could pay for it so that when Jesus said "Father forgive them," He was talking about you. This can be erased from God's book forever. The Bible says, "Repent and turn to God, and your sins will be wiped away and the times of refreshing will come from the Lord." This is your day to finally be clean inside, to get the spiritual shower only the man who died for you could give you. If you want that, I encourage you to check out our website the soonest you can get to it today. And let me show you there, how to be forgiven and how to begin your relationship with Jesus. Go to ANewStory.com. That's what it could be for you - a new story. You started out this day dirty inside, you can be by the end of it, clean inside as you have never been before.

Matthew 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S ETERNAL LOVE - February 3, 2025

Human love is convenient. It suits the needs of the person at the time and works into his schedule. God’s love is eternal. You’re always on his itinerary.

Human love is emotional. Hormones, sleeplessness, worry, past hurts, Mexican food—all complicate these emotions. God’s love is committed. While God has feelings for us, his feelings do not dictate his love. His love is based on a decision to love us. Your actions don’t increase or decrease his commitment. In fact, if you never love God, he will still love you.

One thing human love has going for it: you can see it. God’s love is just as real, but not quite as tangible. We will see it, in time and for eternity, as we gaze at the face of God and his Son, Jesus Christ, while we stand in the presence of God in heaven. And what a day that will be!

Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions

Matthew 4

The Test

1–3  4 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: “Since you are God’s Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread.”

4  Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”

5–6  For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, “Since you are God’s Son, jump.” The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: “He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone.”

7  Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: “Don’t you dare test the Lord your God.”

8–9  For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth’s kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, “They’re yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they’re yours.”

10  Jesus’ refusal was curt: “Beat it, Satan!” He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.”

11  The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus’ needs.

Teaching and Healing

12–17  When Jesus got word that John had been arrested, he returned to Galilee. He moved from his hometown, Nazareth, to the lakeside village Capernaum, nestled at the base of the Zebulun and Naphtali hills. This move completed Isaiah’s sermon:

Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,

road to the sea, over Jordan,

Galilee, crossroads for the nations.

People sitting out their lives in the dark

saw a huge light;

Sitting in that dark, dark country of death,

they watched the sun come up.

This Isaiah-prophesied sermon came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started preaching. He picked up where John left off: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”

18–20  Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed.

21–22  A short distance down the beach they came upon another pair of brothers, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. These two were sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their fishnets. Jesus made the same offer to them, and they were just as quick to follow, abandoning boat and father.

23–25  From there he went all over Galilee. He used synagogues for meeting places and taught people the truth of God. God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came, the momentum gathering. Besides those from Galilee, crowds came from the “Ten Towns” across the lake, others up from Jerusalem and Judea, still others from across the Jordan.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, February 03, 2025

by Xochitl Dixon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 138

A David Psalm

1–3  138 Thank you! Everything in me says “Thank you!”

Angels listen as I sing my thanks.

I kneel in worship facing your holy temple

and say it again: “Thank you!”

Thank you for your love,

thank you for your faithfulness;

Most holy is your name,

most holy is your Word.

The moment I called out, you stepped in;

you made my life large with strength.

4–6  When they hear what you have to say, God,

all earth’s kings will say “Thank you.”

They’ll sing of what you’ve done:

“How great the glory of God!”

And here’s why: God, high above, sees far below;

no matter the distance, he knows everything about us.

7–8  When I walk into the thick of trouble,

keep me alive in the angry turmoil.

With one hand

strike my foes,

With your other hand

save me.

Finish what you started in me, God.

Your love is eternal—don’t quit on me now.

Today's Insights

David was no stranger to fighting foreign powers and their so-called gods. As a young man, he had faced off against Goliath, who represented the Philistine god Dagon (1 Samuel 5:1-8; 17:32-50). He’d seen Yahweh triumph over kings (see 1 Samuel 27). And he knew God’s promise to him that he’d take the throne of Israel (16:6-13).

In Psalm 138, David expressed everything he’d learned in his relationship with God. God recognizes the humble, not the powerful—no matter how lofty that power may be (v. 6). After all, Yahweh is stronger than all things in both heaven and on earth. David could confidently praise and thank God because he knew he was secure. It was out of that security that he could turn and fearlessly praise Yahweh in the face of any threat.

Lowly but Loved by God

Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud. Psalm 138:6 nlt

One day at church, I greeted a visiting family. I knelt next to their little girl’s wheelchair, introduced her to my service dog, Callie, and complimented her pretty, pink glasses and boots. Though she was nonverbal, her smile told me she enjoyed our conversation. Another little girl approached, avoiding eye contact with my new friend. She whispered, “Tell her I like her dress.” I said, “You tell her. She’s kind, just like you.” I explained how easy it was to speak with our new friend even though she communicated differently, and how looking at her and smiling would help her feel accepted and loved.

In Scripture and in this world, people are often excluded because they’re perceived as different. However, our great God celebrates our differences and invites us into relationship with Him and His family. In Psalm 138, David says, “I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; before the ‘gods’ I will sing your praise” (v. 1). He says, “the Lord is exalted” and yet, He “looks kindly on the lowly” (v. 6).

God, exalted and holy, looks kindly on us, His created ones, especially when we humble ourselves. As we ask Him to help us look kindly on and behave kindly toward others, we can thank Him for affirming that we’re lowly and loved!

Reflect & Pray

How does remembering you’re lowly in comparison to God change the way you see others? How can you show love to those in your community with disabilities? 

Dear God, please help me greet all people with the same abundant kindness and unconditional love that You show me each day.

Does the Bible mention other gods? Find out by reading Lesser Gods.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, February 03, 2025

The Demand of the Call

We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world. —1 Corinthians 4:13

Paul’s words here are not an exaggeration. If they are not true for us, it’s because we refuse to allow ourselves to become garbage. Our preference for the finer things of the world, and for our own place among them, prevents us from being “set apart for the gospel” in the way Paul describes (Romans 1:1). When he writes of using his own flesh to “fill up . . . what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions,” he means being willing to put himself, in person, anywhere Christ’s gospel is needed (Colossians 1:24).

“Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening” (1 Peter 4:12). If we do find the things we encounter strange, it’s because we’re cowardly and pretentious. We allow our worldly affinities and aspirations to keep us out of the muck: “I won’t stoop,” we say. “I won’t bend.” God won’t force us. If we want, we can refuse to let Jesus count us as one of his servants.

A servant of Jesus is someone who is willing to become a martyr for the gospel. Martyrdom is a calling that lies beyond mere morality. When a merely moral man or woman comes in contact with baseness and immorality and treachery, they instinctively recoil. What they’ve seen is so desperately offensive to their sense of human goodness that their heart shuts up in despair.

But the marvel of the redemptive reality of God is that his love is bottomless: the worst and vilest can never exhaust it. Paul doesn’t say that God set him apart in order to make him a shining example. It was, Paul writes, “to reveal his Son in me” (Galatians 1:16).

Exodus 31-33; Matthew 22:1-22

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. 

Not Knowing Whither, 903 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, February 03, 2025

Whose Smile You're Working For - #9931

It was a hot summer day when my oldest son and I were out working in the yard. I was doing the mowing; he was doing some clipping around the rocks; working just a little bit behind me where I had just mown. And I noticed that he was working pretty hard, and I glanced at him. I was pretty pleased with how he was doing, and I just kind of gave him a quick smile and went back to work.

About ten minutes later he walked up to me and I could see his lips moving, but I could not understand what he was saying because of the lawn mower was so loud. So, I turned the mower down and I said, "What did you say, son?" And he said, "Dad, would you do that again?" And I said, "Do what again?" He said, "Would you give me another smile like you did a few minutes ago?" And then this is what I'll never forget. He said, "Dad, you know, it's your smile that keeps me going." Talk about a melted Dad! "It's your smile that keeps me going." He had decided that a father's approval was worth working for.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Whose Smile You're Working For."

In our word for today from the Word of God the Apostle Paul tells us whose smile he was working for. Galatians 1:10 - Paul says, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God?" By the way, that's a good question to ask looking in the mirror today. "Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." Wow! Paul said in essence, "I've decided who my audience is. I've decided whose applause I'm interested in. I've decided whose smile I want." And frankly he's saying, "It just doesn't matter to me what men think of what I've done, but I want to know that my Lord Jesus is smiling when the day is over and saying, 'Good day. Good job, faithful servant.'"

Now, when you work, and sweat, and minister, and sacrifice; when you do all those things that you do for your family, who are you doing it for? Even the simple things of household chores, homework, tasks you have to accomplish at work. Who are you doing it for? The answer to that question makes all the difference in the fulfillment factor and the meaning of what you're doing.

Years ago, author Keith Miller told in one of his books about getting close to the Oklahoma college football team at a time when they had the longest winning streak in college history. For years they had not been defeated. And he went to a practice at the invitation of the soon tp become immortal Coach Bud Wilkinson, and he said after a couple of days there that he found out what their secret was. They lived for Monday. Yeah, that's when they watched the movies of the game with Coach Wilkinson, because as it turned out it really didn't matter to them what the sports writers said. And even though there were say 50,000 people in the stadium, it really didn't matter ultimately whether they cheered or jeered. And it didn't really matter even what the rest of the team said. They waited for one thing. They waited for the coach's verdict on how they had played that day. And Keith Miller said, "The secret of that football team's winning was that they played only for the coach." How about you and me?

Are you playing for the stands, you playing for the other people on the team, playing for the writers, the publicity? I'll tell you this: ultimately every other audience will prove disappointing and unappreciative. You do it for your family, sometimes they'll disappoint you. For your church, for some Christian leader, for your employer, for your teachers? Count on it, sometime they're going to let you down.

But the Bible says, "We serve the Lord Christ." And the thrill of that is taking today's activity and saying, "Lord Christ, I'm doing it all for You."

Genesis 12, bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: You Have Today

Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days! Psalm 90:14

You can’t spend tomorrow’s money, celebrate tomorrow’s achievements—or resolve tomorrow’s riddles.

You have today!

Paul rejoiced in prison. David wrote Psalms in the wilderness.

Paul and Silas sang in jail. And Jesus prayed in the garden of pain.

Suppose—you choose not to work or worry your day away, but decide to give it a fair shake.

You trust more. Stress less.

Amplify gratitude. Mute the grumbling.

And what do you know? Before long the day is done and—surprisingly decent.

It’s what I call a day changer! So you resolve to do the same the next day and the next.

Days become weeks. Weeks become months. Months become years of good days.

It’s the way good lives are built. One good day at a time!

“This is the day the Lord has made! Rejoice and be glad in it!”

Have a great day—every day!

Genesis 12

Abram and Sarai

1  12 God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.

2–3  I’ll make you a great nation

and bless you.

I’ll make you famous;

you’ll be a blessing.

I’ll bless those who bless you;

those who curse you I’ll curse.

All the families of the Earth

will be blessed through you.”

4–6  So Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.

Abram passed through the country as far as Shechem and the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites occupied the land.

7  God appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your children.” Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.

8  He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there and prayed to God.

9  Abram kept moving, steadily making his way south, to the Negev.

10–13  Then a famine came to the land. Abram went down to Egypt to live; it was a hard famine. As he drew near to Egypt, he said to his wife, Sarai, “Look. We both know that you’re a beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you they’re going to say, ‘Aha! That’s his wife!’ and kill me. But they’ll let you live. Do me a favor: tell them you’re my sister. Because of you, they’ll welcome me and let me live.”

14–15  When Abram arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians took one look and saw that his wife was stunningly beautiful. Pharaoh’s princes raved over her to Pharaoh. She was taken to live with Pharaoh.

16–17  Because of her, Abram got along very well: he accumulated sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, men and women servants, and camels. But God hit Pharaoh hard because of Abram’s wife Sarai; everybody in the palace got seriously sick.

18–19  Pharaoh called for Abram, “What’s this that you’ve done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she’s your wife? Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister’ so that I’d take her as my wife? Here’s your wife back—take her and get out!”

20  Pharaoh ordered his men to get Abram out of the country. They sent him and his wife and everything he owned on their way.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, February 02, 2025

by Kenneth Petersen

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Matthew 5:1-12

You’re Blessed

1–2  5 When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:

3  “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

4  “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

5  “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

6  “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

7  “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

8  “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

9  “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

10  “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

11–12  “Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

Today's Insights

The first and last beatitudes contain this promise: “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3, 10). Bible teacher D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones notes that Christ begins and ends with this phrase “because it is his way of saying that the first thing [believers in Jesus] have to realize . . . is that you belong to a different kingdom.” Believers live in two different worlds. We’re living on this earth, “but our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Christ sheds light on Matthew 5:10-12 in John 15:19-20: “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.”

Christ’s Visual Paradox

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4

One of the great hymn writers of all time, Isaac Watts, wrote “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” In penning its lyrics, he used the poetic device of paradox to show a contrast in themes: “my richest gain I count but loss” and “pour contempt on all my pride.” We sometimes call these oxymorons, “words used in seeming contradiction to themselves”—like “awfully good” and “jumbo shrimp.” In the case of Watts’ lyrics, this device is far more profound.

Jesus used paradox often. “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3), He said, suggesting that those who have no hope will receive more than they could ever hope for. When you or I mourn the loss of  someone dear and are sad, Jesus says we “will be comforted” (v. 4). Christ was showing how in God’s kingdom the common rules of life don’t apply.

These paradoxes tell us that life in Christ defies all expectations: we who are nobodies are cherished as somebodies. It was on the cross that Jesus bore a visual paradox—a crown of thorns. Isaac Watts took this symbol of ridicule and, paradoxically, gave it soaring beauty: “Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, / or thorns compose so rich a crown?” In this we thrill yet are mindful of the final line of the hymn: “Love so amazing, so divine, / demands my soul, my life, my all.” 

Reflect & Pray

What statement in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5) do you most identify with? How does it relate to your life experience?

Dear God, thank You for Your sacrifice on the cross, for making me a somebody in Your kingdom.

Go deeper into the beatitudes of Jesus.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, February 02, 2025

The Constraint of the Call

Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16

Have you been called to preach the gospel as a disciple of Jesus Christ? If you have, beware of turning a deaf ear. The call to discipleship is a special kind of call. Everyone who is saved is called to testify to their salvation, but there is nothing easier than being saved. Salvation is God’s sovereign work; all we have to do is turn to him. “Turn to me and be saved” (Isaiah 45:22). Our Lord never says that the conditions of discipleship are the same as the conditions of salvation. We are condemned to salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ, but discipleship has an option with it: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

To become a disciple is to be made broken bread and poured-out wine in Jesus’s hands; it is to experience the pain of being constrained. In 1 Corinthians 9:16, Paul describes the distress that would seize him if he tried to break free. Having accepted the conditions of discipleship, he is now “set apart for the gospel,” entirely kept and bound for God (Romans 1:1).

To lead a set-apart life is to suffer agonies worthy of the name disciple. Every personal ambition is nipped in the bud; every personal desire is erased; every perspective apart from God’s is blotted out. Discipleship is not for everyone. But if you have felt God grip you for it, beware: woe to the soul who puts a foot in any other direction once the call has come.

Exodus 29-30; Matthew 21:23-46

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. 

The Place of Help, 1032 L

Genesis 11, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Max Lucado Daily: Just Like Jesus

When they were young, my daughters loved playing “dress-up.”  They’d put on their mom’s shoes, fill up a grown-up purse with crayons and pretend grown-up scenarios.  For the moment, they wanted to be just like mom.

Don’t we do the same?  We look at ourselves, with our immaturity, our sinfulness, and we want to clothe ourselves in something better.  We want to be just like Jesus.  This seems like an impossible goal until we accept one simple truth:  God will help us.  He loves us. Not only does God love each of us exactly as we are, but he wants us, little by little, to become like him. Why?  Because he wants us to have a heart like his.

Need to hear that message a few more times? Don’t we all? God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way!  He wants you to be just like Jesus!

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26).

From Just Like Jesus

Genesis 11

“God Turned Their Language into ‘Babble’ ”

1–2  11 At one time, the whole Earth spoke the same language. It so happened that as they moved out of the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled down.

3  They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and fire them well.” They used brick for stone and tar for mortar.

4  Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let’s make ourselves famous so we won’t be scattered here and there across the Earth.”

5  God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.

6–9  God took one look and said, “One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they’ll come up with next—they’ll stop at nothing! Come, we’ll go down and garble their speech so they won’t understand each other.” Then God scattered them from there all over the world. And they had to quit building the city. That’s how it came to be called Babel, because there God turned their language into “babble.” From there God scattered them all over the world.

10–11  This is the story of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he had Arphaxad. It was two years after the flood. After he had Arphaxad, he lived 500 more years and had other sons and daughters.

12–13  When Arphaxad was thirty-five years old, he had Shelah. After Arphaxad had Shelah, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.

14–15  When Shelah was thirty years old, he had Eber. After Shelah had Eber, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.

16–17  When Eber was thirty-four years old, he had Peleg. After Eber had Peleg, he lived 430 more years and had other sons and daughters.

18–19  When Peleg was thirty years old, he had Reu. After he had Reu, he lived 209 more years and had other sons and daughters.

20–21  When Reu was thirty-two years old, he had Serug. After Reu had Serug, he lived 207 more years and had other sons and daughters.

22–23  When Serug was thirty years old, he had Nahor. After Serug had Nahor, he lived 200 more years and had other sons and daughters.

24–25  When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he had Terah. After Nahor had Terah, he lived 119 more years and had other sons and daughters.

26  When Terah was seventy years old, he had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

The Family Tree of Terah

27–28  This is the story of Terah. Terah had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Haran had Lot. Haran died before his father, Terah, in the country of his family, Ur of the Chaldees.

29  Abram and Nahor each got married. Abram’s wife was Sarai; Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran. Haran had two daughters, Milcah and Iscah.

30  Sarai was barren; she had no children.

31  Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and Sarai his daughter-in-law (his son Abram’s wife) and set out with them from Ur of the Chaldees for the land of Canaan. But when they got as far as Haran, they settled down there.

32  Terah lived 205 years. He died in Haran.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, February 01, 2025

by Alyson Kieda

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 John 3:1-3, 16-24

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at

it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to.

2–3  But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.

This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.

When We Practice Real Love

18–20  My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

21–24  And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God’s command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.

Today's Insights

John begins 1 John in a similar way to the opening of his gospel account. In both cases, he goes back to the beginning to affirm Jesus’ identity as God the Son (John 1:1-5; 1 John 1:1-3). In John’s gospel, he does so by showing the Son’s equality with the Father and His primary role in creation: “He was with God in the beginning” and “through him all things were made” (John 1:2-3). In 1 John, the author repeats the idea of Christ’s presence “from the beginning” (1:1) yet affirms that He came and lived among us (v. 2).

Our Father’s Love

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1

Today's Devotional

Kim settled in by the window, bag packed, waiting eagerly for her daddy to arrive. But as the bright day darkened and then turned to night, her enthusiasm faded. She realized Daddy wasn’t coming—again.

Kim’s parents were divorced, and she longed to spend time with her father. Not for the first time she thought, I must not really matter. He must not love me.

As Kim later learned—and as all of us who receive Jesus as our Savior come to know—though our earthly parents and others will disappoint us, we have a heavenly Father who loves us and won’t let us down.

John—the author of three inspired biblical letters, the gospel bearing his name, and the book of Revelation—understood the depth of God’s love. In fact, he referred to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20), identifying himself as someone whose life had been changed by Christ’s love for him. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” he wrote (1 John 3:1).

God loves us so much that He gave His Son Jesus, who laid down His life for us (v. 16; John 3:16). He’s always available to us in prayer, and He promises, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). We can rest secure in His love.

Reflect & Pray

When has another person disappointed you? How have you found comfort in your heavenly Father?

Heavenly Father, thank You for the great love You lavish on me. I rest in Your promise that You’ll never forsake me.

For further study, read In the Grip of God’s Love.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, February 01, 2025

The Call of God

Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. —1 Corinthians 1:17

If we are going to preach the gospel, we need to be clear about what the gospel is. In his letters to the Corinthians, Paul says that the gospel—the message God has called on him to deliver—is the reality of redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel isn’t Paul’s personal transformation or experience; it isn’t his salvation or sanctification. Paul shares his personal story, but only as an illustration: certain things happened to Paul because of the redemption, but they were not the ultimate reason for it. The ultimate reason Jesus suffered in redemption was to redeem the whole world and place it unimpaired and rehabilitated before the throne of God. This is the gospel, and the only thing we are commissioned to preach.

The difference between Jesus’s act of redemption and our personal holiness is stark: one is cause and the other effect. When we preach, we must be careful where we place the emphasis. Are we placing it on Jesus, or on ourselves? Are we lifting up his holiness, or our own?

When we truly understand the reality of the gospel, we will stop bothering God with questions about ourselves. Imagine, if God were human, how heartsick and tired he would be, listening to the constant requests for our salvation and sanctification! We trouble him day and night, when we should be thanking him. Paul welcomed heartbreak, disillusionment, and tribulation for one reason only: they kept him in unmoved devotion to the gospel of God.

Exodus 27-28; Matthew 21:1-22

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own.

Conformed to His Image, 381 L

Genesis 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: ONE HEAD WORTHY OF A CROWN - January 31, 2025

On the unforgettable day when Patmos became Paradise, the apostle John saw what you and I will see. He saw One who sits on the throne. “Around the throne there were twenty-four other thrones with twenty-four elders sitting on them.” (Revelation 4:4 NCV).

The number twenty-four probably represents the twelve Hebrew tribes and the twelve apostles – the old Israel and the new covenant. The elders represent us, and what they do is what we will do. “They put their crowns down before the throne and say: ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, because you made all things'” (Revelation 4:10-11 NCV).

I cannot wait to see you there. One glance into the eyes of the King and you will know heaven has only one head worthy of a crown. And it’s not yours, and it’s not mine.

What Happens Next

Genesis 10

The Family Tree of Noah’s Sons

1  10 This is the family tree of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. After the flood, they themselves had sons.

2  The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, Tiras.

3  The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, Togarmah.

4–5  The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, Rodanim. The seafaring peoples developed from these, each in its own place by family, each with its own language.

6  The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, Canaan.

7  The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabteca.

The sons of Raamah: Sheba, Dedan.

8–12  Cush also had Nimrod. He was the first great warrior on Earth. He was a great hunter before God. There was a saying, “Like Nimrod, a great hunter before God.” His kingdom got its start with Babel; then Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the country of Shinar. From there he went up to Asshur and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and the great city Calah.

13–14  Egypt was ancestor to the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim, the Pathrusim, the Casluhim (the origin of the Philistines), and the Kaphtorim.

15–19  Canaan had Sidon his firstborn, Heth, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Later the Canaanites spread out, going from Sidon toward Gerar, as far south as Gaza, and then east all the way over to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and on to Lasha.

20  These are the descendants of Ham by family, language, country, and nation.

21  Shem, the older brother of Japheth, also had sons. Shem was ancestor to all the children of Eber.

22  The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

23  The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, Meshech.

24–25  Arphaxad had Shelah and Shelah had Eber. Eber had two sons, Peleg (so named because in his days the human race divided) and Joktan.

26–30  Joktan had Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab—all sons of Joktan. Their land goes from Mesha toward Sephar as far as the mountain ranges in the east.

31  These are the descendants of Shem by family, language, country, and nation.

32  This is the family tree of the sons of Noah as they developed into nations. From them nations developed all across the Earth after the flood.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, January 31, 2025

by 

Arthur Jackson

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Acts 20:17-24

On to Jerusalem

17–21  From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the leaders of the congregation. When they arrived, he said, “You know that from day one of my arrival in Asia I was with you totally—laying my life on the line, serving the Master no matter what, putting up with no end of scheming by Jews who wanted to do me in. I didn’t skimp or trim in any way. Every truth and encouragement that could have made a difference to you, you got. I taught you out in public and I taught you in your homes, urging Jews and Greeks alike to a radical life-change before God and an equally radical trust in our Master Jesus.

22–24  “But there is another urgency before me now. I feel compelled to go to Jerusalem. I’m completely in the dark about what will happen when I get there. I do know that it won’t be any picnic, for the Holy Spirit has let me know repeatedly and clearly that there are hard times and imprisonment ahead. But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.

Today's Insights

Acts 20:17-35 records the first part of Paul’s teaching to the elders of the church at Ephesus. He called them to meet with him in Miletus, a seaport on the west coast of Asia Minor about forty miles away. Not only had Paul been instrumental in the founding of the Ephesian church (see chs. 18-19), he’d spent extended time there teaching, mentoring, and raising up leadership (20:31). The resulting close relationship resulted in a painful, tearstained farewell as Paul informed his Ephesian friends that they wouldn’t see him again (v. 25). This speech, however, wouldn’t be the last apostolic communication that the church at Ephesus would receive. Other New Testament letters that were either written to or about the church in Ephesus include 1 and 2 Timothy and 1, 2, and 3 John. And in Revelation 2:1-7, Ephesus received a letter from the risen Christ Himself revealed in a vision of the apostle John.

Compelled to Tell

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. Romans 1:16

“You know Jesus loves you. He really loves you.” Those were the last words of John Daniels. Just seconds after he’d given a homeless man money and shared those parting words, he was struck by a car and instantly killed. The printed program for the service that celebrated John’s life included these words: “He wanted to figure out how he could reach more people, so on a Sunday afternoon, trying to help a man in need, God gave him a way to reach the world. All of the local TV channels carried the news, and it reached friends, family, and many others all over the country.”

Though John Daniels wasn’t a preacher, he was compelled to tell others about Jesus. So was Paul. In Acts 20, the apostle expressed his zeal for the gospel in his parting words to the church leaders at Ephesus: “My only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace” (v. 24).

The good news of forgiveness and new life in Jesus is too good not to share with others. Some believers are more skilled at explaining the gospel than others. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, all who’ve experienced its life-changing power can tell their story of God’s love.

Reflect & Pray

Who do you know who needs to hear about God’s love and forgiveness in and through Christ? What’s keeping you from sharing His work in your life with them?

Dear Father, please forgive me for being hesitant to tell others about the new life that comes through Jesus and help me boldly share Your love.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, January 31, 2025

Abiding Reality

Set apart for the gospel of God . . . —Romans 1:1

The one abiding reality is the gospel of God. Other things may be real; the gospel is reality itself. We are brought into this reality through the redemption; the cross is our bridge and our entry point. Our access to it is a gift, purchased for us by Jesus Christ. We cannot get at it through any action of our own.

This is a crucial thing for us to understand. The reason God calls us is so that we will proclaim his gospel. God isn’t asking us to go out and play the part of holy men or holy women. Personal holiness is an effect, not a cause. If we place our faith in our own holiness, we will stumble when the test comes.

In Romans 1, Paul doesn’t say that he set himself apart from his previous life; he says that God set him apart. Paul doesn’t need to take the credit. He isn’t hypersensitive about his character; he’s unconscious of it, recklessly abandoned to God. As long as our eyes are fixed on our own holiness, rather than Christ’s, we’ll never get to the reality of redemption. It’s as though we’re asking God to keep us away from the ruggedness of human life as it is, away from the filth and decay and corruption and mess, so that we can spend time in our own perfectly ordered company and be made more desirable in our own eyes.

If this is what we want, it’s a sign that we ourselves are still unreal—the gospel hasn’t begun to touch us. When it does, when we enter into reality, then we are able to abandon all to God.

Exodus 25-26; Matthew 20:17-34

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ. 

My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, January 31, 2025

Putting On Your Glasses, Getting On Your Knees - #9930

OK, so I fought it for a while, and I lived in denial for a while. I finally broke down and got glasses - mostly for reading. I had been the 20/20 kid my whole life. I just couldn't face the fact that the world was getting blurrier and blurrier. I just thought my arms were getting shorter. Suddenly I couldn't hold my reading material far enough from my eyes to make things stop blurring. So, hello, glasses! And what a difference! All those little words that were "fuzzing" out on me suddenly look big and clear, including what I'm looking at right now! It's amazing how clear things start to look when you're seeing them through corrective glasses!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Putting On Your Glasses, Getting On Your Knees."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Nehemiah 1. Actually, I thought this said Jeremiah before I put my glasses on. Great prayer here that God was so impressed with that He put it in the Bible. And it's a real-life model of what the ultimate purpose of prayer is. Obviously, our purpose is to get whatever we're praying about. But God's purpose is to give us His glasses.

Nehemiah has a heavy burden on his heart. It's the news that God's people and God's city are a mess, and it drives him to his knees for weeks of praying about it. I don't know what's weighing heavily on your heart right now, but I hope it's driven you to your knees. Maybe like Nehemiah, you feel powerless to solve this one. Then you'll be interested in how he ends up praying after initially focusing on the situation. Praying about the situation changes how he looks at almost everything. After heavy duty praying, he's seeing things much more clearly through God's glasses. And that's what the ultimate purpose of praying is; not getting an answer, but getting God's perspective - which often leads to the answer.

First, he's realized again who God is. He says, "O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love." Notice, he's not talking about the great and awesome problem, but the great and awesome God. He's spent enough time with God on this that his vision is clear. He's not overwhelmed by the situation anymore; he's overwhelmed by God - a God who is totally in charge...a God who always keeps His promises.

Then, he clearly sees who he is. Three times in this prayer he refers to himself as "Your servant." Now Nehemiah works for the most powerful man in the world - the King of Persia. But as he spends time in prayer, he remembers that he reports to the King of the universe. As you pray, you should see yourself more clearly - not as the victim or the problem-solver in the situation. You're just God's servant, playing whatever position He asks you to play in this situation; living, like a servant, with no agenda but your Master's agenda for each new day.

Faithful praying over a situation will give you a clear vision of who those folks around you are, too. "They are your servants and your people whom you redeemed." Nehemiah prayed. The believers around you are not your competitors or your problems. They're God's people purchased with the blood of God's Son. You'll treat them differently if you get God's glasses and remember who they are. That happens while you pray.

Prayer glasses will also show you what the real issue is. In the situation that burdened Nehemiah, he reached this conclusion: "I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself, have committed against you." As he prayed, God gave him the insight to see beyond the initial situation he was praying about to the sin that was causing the situation. Finally, he prays that God will, "give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man." This man was the king he worked for! But praying showed Nehemiah what his next step needed to be.

It's that burden on your heart that gets you to praying. But if you'll persist before God, you'll notice your vision starting to clear up. The Divine Ophthalmologist will be giving you glasses to see Him, and yourself, and the people around you, and the real issues, and your next step as you've never seen them before. When you go to your knees, you get God's glasses. And suddenly, things look so much clearer!

Matthew 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD WILL PRAISE YOU - January 30, 2025

“God will praise each one of them” (1 Corinthians 4:5 NCV). What an incredible promise! God will praise each of them. That day is coming. Your day is coming. God will put a crown on your head and a hand on your shoulder, and he will bless you.

Each child you hugged, he will praise you for it. Every time you forgave, he will praise you for it. Every penny you offered, every truth you taught, every prayer you prayed, he will praise you for it. He’ll praise you for the day you refused to give in and the season you refused to give up. But most of all, he’ll praise you for saying yes to Jesus.

What Happens Next

Matthew 3

Thunder in the Desert!

1–2  3 While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called “the Baptizer,” was preaching in the desert country of Judea. His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”

3  John and his message were authorized by Isaiah’s prophecy:

Thunder in the desert!

Prepare for God’s arrival!

Make the road smooth and straight!

4–6  John dressed in a camel-hair habit tied at the waist by a leather strap. He lived on a diet of locusts and wild field honey. People poured out of Jerusalem, Judea, and the Jordanian countryside to hear and see him in action. There at the Jordan River those who came to confess their sins were baptized into a changed life.

7–10  When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It’s your life that must change, not your skin! And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.

11–12  “I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I’m a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

13–14  Jesus then appeared, arriving at the Jordan River from Galilee. He wanted John to baptize him. John objected, “I’m the one who needs to be baptized, not you!”

15  But Jesus insisted. “Do it. God’s work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism.” So John did it.

16–17  The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, January 30, 2025

by Anne Cetas

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Luke 18:9-17

The Story of the Tax Man and the Pharisee

9–12  He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’

13  “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’ ”

14  Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

15–17  People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. “Let these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.”

Today's Insights

The parable of the tax collector (Luke 18:9-17) was specifically told to those who, like the Pharisee, were confident in their own righteousness. It wasn’t a warning against being righteous but against trusting in our righteousness, thinking that doing certain things or following certain rules puts us in correct standing with God. Jesus says the opposite is true. God looks with grace and mercy upon those who in humility recognize their need of Him, regardless of their actions. James reminds us of this same truth: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10).

What Would You Ask Jesus?

Let the little children come to me. Luke 18:16

“If Jesus were physically seated at the table with us this morning, what would you want to ask Him?” Joe inquired of his children at breakfast. His boys thought of their toughest questions. They decided they wanted to ask Jesus the most difficult math problems and have Him tell them how big the universe really is. Then his daughter replied, “I would ask Him for a hug.”

Can’t you picture the love in Jesus’ eyes for these children? I think He would be glad to comply with the requests, don’t you? I imagine Him bantering with the boys and opening his arms to the little girl. He might especially like the desire of Joe’s daughter for a hug, which seems to demonstrate a heart of love for Him and a desire for His love.

Children have a sense of their dependence, and they know that Jesus is strong and loving. He said, “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:17). Christ longs for us to recognize our need for His grace, forgiveness, and salvation. He enjoys humble hearts that long to be near Him.

Is there something you’d like to ask Jesus? We’ve certainly all had our questions! Or maybe you just want to be close to Him? Run to Him now for that hug and so much more that you need.

Reflect & Pray

What do you think you will say or do when you first see Jesus? What does it mean to have the faith of a child?

Heavenly Father, I’m thankful to be Your child and that You draw me close.

For further study, read at Character Comes from the Story We Tell Ourselves.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, January 30, 2025

The Dilemma of Obedience

Samuel . . . was afraid to tell Eli the vision. —1 Samuel 3:15

When God speaks, it is never startling, seldom obvious. He comes to us in our circumstances, moving so subtly and mysteriously through our lives that we wonder, “Is that God’s voice?” Isaiah said that God spoke to him with a “strong hand”—the all-encompassing hand of circumstance, holding and guiding him (Isaiah 8:11). Nothing touches our lives that God isn’t speaking through.

What do we see in our own circumstances? The hand of God, or simply accidents? When we begin to understand that there are no accidents, that all is God, life begins to change. We begin to say, “Speak, Lord,” and to listen. We begin to realize that difficulty does more than discipline us; it brings us to the place where, attentive and hungry, we say, “Speak, Lord.” Get into the habit of saying, “Speak, Lord,” and life becomes a romance.

Perhaps we’ve already heard the call, but we were afraid to answer, fearing that answering would hurt someone we love. God called to Samuel, and Samuel hesitated, wanting to protect Eli. But Eli knew that Samuel must obey; if he did not, he would turn himself into an amateur providence. As cruel as it may seem, we must not prevent the gouging out of the eye, the cutting off of the hand (Matthew 5:29–30). We too are circumstances God is using to speak to others.

Every time circumstances press, say, “Speak, Lord,” and make time to listen. As you listen, your ears grow sharp, until, like Jesus, you hear God all the time.

Exodus 23-24; Matthew 20:1-16

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. 

My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, January 30, 2025

When You've Been Hurt By Love - #9929

Governors' desks were vacant. Senators' offices were empty. They might as well have just put a sign on the door - "Gone to Iowa." Yep! It was the election season of 2016. We've been through another one recently but I'm thinking about that one. It had been the time when everyone goes to New Hampshire and South Carolina and on and on in the wild and crazy year when so many people were wanting to be president.

For a long time, the Iowa caucuses saturated cable news because that's where it all started. It was over and I was still trying to understand how it worked. But there's no doubt that the road to the White House started in the cornfields and ethanol wells of Iowa.

Every four years, cash becomes Iowa's bumper crop. Restaurants, motels, TV and radio stations, stores - they open their arms to the invading political army for months. And then, in a single day, boom! They're all gone; Iowa in the rear view mirror. Next primary states, here we come!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You've Been Hurt By Love."

One Iowa store had some pretty funny caucus shirts back then. One said, "Is there a bale of hay I can interview you in front of?" Another one captured the cynicism of a state that knew the Iowa-fest was over when people voted, "Don't forget to wave next time you fly over."

"We love you, Iowa, and then we leave you" after they've served their political purpose, of course. That kind of "love ya as long as you can do something for me" is one thing when it comes to a state. But it's a broken heart when it's a person dumped by someone who said they loved them.

The "'til death do us part" that changed to "I just don't love you anymore." The company you gave the best years of your life to that says one day, "We don't need you anymore." The people who cheered for you once are nowhere to be found now. The lover whose l-o-v-e seems now more like u-s-e-d. When "love ya!" turns to "see ya!" it hurts. It really hurts.

I've spent a lot of my life sharing with people the good news about love that changed my life and millions of others. Because I'm profoundly grateful that there's a love that will never betray me, never abandon me, never die on me.

It's obviously got to be bigger than any human love. But it's a love even little kids can understand. I know. Because I sang about it a lot when I was a kid - like millions of kids still do. "Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so."

Yes, it does. The Bible says in Romans 8:39, our word for today from the Word of God, "Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" - nothing on earth, nothing in heaven, nothing in hell, nothing in death. Jesus guaranteed this in Hebrews 13:5, I will never leave you or forsake you." And He said, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).

The more love has hurt you, the harder it is to believe that. Before that "nothing can separate us," God says, "He did not spare even His own Son for us." That's when Jesus hung on a cross, to pay the death penalty for our hijacking the running of our life. For taking it out of God's hands to run it with our own.

Today it is possible for you to embrace the love that will never let you go. You've lived this long without the love of Jesus. Don't live another day without Him if you want to begin a relationship with Him. He went to a cross to have this relationship. He walked out of His grave to prove to you He can deliver love that will last forever. Right now you could say, "Jesus, I'm yours." Tell Him that today, put all your hopes on Him.

And then would you go to our website please? I've set it up in such a way that it has information there that is easy to grasp that will help you make sure you really do belong to Him. Check out ANewStory.com.

If Jesus was ever going to turn His back on you, it would have been when He was going through your hell on that cross. But He didn't. He went the distance for you. He will never break your heart. His was broken for you. Jesus loves you. This I know.