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

SUCH VULNERABILITY

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  (Luke 2:11 NIV)

So God throws open the door of this world -- and enters as a baby. As the most vulnerable imaginable. Because He wants unimaginable intimacy with you. What religion ever had a God that wanted such intimacy with us that He came with such vulnerability to us? What God ever came so tender we could touch Him? So fragile that we could break Him? So vulnerable that His bare, beating heart could be hurt? Only the One who loves you to death.

-- Ann Voskamp

#4233

THE GLORY AND MYSTERY OF IT

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous -- how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb." (Psalm 139:13-15 NLT)

Twenty-eight thousand pounds at birth! That's what Dr. Bernard Nathanson estimates we would weigh if we continued to grow throughout gestation at the rate we grow in the first two weeks of life. That's how steep the trajectory of cell division is.

Add to this biological tumult the unimaginably intricate and precise processes of organization that take place during this time, and the picture is breathtaking. Everything from the ability to hit a baseball to the swirl of cowlicks to the sound of a person's laugh are fixed into place. In magnitude, the change is comparable to a tsunami; in complexity, to the transformation of winter into spring. The first two weeks of life may be the most important.

But the real glory and mystery of it all is that it takes place on a scale that is microscopic. The grandest, most awesome stage of human life is, for all practical purposes, invisible.

-- Ben Patterson

#3674

TRUSTING JESUS

So here we are again, a few billion miles farther along our mysterious path among the immensities.  What a comfort it is to know the Man in charge of it all.  Without Him, it would be easy to think that the whole of time and space, and life itself, are without reason, purpose, or meaning -- as H. G. Wells said, that it is "a bad joke beyond our understanding, a flare of vulgarity, an empty laugh braying across the mysteries."  With Jesus forever between God and us, we can understand a few things, and trust Him for the rest.  After all, He is one of us: a baby once, as we all were... 

-- Robert MacColl Adams, in a letter


#3565