WHERE IS THE ONE?

The Magi come asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?" (Matthew 2:2)

Tradition has it that there were three Magi, probably because the Bible account names three gifts (gold, frankincense, and myrrh.) The names used for these Magi are Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, and tradition also says that they are of three different ethnic groups, signifying that Christ comes not just for one nation but for all people. In fact, that is what we celebrate in January at Epiphany: Jesus Christ as the Light of the world. We celebrate Christ as Light to the whole world, not as the Light to one small group in the world.

Many Christians mark Epiphany in only cursory ways, as if everything about Christmas ends at midnight on December 25.  We do seem in a hurry sometimes to put away Christmas... Most of us stop playing Christmas music, too, as if the songs are inappropriate at any other time of the year...

Commentators have said we seem in a hurry after Christmas to box up once again our patience, our tolerance, our generosity and put them back in the attic, as if we can sustain good behavior for a few weeks but wouldn't want to risk making it a way of life.  We may also put away our willingness to give a bit more, to be more forgiving, even to be more patient in traffic as we often are during the holidays. Perhaps we even box up our desires to hope and our openness to miracles and mystery, as if the messages of the Christmas stories can't quite survive the rigors of real life in the rest of the year. The Magi call us to continue our observance of Christ's coming after December is over. 

-- Mary Lou Redding in “WHILE WE WAIT: Living the Questions of Advent” (Nashville, Tenn.: Upper Room Books, 2002)   

#5255

WE ARE NOT ALONE

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”  (Isaiah 41:10 NIV)

God is with us!

This is the proclamation made visible to us in the brightness of Christmas Day.  We are radically accompanied.  There is nothing in human experience that is not touched and ultimately transfigured by divine life itself.  Matter is suffused with spirit. 

We are not alone. 

-- Wendy M. Wright in “The Vigil: Keeping Watch in the Season of Christ's Coming” (Nashville, Tenn.: Upper Room Books, 1992, used with permission)

#5254

REMEMBERING GOD’S LOVE

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  (John 3:16)

Has something bad happened to you? If so, do you think it means God doesn’t really know what’s going on? Or worse, maybe He knows, but He’s not pleased with you or He doesn’t love you? Are you interpreting His love by your circumstances -- instead of interpreting your circumstances by His love?

When you’re tempted to question whether or not God cares, remember Christmas and the Baby in Bethlehem. Jesus said, “The Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God.” (John 16:27)

When tempted to doubt God’s love, take a good look at the heart of God wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. God loves you so much that He has given you Jesus. 

-- Anne Graham Lotz in “Fixing My Eyes on Jesus”

#5253

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN

Ask most people why they became Christians, and they'll likely tell you the story of other people whose witnesses were their inspiration. Ever since the shepherds and the wise men left the manger, telling what they saw to the people they met, Christians sharing their personal encounters with God have been the most important evangelism tools in the church.

It's no different today. On the job, in our neighborhoods, while running errands -- throughout our daily living -- we encounter people who are yearning for a deeper relationship with the living God. And our individual testimonies, told with humility, earnestness and gratitude (not pomp and self-righteousness) are often the stepping stones brothers and sisters need as they take that closer walk with God.

If Christ has made a difference in your life, you ought to tell somebody… Learn to share your story.

-- from Interpreter magazine, October 2000

#5252

PUTTING CHRISTMAS AWAY

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”  (Luke 2:11 KJV)

Do not put Christmas away too soon -- keep the joy and the song going for the whole season. We have put too much effort into getting ready to celebrate for just one day. One day cannot contain all the joy of the good news that has come to us in Jesus Christ.

-- Mary Anna Vidakovich in “Sing to the Lord” 

#5251

THE TRUE MIRACLE OF CHRISTMAS

Jesus said, "Let us go somewhere else -- to the nearby villages -- so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."  (Mark 1:38 NIV)

Over the last 10 years I have conducted Christmas Eve services in some unlikely places -- restaurants, firehouses, football-stadium parking lots, and prisons. On Christmas Eve two years ago, I participated as over 350 people, nearly all strangers to one another, gathered for a Christmas Eve service of carols, candlelight and Communion -- in a downtown dance hall and bar. In this unlikely venue, I saw God move in the hearts and lives of people, most of whom never would have stepped through the door of a church. It was a powerful reminder to me that in Jesus, God reveals the intention to encounter us where we are.

Many times those of us in the church forget that Jesus was not born in a church or cathedral; he was born "off-site" in the dirt and dung of a stable for animals. He was born in the midst of the reality of life, not as in some stained-glass portrayal of a royal birth. This was a real God, for real people, in real life. That's what Emmanuel, "God with us," means.

The true miracle of Christmas is not found in the pageantry of a great Christmas Eve service. The true miracle of Christmas is the truth that God is with us in the dirt and dailyness and in the reality and imperfection of our lives.

-- J. Mack Strange in "The Upper Room Online Daily Devotional"

#5250

JOY IN A WEARY WORLD

“For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  (Isaiah 9:6 NKJV)

In December 1948 Prince Charles was baptized in Buckingham Palace. The following day the first pictures of the royal baby and heir apparent were released to the public. One of the most popular photos showed the royal family, including parents and grandparents, gathered around the little prince, gazing at him. The caption underneath was: “All eyes on the Baby.”…

This Christmas, and throughout the coming year, we have every reason for optimism. In all the weariness of life write this caption underneath your life: “All eyes on the Baby… the Baby Jesus.” He came the first time in a cradle as a Savior to bring the light of salvation, life, and forgiveness. He is coming again wearing a crown, as Sovereign, as Prince of Peace, to take over and make everything right forever. Whatever you do this Christmas, don’t miss the joy!

In dismay -- looking at the current situation of the ongoing pandemic -- some might say, “Look what the world has come to.” In delight -- looking at the Son who was given -- we can say, “Look Who has come to the world” and “look Who is coming again.”

That’s more than enough to shine light into every heart and saturate every mind with joy in a weary world.  

-- Adapted from an article by Mark L. Hitchcock entitled “A Weary World Rejoices”

#5249

LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness -- on them light has shined.”  (Isaiah 9:2 NRSV)

It may come from a star. But somehow Christmas means seeing all of life in a new light. We live so much of our lives engulfed by the darkness of stumbling among the shadows of our selfishness. We live in a world beclouded by evil and hostility, by greed and hatred. Light means liberation! Light means freedom! Light means a new, better and brighter day! As people who walk so often in darkness, may we see a great light -- the light and splendor of Christmas.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  (John 8:12 NIV)

-- Don G. Smith, from an article entitled “Musings on a Miracle”

#5248

COME, THOU LONG EXPECTED ONE

“For a Child has been born for us, a Son given to us; authority rests upon His shoulders; and He is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  (Isaiah 9:6-7 NRSV)

Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Son of the Most High, Prince of Peace, be born again into our world. Wherever there is war in this world, wherever there is pain, wherever there is loneliness, wherever there is no hope, come, thou long-expected One, with healing in Thy wings. 

-- Frederick Buechner

#5247

BECAUSE GOD LOVES ME

(Based on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and John 3:16)

Because God loves me, He is slow to lose patience with me.

Because God loves me, He takes the circumstances of my life and uses them in a constructive way for my growth.

Because God loves me, He is for me. He wants to see me mature and develop in His love.

Because God loves me, He does not send down His wrath on every little mistake I make, of which there are many.

Because God loves me, He does not keep score of all my sins and then beat me over the head with them whenever He gets the chance.

Because God loves me, He is deeply grieved when I do not walk in the ways that please Him because He sees this as evidence that I don't trust Him and love Him as I should.

Because God loves me, He keeps on trusting me when at times I don't even trust myself.

Because God loves me, He never says there is no hope for me; rather, He patiently works with me, loves me, and disciplines me in such a way that it is hard for me to understand the depth of His concern for me.

Because God loves me, He never forsakes me even though many of my friends might.

Because God loves me, He stands with me when I have reached the rock bottom of despair, when I see the real me and compare that with His righteousness, holiness, beauty, and love. It is a moment like this that I can really believe that God loves ME.

Because God loves me, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, and that believing in Him I will have eternal life with the God who loves me.

Yes, the greatest of all gifts is God's perfect love given to us in His Son!

-- Dr. Dick Dickinson, Inter-Community Counseling Center, Long Beach, California

#5246

GOD IS ACTIVE IN THE DARK

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”  (Luke 2:8-9)

When she was very young, one of my granddaughters became afraid of the dark. To fall asleep she needed a night-light in her room.

I wonder if you, like my granddaughter, are also afraid of the dark. Not the dark of night but the dark times in life, when pressures, problems, pain, and even persecution envelope us in a fog of confusion or depression… those spiritually dark times when God seems far away.

Please know that from the very beginning, God has been active in the dark. At the earliest dawn of creation, the Bible says, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering.” (Genesis 1:2)

If you are presently living in darkness… of a humanly hopeless situation… of death or disease or divorce… of fear or failure or frustration… of doubt or danger… of confusion or depression… be assured that God is with you. “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” (Psalm 23:4 NIV)  God will change things, and He has a word for you.

God is active in the dark. Just ask the shepherds. 

-- Adapted from Anne Graham Lotz in “Fixing My Eyes on Jesus”

#5245

ADVENT WAITING AND WATCHING

It turns out that the One who made us is also the One who cannot stand for us to be apart. And that One begins to whisper to the ones who will listen -- "I will come again, I will walk among you. Look for me in a child who is to come, born of a maiden." The ones who hear the whisper and believe it begin to whisper themselves, trying to describe as best they can what they hear and what is to come. They use words like "Messiah," "Immanuel," the "Rod of Jesse," and "Son of David," trying to speak of what they know can hardly be said. The collective repeating of the whisper grows in volume until it has become as the sound of a voice crying in the wilderness.

Those who have begun to wait and to watch can indeed do only that: wait and watch. They look for the signs of God among us and wait and hope and wonder if they have somehow misunderstood.

And now we wait along with them again. 

-- Robert Benson in “The Night of the Child” (Nashville, Tenn.: Upper Room Books, 2001. Used with permission.) 

#5244

REMEMBERING WHAT GOD HAS DONE

“God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure.”  (Ephesians 1:5)

Remembering what God has done is encouraging. Do you need to be encouraged today? I get down when I focus on myself and fail to look up at Jesus. When I look down, I forget all the blessings I have and all the blessings that await me in the future. When I begin to focus on all that God has done for me it lifts me up out of muck and mire…

I have learned it is beneficial to take time to record what the Lord has done in my life. This colorful roadmap of my journey helps me remember God’s faithfulness. When I get focused on the fact that I’m not where I want to be, I forget how far the Lord has brought me. My journal helps me refocus on God as I remember what He has done.

Remembering is important because we easily forget. Remember where He found you and how He adopted you into His family. 

-- Adapted from Tom Graves, The Light of Christ Journey Blog

#5243

THE GIFT FOR ALL PEOPLE – Part 2

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”  (John 3:16 NLT)

Why did God choose you? 

The answer is at once simple and profound.  He chose you because He wanted to.  After all, you are His.  He made you.  He brought you home.  He owns you.  And if you've never heard Him assuring you of that simple fact, be reminded by the words on this page.  Let these words resonate in your heart: the God who created you loves you.  He made the ultimate sacrifice because of you.  No, God doesn't need you.  He wants you.  So, what do we do with this gift?  What does it have to do with our daily existence?

It has everything to do with it.  Our task on earth is singular -- to choose our eternal home.  You can afford many wrong choices in life.  You can choose the wrong career and survive, the wrong city and survive, the wrong house and survive.  You can even choose the wrong mate and survive.  But there is one choice that must be made correctly and that is your eternal destiny. 

-- Max Lucado in “The Gift for All People”

#5242

THE GIFT FOR ALL PEOPLE – Part 1

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23 NLT)

To whom does God offer His gift?  To the brightest?  The most beautiful or the most charming?  No.  His gift is for us all -- beggars and bankers, clergy and clerks, judges and janitors.  All God's children.

And He wants us so badly, He'll take us in any condition -- "as is" reads the tag on our collars.  He's not about to wait for us to reach perfection (He knows we'll never get there!).  Do you think He's waiting for us to overcome all temptations?  Hardly.  When we master the Christian walk?  Far from it.  Remember, Christ died for us when we were still sinners.  His sacrifice, then, was not dependent on our performance.

He wants us now.  And He'll do whatever it takes to bring His children home. Christ's love has no strings, no expectations, no hidden agendas, no secrets.  His love for us is up front and clear.  "I love you," He says.  Even if you let Me down.  I love you in spite of your failures." Why did God choose you?  Why did He choose me?  Honestly. Why?  What do we have that He needs? 

-- Max Lucado in “The Gift for All People”

#5241

REDISCOVERING THE REAL CHRIST

We need to forget the imagery of the Christ who has been ours too long and to rediscover the real Christ, the Christ of the prophets and the martyrs and the confessors, the Christ who is not only the lover of souls but also master, a monarch with demands to make in industry, in finance, in education, in the arts, in marriage, in the home; the Christ who is teacher of a social ideology which has eternal validity; the Christ who cries aloud with convincing force, "For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it" (Mark 8:35). 

-- Bernard Iddings Bell (1886-1958) in “Still Shine the Stars” 

#5240

BEING PRESENT THIS SEASON

If what it takes for you this year to be present in this sacred, thin place, to feel the breath and presence of a Holy God, is to forgo the cookies and the cards and the rushing and the lists, then we’ll be all right with cookies from the store and a few less gifts. It would be a great loss for you to miss this season, the soul of it, because you’re too busy pushing and rushing. And it would be a great loss if the people in your life receive your perfectly wrapped gifts, but not your love or your full attention or your spirit. This is my prayer for us, that we would give and receive the most important gifts this season -- the palpable presence of a Holy God, the kindness of well-chosen words, the generosity of spirit and soul. My prayer is that what you’ve lost, and what I’ve lost this year, will fade a little bit in the beauty of this season, that for a few moments at least, what is right and good and worth believing will outshine all the darkness, within us and around us. And I hope that someone who loves you gives you a really cute scarf. Merry Christmas. 

-- Shauna Niequist in “Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way”

#5239

HOW OTHERS PERCEIVE YOUR FAITH

"Ever since the creation of the world God's eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things God has made." (Romans 1:20)

When I was in high school, I was the drum major for our marching band. When we would perform on the football field or in a parade, the band director would always say, “People listen with their eyes.” In other words, if band members were out of step or out of line, the audience would perceive the band to be out of tune.

I have come to realize the same thing holds true with our faith. People cannot see your faith. So they judge your faith by what they can see. People will trust their eyes long before they will ever trust your words. What do your visibles say about the invisible things you believe?  

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson

#5238

THOSE TO WHOM THE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE CAME

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord…”  (Isaiah 61:1-2a NKJV)

Consider for a moment those to whom the Christmas message came. A poor, bewildered carpenter and his young bride far from home; a group of cold and hungry shepherds; a worn-out innkeeper; and a trio of travel-weary wise old men. And throughout this holy infant's life it was with the hurting and the broken ones He chose to spend His time; and He was crucified among them at the end. So if you feel a little weary, a little rushed, a little breathless at the manger, then take heart because this message is for you.

Christmas speaks above all else to the poor and homeless, the hungry, oppressed, and friendless of our world. We must never let ourselves forget that, or our celebrations will be false as Santa's whiskers. But it also speaks to those who are burdened in any way, whether with regrets for the past, heartache in the present, or foreboding for the future. God says to us this night, "Be strong, fear not, for I am with you. I am for you and I will never let you go. Here is my Son to prove it." 

-- J. Barrie Shepherd in “Jubilee: Readings Through the Year from Alive Now”, published by The Upper Room, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission.

#5237

STARVING FOR PEACE

“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!”  (Isaiah 26:3 NLT)

Variety may be the spice of life, but it is not life itself.  It is that bread of life, that peace of God which is the very staff of life itself, for which men's souls are starving in these days.

-- G. A. Studdert Kennedy in “The Wicket Gate”

#5236

INFLUENCING OTHERS

“As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”  (1Peter 1:15-16 ESV)

Influence grows out of worship. Without that preoccupation, we have nothing to give a cynical, desperately unhappy, and unsettled world.

In 1966, during the closing service of the World Congress on Evangelism in the Kongresshalle in Berlin, Germany, Billy Graham spoke of the need for “a gentleness and a kindness and a love and a forgiveness and a compassion” that will mark us as different from the world. “We must be a holy people,” he said.

As an illustration of the power of personal holiness, he spoke of the conversion of Dr. H. C. Morrison, founder of Asbury Theological Seminary. He described a day many years before when Morrison, as a farm worker, was plowing in a field. Looking down the road, he saw an old Methodist circuit rider coming by on his horse.

Morrison had seen the elderly gentleman before and he knew him to be a gracious, godly man. As he watched the old saint go by Morrison felt the power of God’s presence, and a great sense of conviction of sin came over him. He dropped to his knees. And there, between the furrows in his field, alone, he gave his life to God.

When he concluded the story, Billy Graham earnestly prayed, “Oh, God, make me a holy man, a holy man.” 

-- David Roper in “A Beacon in the Darkness: Reflecting God’s Light in Today’s World”

#5235

ADVENT HOPE – ALERT EXPECTATION

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”  (Hebrews 10:23)

Hoping does not mean doing nothing. It is not fatalistic resignation. It means going about our assigned tasks, confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusions. It is not compelled to work away at keeping up appearances with a bogus spirituality. It is the opposite of desperate and panicky manipulations, of scurrying and worrying.

And hoping is not dreaming. It is not spinning an illusion or fantasy to protect us from our boredom or our pain. It means a confident, alert expectation that God will do what He said He will do. It is imagination put in the harness of faith. It is a willingness to let God do it His way and in His time. It is the opposite of making plans that we demand that God put into effect, telling Him both how and when to do it. That is not hoping in God but bullying God. "I pray to GOD… waiting for what He'll say and do. My life's on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning.”

-- Eugene H. Peterson in “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society”

#5234