November 24th, 25: Letting Go of Lies: Discovering God’s True Nature in Matthew 17-19

Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible, where each day we journey together through the pages of Scripture to find life, hope, and renewed hearts. In this episode, your host Hunter guides us through the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 17 to 19. We witness the powerful transformation of Jesus on the mountaintop, explore the humble path to greatness in God’s kingdom, and listen in as Jesus challenges a rich man—and all of us—to let go of anything that keeps us from truly following Him.

Join Hunter as he reflects on how our attachments—whether to money, status, or even religious ideas—can prevent us from experiencing the genuine freedom and love found in Christ. The episode closes with prayers for wisdom, unity, and faith, inviting you to open your heart, renew your mind, and remember this essential truth: you are loved.

So, settle in as we read, reflect, and pray together—seeking truth and finding life, one day at a time.

TODAY'S DEVOTION:

A rich man came and bowed down before Jesus and asked him what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. This man had a lot of money, and on every one of his many coins was an image. In this case, it was Caesar. He was imprinted on every one of this rich man's coins. And this rich man wanted eternal life. And so he asked Jesus what he has to do in order to get it. Jesus eventually gets to it: He says, go sell everything you have and give to the poor. Go and divest yourself of all those coins with Caesar's image and come and follow me. And the man, we're told, went away sad because he had so much.

That money with Caesar's picture on it was a serious problem for this rich man. It was an idol. It was something the rich man believed in. It was a god to him. Money was the ultimate solution for him. It got him what he wanted when he wanted it. It solved his problems. It established his life. And yet this man knew it wasn't life, that money was a lie that he was telling himself about God. A pretty good lie, mind you. To him, money was like God. It protected him. It provided for him. It gave him status and influence and power. And this money god had a face. It was the face of Caesar.

But this currency—god of Caesar and empire and power—has its limits, even in this world and most certainly in the world to come. It's a fiction. It's founded on a lie. A functional lie, perhaps, but a lie nevertheless. The maker of heaven and earth, of every human being, is not money, nor is it Caesar. God's favor and blessing and love are not reserved only for those who possess all the little Caesar coins. That's not God. That's not what God's like. He is so much more than that. So much more generous than that. So much more beautiful than that.

Jesus said it's impossible for those who worship the money god to enter the kingdom of God. It won't pay their way in. The kingdom of God is nothing like the kingdom of Caesar. That currency has no value here. What God is asking this man to give up was a lie he was telling himself about God—lies about who he is and what he's like. God is not like money. He's not transactional in nature. He's not impersonal. He's not exclusive to the fortunate few who have it.

No, this is a lie. And sadly, religion often tells this very same lie about God: that he is transactional, that he is loving and forgiving only of those who do and say and pray the right things; that God is impersonal, that he is a strange conglomerate of theological concepts like omniscience and omnipotence and omnipresence—and this impersonal God is merciful only to a select chosen few. See, these are lies, too.

God is not like the money god. And he is nothing like the religious god either. It will be impossible for us to see the truth about who God really is if we keep holding on to these lies. So Jesus tells him, get rid of them all and follow me. Because if he—or we—follow him, we will begin to see the truth. The lies will begin to be dispelled, and the truth of who he is will set us free.

Jesus is the truth about who God is. He is the exact likeness of the invisible God. There's nothing else you need to know about who God is and what he's like that is not revealed in the person of Jesus. So you keep looking to Jesus, because when you do, you will not only see him, you will also see yourself. And all the many lies that you tell about yourself, he will begin to set straight. You will see that you are made in the image of God, that God's presence is in you, that you are of absolute worth, and that you are loved by God. And you will begin to see others—all others—the way you see yourself.

And the prayer of my own heart is that I will leave all the lies and look to the one who is the truth and be set free and follow him.

That's the prayer that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family, for my wife, my daughters, my son. And that's the prayer that I have for you. May it be so.