Tag Archives: Christmas

December 24, 2021 · 5:24 AM

The Gift Of Restoration

As we celebrate Christmas and follow our family traditions, it’s important to pause and remember that night in Bethlehem. Jesus’ birth was God’s answer to restore a fallen world. Since the Garden of Eden, God had promised that a woman would give birth to a child that would bruise the serpent’s head. This child was sent as a sign of God’s love for us. His goal was not to condemn us or to point out our failures. Rather He came to fulfill the part of our covenant with God that we are unable to keep. This incredible gift of restoration is worth celebrating every day, not just on Christmas.

Here are some Bible verses that show God’s plan for restoration..

1. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Romans 3:23 NLT

2. Well then, the Lord himself will give you a sign: a young woman who is pregnant will have a son and will name him ‘Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14 GNT

3. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21 NLT

4. For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6 NLT

5. For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.

John 3:16-17 GNT

Merry Christmas!

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December 14, 2021 · 5:33 AM

Emmanuel

Around Christmas time, I remember an old song we used to sing at church by Don Moen. “Emmanuel. Emmanuel. His name is called Emmanuel. Emmanuel. God with us. Revealed in us. His name is Emmanuel.” Simple, yet powerful as it reminds us of God’s plan to save the world. I thought about the meaning of it the other night when we, as a family, sat down, looked at our nativity and talked through all the people in it. By doing this activity, we each gained more insight and perspective into what has become a common Christmas symbol, but is truly the greatest display of love the world has ever seen.

Since the Garden of Eden, sin had reigned on the earth. It brought death and decay with it. Man had no ability to conquer it. When God looked on our helpless estate, He didn’t condemn us to an eternity In hell. Rather, He displayed His love by sending His one and only Son into the world, not to condemn it, but that through Him the world might be saved (John 3:16-17). He became one of us in order to reach us, to break the curse of sin and to end its rule. If you remember, while He was in the tomb, He took the keys of death, hell and the grace removing its power over our lives. He ushered in a wave of grace to do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves.

Romans 8:3b says, “Yet God sent us his Son in human form to identify with human weakness. Clothed with humanity, God’s Son gave his body to be the sin-offering so that God could once and for all condemn the guilt and power of sin”. Jesus, coming to earth as depicted in the manger scene, is God reaching out, identifying with us and ultimately sacrificing Himself so we could be together. Emmanuel is a powerful word that concisely tells the story of Christmas. You are loved immensely by your creator. He didn’t come to condemn you. He came to save you because there is no way to save yourself.

Photo by Dan Kiefer on Unsplash

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December 2, 2021 · 5:30 AM

The Birth Of Grace

I’ve got a friend who, when he sees people with a sour face, likes to say, “Smile! God’s in a good mood.” It usually takes them a second to hear what he said, then they laugh or smile. Many of us think of God as this angry, Old Testament figure who is sitting up in Heaven speaking in old English and is looking for someone to smite. As a result, we try to live a smite free life that makes us miserable.

If God is always angry, why did He give us the gift of His Son? I can tell you that when I’m upset or angry with someone, giving them a life changing gift is not an idea floating around in my head. In the Old Testament, we had a pact with God where we would do our part to keep the relationship open through sacrifice, but we constantly fell short. That did make God angry and upset. How do you feel when someone breaks a promise to you? No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t do it.

Out of love, God decided to establish a New Covenant between us. One where when we fall short on our end, Jesus makes up the difference. His birth was also the birth of grace. It announced that God would make a way to reestablish the relationship between He and us. His desire has always been that we would know Him, and go to live with Him for eternity. To take the burden off of us trying to keep our part, He sent Jesus.

John 3:16-17 says, ““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. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him” (NLT). Smile! That’s good news. This Christmas, celebrate the birth of grace into our world. Live your life in response to God’s love for you rather than out of the fear of being smitten.

Photo by Dan Kiefer on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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December 17, 2020 · 5:30 AM

Wrong Assumptions

Have you ever made the wrong assumption about something? If we’re honest, we all have. There was a guy who wanted me to hire him for sales, but he didn’t dress the part for the interview. Everyone else showed up in a suit, but this guy wasn’t even wearing a tie. When I asked questions, everyone sat up, looked me in the eye and gave confident answers. Not this guy. He slouched in his chair and barely looked up at me when answering. He seemed to lack the confidence to be in sales, but he had all the answers I was looking for. My wife suggested it was easier to train him how to present himself rather than to teach someone else the core values I was looking for. I hired him, and he was one of the best hires I ever made.

It’s easy to look at someone and make judgments about them because they don’t measure up to our expectations. That’s what happened to Jesus. He was born in the right town, but the people expected great fanfare for the Messiah. He became a great teacher, but He didn’t teach what they thought He should teach. They assumed He would fight the Romans and free Israel, but when that clearly wasn’t His plan, they assumed He wasn’t the Messiah and crucified Him. They thought they had God’s plan figured out, but their assumptions were wrong. They’re not alone.

We all make incorrect assumptions about who God is and what His plan is. One of the biggest misconceptions is that God is angry and is waiting for us to do something wrong so He can zap us. John 3:16-17 says, “For this is how much God loved the world—he gave his one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it!” (TPT) God didn’t send Jesus to condemn you to Hell. He was sent to reconcile you to God. He loves us so much that He didn’t conform to our expectations, but instead died in our place so that we could live eternally in His place. If you’ve made the wrong assumptions about God, Christmas is a great time, to change your mind.

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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December 10, 2020 · 5:30 AM

Christmas Cards

Just the other day my son was asking why no one mails him anything. Each day he sees us open the mail. Most of the time what we are opening is bills, but this time of year, there are lots of Christmas cards. Each year there seem to be fewer and fewer cards, and each year the cards are saying less. When I was younger, each card had a hand written note. As I grew up, people started putting family newsletters inside. Now, it’s just the name of the family.

Yes, I’m lamenting about the current status of Christmas cards. Since the invention of email, personal letters in Christmas cards, and otherwise, have almost become extinct. Very few people write personal letters anymore. There’s something encouraging about a personal letter that you don’t get from an email or a signed card. Personal letters often bring joy to the recipient. I imagine that’s where the tradition of sending Christmas cards came from.

Much of the New Testament is really just personal letters sent by the apostles to encourage others. In Acts 15, the apostles sent a joint letter answering questions about how believers should behave. Verse 31 tells us, “When the people read it, they were filled with joy by the message of encouragement” (GNT). That’s what letters do. They fill people with joy and encouragement. No wonder my son wishes for mail.

2 Corinthians 3:2 says, “You yourselves are the letter we have, written on our hearts for everyone to know and read.” Each of our lives should be a personal letter to the world written by God. It should encourage others and bring them joy. Jesus was God’s love letter to us. His birth announced that God heard our cry to be joined with Him. Now, His Spirit lives in us and we are His love letter to the world. Make your letter personal and let it bring joy to all who read it.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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December 3, 2020 · 5:30 AM

O Little Town Of Bethlehem

A few years ago, we were preparing for Christmas. I was putting gifts in boxes, then sliding them to my wife who was wrapping them. After she would wrap, she would ask who the gift was for. On one such gift, she looked at me with pen in hand expectantly. I looked at the box, smiled, and said, “That one is for you!” She had been so busy wrapping that she couldn’t remember what was on the box.

That’s kind of how God snuck the gift of our savior into the world. It wasn’t a big showy presentation. It was delivered in a barn through a humble girl who was barely known. The world would expect the King of Kings to get around the clock coverage, tweets wondering what His name would be, and hashtags so everyone could follow. But that’s not how God did it. He did it opposite from the way we would have done it.

The lyrics of “O Little Town Of Bethlehem” described it like this:

How silently, how silently, the wondrous Gift is giv’n;

So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His Heav’n.

No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.

God silently sent us His gift of redemption. The path to Heaven was illuminated by a star instead of spotlights. It was announced to shepherds instead of socialites and influencers. Those who were looking and listening found a baby lying in a manger in the small town of Bethlehem, which wasn’t even the capital. God entered this world silently so that those who are seeking Him will find Him. Those who find Him and receive Him will have His peace live in their heart and their sins forgiven. Oh what a gift that was given in the little town of Bethlehem.

Photo by Pro Church Media on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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December 25, 2019 · 5:23 AM

The Gift Of Christmas

From the time you’re a child, there’s something special about receiving gifts. The anticipation of Christmas was sometimes overwhelming as you waited to open the gifts. I remember wanting to peek to see if I got what I really wanted. Some years I did, and other years I got what I needed. While gifts are always for the receiver, the giver gets something special out of it too. As an adult, there’s nothing better than to see my child’s reaction when he gets just the right gift. The excitement. The smile. The raised voice. The desire to take it out of the box even when there’s more under the tree. The right gift at the right time is priceless.

Christmas is the time we celebrate how some 2,000 years ago God gave us the perfect gift at just the right time. The sky was lit up by a special star. The gift was wrapped in a stable and placed in a manger. The angels announced a His birth. The right time had come to give the world the greatest treasure it would ever know. With the birth of the baby Jesus, God gave us the gift of a right relationship with a Him. There was (and is) nothing we could ever give Him that is so great a gift, but what we can give Him is our heart and life in return with gratitude for giving us His Son.

Romans 8:32 says, “For God has proved his love by giving us his greatest treasure, the gift of his Son. And since God freely offered him up as the sacrifice for us all, he certainly won’t withhold from us anything else he has to give” (TPT). God loved you and I so much that He gave everything He had to restore a relationship we never could. As you open gifts and spend time with those you love this Christmas, don’t forget why we celebrate. You’ve been given a greater gift than you can ever purchase or receive. The gift you have received from Him though is one that can be shared with others. It is the true gift of Christmas.

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December 24, 2019 · 5:59 AM

Experiencing Humanity

Earlier this year, one of our local radio DJ’s decided to see what it was like to be homeless. He created a backstory in case anyone asked him how he got there. He also had a police officer go undercover with him to protect him. Each morning he would slip away to call the radio station to report his findings. I looked forward to his calls each day just so I could gain more insight into how we as Christians can help these people who have been displaced from their homes and our society. The experience changed him and the listeners. Even though it was only for a week, his experience allowed him to identify with the homeless population in a way that he never had before. From not being able to get into the shelter on a cold night, to not being able to eat, to having people pretend he was invisible changed his perspective and how he would help going forward.

As we begin celebrating Christmas, I can’t help but think that this man was mirroring what God did a couple of millenniums ago. When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, God walked with them daily. After they sinned, they were cast out of the garden and became wanders on the earth. Their sin also separated us and created a fallen world of people far from God. We became guilty of breaking God’s laws and fell under the power of sin. God gave us the Law through Moses, but we were unable to live up to it. We continuously fell short of the desires God had for us. Our sin created a barrier that kept us from being able to cross over to Him. However, when we couldn’t go to Him, He came to us to set us right with Him. He was able to bridge the divide from our side.

Romans 8:3 says, “Yet God sent us his Son in human form to identify with human weakness. Clothed with humanity, God’s Son gave his body to be the sin-offering so that God could once and for all condemn the guilt and power of sin” (TPT). Because He took on flesh and lived among us, He is able to identify with you. He was tempted like you are, hurt like you do and felt the separation from God. He also broke the power of sin over your life and removed the guilt from your name. Christmas is much more than the birth of Jesus. It’s God coming into the world so He could relate to us, be with us and save us. As you celebrate and share gifts, don’t forget to celebrate your freedom through Him and the new life He has given you.

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December 19, 2019 · 5:30 AM

Grateful For The Gift

I can’t believe Christmas is almost here. Every day, when I drive by the mall, I can’t help but notice how many people are there. Other retail stores are packed as well. Everyone is looking for gifts, but they want a good deal. They want to give a good gift, but they don’t want it to cost them a lot. I understand being frugal and wanting to get a good deal, but as I thought about it, the gift God gave cost Him everything. It wasn’t cheap though we often treat it that way. He gave us the gift of Emmanuel.

The most famous scripture, John 3:16, says, “For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son.” He loved us so much that He gave us His most prized possession. He sent His Son here to be God wrapped in flesh, to feel our pain, to breathe our air, to walk our paths, to know our feelings and to understand our ways. He wanted to show us love by giving us the gift that cost Him everything. At just the right time, He humbled Himself and was born as a human. Philippians 2 says that “He set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human.”

Not only did it cost Him the privileges of His deity, it later cost Him His life. He laid down His life so that we could have life. His sacrifice opened the door for you and I to find forgiveness for our sins. It made a way for us to get to Heaven. When I think about that gift and what it cost Him, there’s no gift that I can give that would ever compare. The only thing I can do to show my gratitude for such a gift is to offer my life to Him. I’ve got to be mindful every day of the sacrifice He made for me. It can’t just be at Christmas when I think about the gift of His Son. It’s got to be an every day thing.

I heard a quote years ago and I can’t find who said it, but it’s powerful. It says, “Blessed are those who can give without remembering and receive without forgetting.” That’s how I want to be all throughout the year and my life. I want to always remember what God did for you and me. I want to be so grateful that I never forget what it cost Him to show me love. I don’t want Him to have to constantly remind me of the price He paid. I’d rather be the one who constantly says to Him, “Look at what you did for me. I’ll never forget it.” I believe a life of gratitude will never take gifts for granted.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other writing ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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December 25, 2018 · 12:00 AM

The Christmas Story

Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Genesis 3:14-15 NLT

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.

Micah 5:2 NLT

All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).

Isaiah 7:14 NLT

Desert nomads will bow before him (Shepherds); his enemies will fall before him in the dust. The western kings of Tarshish and other distant lands will bring him tribute. The eastern kings of Sheba and Seba will bring him gifts.

Psalms 72:9-10 NLT

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

Isaiah 9:6-7 NLT

This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:18 NLT

And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.

Luke 2:4-5 NLT

She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

Luke 2:7 NLT

When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.

Luke 2:15-16 NLT

After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Matthew 2:9-11 NLT

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

Merry Christmas! God is with us.

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