Bethlehem

From Bethlehem to Calvary

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And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21 NKJV

I love singing Silent Night! To me it is both one of the sweetest and most worshipful of all the carols. Looking back over the years, I cannot count the times when I have sung this on Christmas Eve, often while holding a candle or during communion. But as sweet and awesome is the experience of that celebration of the birth of Jesus, we must never allow ourselves to forget that Jesus came with a purpose. He came to save us from our sins. It is built right into HIs name: Jesus, which means “Jehovah saves” And how did he save us? It was on a darkened cold hilltop, nailed to the beams of a cross. How amazing it is that Jesus began life gently laid in a crude wooden manger, closing His eyes to sleep and ended it nailed to a crude wooden cross when He closed His eyes in death. And all through that journey from Bethlehem to Calvary, every time Jesus heard His name spoken, He was reminded of why He came and where His journey would lead. And He did it all for you and me! What an amazing love. What a wonderful Savior. What a reason we have to bow in worship at the manger and kneel in repentance at the cross.

Born Again at Christmas

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Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 
John 3:3 ESV

This famous verse comes at the start of a conversation between a Jewish teacher, named Nicodemus and Jesus. Interestingly, Nicodemus had just finished saying that he knew that Jesus must have come from God because of the miracles he had seen Him doing. Then Jesus interrupts him, to say, “Unless you are born again, you cannot see who I really am!” Jesus was happy that Nicodemus understood that Jesus came from God, but he wanted Nicodemus to see the whole picture; and for that to happen, Nicodemus needed to be spiritually reborn.

Just as Jesus had to be born, in order to come to earth, we must ask God to change our hearts in order to receive eternal life and go to Heaven. Just as Jesus had to be born as a real human baby, we must be born again to receive the life He came to bring. Jesus came to earth at Christmas. Now God is asking us to receive Him into our hearts as our Savior, so that we can be born again and spend an eternity of Christmases with Him!

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Pexels.com

Joseph’s Pause

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He had trudged on for days
Through the cold and the heat
Till the dust of long roads
Was caked hard on his feet 
And behind on the donkey
Mary followed as best
As she could though she ached 
And she wished they could rest
Then she touched Joseph’s shoulder
And he turned with a smile
Their eyes knowingly met 
So, he paused for a while

Then he looked to the village 
At the crest of the hill
And remembered God’s promise
Was to be there fulfilled
And he picked up the reins 
Then pressed on one more mile
Trusting this was God's place
For the birth of His child

Joseph's Pause by Peter Caligiuri copyright 2021 all rights reserved

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David: To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. Luke 2:4-5 KJV