FINISHING THE DAY… AND THE YEAR

Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson


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THE WORD BECAME FLESH

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  (John 1:1 & 14 NIV)

The Word did not become a philosophy, a theory, or a concept to be discussed, debated, or pondered. But the Word became a person to be followed, enjoyed, and loved!

-- DaySpring Cards


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LET US WORSHIP AND ADORE HIM

All Hail! Lord, we greet Thee,
Born this happy morning,
O Jesus! for evermore be Thy name adored.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.  (“O Come All Ye Faithful”)

Jesus Christ -- His love we can experience; His salvation we can appropriate; His help we can claim; but their remains in Him the divine mystery of the Incarnation, which is beyond our understanding, and before which we can only worship and adore.

-- William Barclay (1907-1978) in “The Revelation of John” (Vol.II)


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RECEIVING THE GIFT

“Yet to all who did receive [Christ], to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”  (John 1:12 NIV)

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”  (Colossians 2:6-7 NIV)

You can never truly enjoy Christmas until you can look up into the Father’s face and tell Him you have received His Christmas gift.

-- John R. Rice


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CHRIST WAS BORN TO SAVE

“Good Christian friends, rejoice, with heart and soul and voice;
now ye need not fear the grave: News, news! Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all to gain His everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save, Christ was born to save!”

Rejoice, you who feel that you are lost; your Savior comes to seek and save you. Be of good cheer, you who are in prison, for He comes to set you free. You who are famished and ready to die, rejoice that He has consecrated for you a Bethlehem, a House of Bread, and He has come to be the Bread of Life to your souls. Rejoice, O sinners everywhere, for the restorer of the castaways, the Savior of the fallen, is born.

-- C.H. Spurgeon in “Joy Born at Bethlehem”

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