“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” (Matthew 1.23)
A young family was going home for Christmas. The car was all packed. The mail and the newspaper delivery had been stopped. A neighbor would keep an eye on the house and feed the dog. All the gifts for parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles were somehow fitted into the trunk of the car. They had plenty of anti‑freeze in the radiator. Their suitcases and hanging clothes were in place. They were finally ready to go. The husband started out of the driveway, when all of a sudden the wife gasped, “Honey, we’ve forgotten the baby.” It was true. In all the excitement and the grabbing up of luggage and Christmas gifts, they had forgotten their most precious cargo‑‑their baby. We can forget the baby, too, if we are not careful. That’s easy to do this time of year.
We see visual reminders, “Don’t leave Christ out of Christmas.” And we try to keep that from happening. He IS the reason for the season.
Heavenly Father, you are my reason to celebrate this season of love and hope. In Jesus Name, Amen.
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. (Isaiah 35.2)
Comedian Dom DeLuise tells about one of the best Christmas gifts he ever received. He says that there was a time when nothing made him laugh. “Everything was wrong‑‑life was hopeless and I was feeling useless.” When his son asked what he wanted for Christmas, DeLuise replied, “Happiness‑‑and you can’t give it to me.” On Christmas day his son handed him a piece of cardboard with HAPPINESS written on it. “You see Dad,” his son said, “I can give you happiness!” For a moment at least, DeLuise’ depression was shattered.
It is amazing how children can bring us happiness. That’s what Christmas is really all about. We say that Christmas is for children. Untrue. A child opening with glee his or her new toy from Santa does not feel nearly the happiness Mom and Dad feel at that moment. Children bring us joy‑‑whether they are ours or someone else’s. But there is one child that has brought more joy into more people’s lives than any other. He is the Christ child of Bethlehem. Isaiah the prophet anticipated what his coming would mean. He wrote, “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord.”
Loving God, thank you for showing us your glory in Jesus Christ. Amen.
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2.7)
According to an old legend, when the Magi were following the star of Bethlehem, they came to the house of a certain woman. They said to her, “Come with us! We have seen his star in the east and we are going to worship him.”
“Oh,” she said, “I would love to go. I heard that he would be coming one day and I have been looking forward to it. But I can’t come now. I must set my house in order; then I will follow you and find him.”
But when her work was done, the wise men were out of sight, the star shone no more in the heavens, and she never saw Jesus. That can happen. We can go through this whole busy Christmas season and miss the essential meaning of it all. It really makes no difference that a “No Vacancy” sign hung over an inn 2,000 years ago, but if a “No Vacancy” sign hangs over our hearts, it makes an enormous difference.
Heavenly Father, come into my life to stay so that my sign will always say, “No Vacancy.” In Jesus name, Amen.
I will bring near my deliverance swiftly, my salvation has gone out and my arms will rule the peoples; the coast lands wait for me, and for my arm they hope. (Isaiah 51.5)
Leslie Weatherhead, the great British pastor tells of a postal clerk in his country who handled the mail to Santa Claus.
The clerk was called the “Nixie Clerk” because he handled all the mail that was “nixed” because of an insufficient, inaccurate, or illegible address.
Here is a letter sent to Weatherhead by the “Nixie Clerk.” It reads:
“Last Christmas the letters began to pile in, as usual, addressed to Santa Claus. I suppose I get hundreds of letters every year.
“On Christmas Eve I was working late, and was very sad and lonely in my corner. There was a great rush at the windows and the office, and the malls were loaded with Christmas gifts and greetings. A merry crowd rushed through the corridors and laughter sounded all around, but a great shadow of sorrow rested over me and my eyes burned as I bent over my work. Finally the messenger brought me the last few “Nixies” of the day and laid them on my desk. I took up the first one mechanically. Attached to it was a note from Postman Number 34:
“This was given me by a little girl at 302 Walnut Street.”
“My body tingled when I read it, because that address was my own home! The envelope was a small one addressed to ‘Santa Clause, North Pole.’ I recognized my own little girl’s cramped writing…This is what she wrote:
Dear Santa Claus, “We are very sad at home this year, and I don’t want you to bring me anything. Little Charlie, my brother, went up to heaven last week, and all I want you to do when you come to my house is to take his toys to him. I will leave them in the corner by the chimney, his hobbyhorse and train and everything. He will be lost up in heaven without them, especially his horse. He always enjoyed riding it so much. So you just take them to him, and you needn’t mind leaving me anything.”
“If you could give Daddy something that would make him stop crying all the time, it would be the best thing you could do for me. I heard him tell mummy that only eternity could cure him. Could you give him some of that? Be sure to take the thing to Charlie and I will be your good little girl. Marion”
Could you give him a little eternity? We need from time to time a reminder of eternity‑‑that there is more than rocks and trees and houses and clothes and cars and even our physical bodies. Christmas is that reminder. Isaiah said people would rejoice because the glory of the Lord would be revealed. The world hungers to see that glory. For a moment, at least, in the star shining and the carols being sung and the love being expressed the world catches a glimpse of that glory.
Dear God, help me to see your glory in this season of hope. In Jesus name, Amen.
Jesus said to them, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mark 12:17)
On a can of room freshener there appeared these words: “Bring the clean, natural freshness of a country meadow indoors. Freshens the air in your home with a clean, back-to-nature scent–as refreshing as the summer grass and fragrant flowers of a country meadow.” Following were these words: “WARNING: Inhaling the contents can be harmful or fatal.” Just a reminder: that which smells sweet is not necessarily healthy. That which is popular is not necessarily true.
If you were to assess the situation in Jesus’ day, wouldn’t you say that Caesar had all the glory and Jesus had all the pain? Caesar had power, prominence, palaces. Jesus had no place to lay his head. Caesar could pass laws that would drastically affect the lives of men and women throughout his empire. Jesus could but tell stories and hope his listeners understood. With a wave of his hand Caesar could have a person put to death. Jesus died at the hands of the state. Yes, Caesar had the glory, and Jesus had the pain. But wait. That’s not the end of the story. Caesar is in the grave. Jesus has been resurrected. Yes, Caesar was popular, but Jesus brought the truth. May we live in that truth!
God of all things, may I live in the truth of my Savior, Jesus Christ. In Jesus Name, Amen.
I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. (Matthew 8:8)
The centurion was man of great humility. Jesus was persuaded by the testimony of the elders and went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him saying, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof . . . .” Can you believe this? Here is a Roman solider a man of wealth, power, and authority and he is saying to an itinerant Jewish teacher, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof . . . .” He was a man of great humility.
Is there any quality more appealing in a woman or man than genuine humility? This is not the same as low self-esteem that causes others to walk all over us. Certainly the centurion was no doormat. But he recognized Jesus’ power and he was humbled.
For some reason, one of my favorite stories is about a bald man who decided with his wife one night to go out to dinner and have a baby sitter to take care of their two little children.
While they were gone, the baby sitter got interested in a television program and wasn’t watching the children very carefully. The little boy got into his father’s electric shaver and shaved a big landing strip right down the middle of his head.
When his father came home, he was furious. He said, “Son! I told you never to play with my shaver. Now you are going to get a spanking!” Dad was just about to give his son a spanking when his son looked up at him and said, “Wait until you see sister!” Dad was horrified.
He went into the next room and there was their little four-year-old daughter with her hair shaved off. By this time dad was really furious. He grabbed up his son and said, “Now you are really going to get it.”
Just as he lifted his hand his son looked up at him with tears in his eyes and said, “But Daddy! WE WERE JUST TRYING TO LOOK LIKE YOU!” I’m sure that little boy didn’t get any punishment that night.
A good person of God is humble.
Heavenly Father, through your humility you became my savior. May I also be humble for God’s glory. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs. (Matthew 19:14)
This is the season of the children: paternal children, step-children, grandchildren, and children of friends.
Based on the tradition of children having the lowest position in the community during Jesus time, Jesus made an important statement when he said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”
There is a story about a little boy who came to his dad and said, “I wanna horsey ride!”
The dad who was stirring paint said, “I’m too busy.”
The little boy said, “You know, Dad, it won’t be long before I’m all grown up. One day you’ll wake up and wonder how all the years slipped by. You’ll look back and say, “Where has the time gone? My boy is so big. It’s hard to remember when he was small enough that I could give him horsey rides…” But those days will be lost forever.”
The next thing you know the little boy is on Dad’s back as they gallop toward a fence.
Dad says, I think I’ve worked through my potential guilt now.”
The little boy says, “Oh no you haven’t. Jump the fence!”
The best way we can show respect for our children is to spend time with them. Jesus did!
God of all, may I demonstrate my love for my children by giving them some of my quality time. In Jesus Name, Amen.
As all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.(1 Corinthians 15:22)
What is your hope today? Upon what are you planning and building your life? In 1 Corinthians 15:22, Paul states: “As all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.” In I Timothy 6:17, which speaks to the heart of many people here in America, Paul writes: “Instruct those who are rich in this world that they do not fix their hope on the uncertainly of riches, but on God who richly supplies all our needs in Christ Jesus.”
We have a choice. We can put our hope in the things of this uncertain world, or we can put our full hope in Jesus Christ who supplies all of our needs.
There is a church in Chester, PA which had a large cross on top of the facility but, unfortunately, all the lights had burned out. The church members decided not to fix it. So one day, the pastor paid for an electrician to come after hours to get the cross fixed and working again. The pastor wanted the people of Chester who drove by to see that the cross was the real hope of the world.
Is your cross lighted today? Do the people you live and work with know the cross that shines through you? Or, are your light bulbs all burned out?
Dear God, help me to allow the cross of Jesus to shine through me. In Jesus Name,Amen.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
We have a greater burden as God’s people than anyone else on earth. We must always lift up a higher standard of living and loving.
In one of Garfield’s cartoons he is shown resting droopy-eyed in his bed thinking to himself: “One of my pet peeves is people who never finish what they start.” As he cracks a knowing smile, he says, “I do not happen to be one of those people.” The last frame shows him under the bed covers saying, “My philosophy is, ‘Never start anything.’”
“Never start anything” cannot be our philosophy as God’s people. We must care about our world because God cares. We must care about people because God cares. We must care about those in need because God cares. God cared enough about us to send our Savior, Jesus Christ. We must care too. We must care enough to make our brotherhood and community stronger. What is God calling you to do? Are you being called to help tutor a child struggling in with his or her education? Are you being called to reach out to someone in pain? Are you being called to organize a neighborhood watch program or cleanup day? If you and I don’t do it, who will? God is counting on you and me. We also can count on God to give us the resources we need to accomplish His will.
God of all things, you can count on me! In Jesus Name, Amen.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. (Matthew 5:17)
Paul had spent much of his life trying to save himself through strict adherence to the Law. But somehow, this was not enough. It never is.
Robert Ingersoll was a famous agnostic. He enjoyed arguing, particularly with Christian clergymen. One day Ingersoll was conversing with Charles Horace Talmage, one of the great preachers of the day, about Connecticut’s blue laws – laws forbidding certain activities on Sunday.
“Would you like to live in a community, Mr. Talmage,” Ingersoll asked, “where not one cigar could be smoked and not one drop of liquor could be drunk?”
“Certainly,” said Talmage, “that would be a social heaven.”
“And you would like to live,” Ingersoll continued, “where no one could play on the Sabbath day and where everyone had to go to church?”
“Yes, sir,” Talmage declared, “that would suit me. It would be paradise to live in a community where everyone was compelled to go to church on Sunday, where no one could drink a drop . . . and where the law would make every person good . . . “
“And you think such a person would be a good Christian?” Ingersoll asked, “A better man than I am?”
“Why, of course,” Talmage responded.
“Then,” said Mr. Ingersoll, “I advise you to go to the penitentiary. At Sing Sing there is a community of fifteen hundred men and women governed in precisely that manner. They are all good by law.”
Talmage learned a lesson that day. Being good simply because it is required has no saving power. That was a discovery that Paul also made – keeping the Law by itself would never fulfill his deepest need. Of course, Paul tried to keep the law, but he knew that true salvation comes from faith in Jesus Christ.
Heavenly Father, thank you for saving my soul, so that I may know of God’s incredible love. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
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