Daily devotion

The Gift of Being a Neighbor

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On coming to the house they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, and of incense and of myrrh. Matthew 2:11

Most of us do not have much gold lying around the house, fewer still Incense, and probably no one even knows what myrrh is any more. So over the next twelve days I’m going to suggest twelve things you won’t be able to find at the shopping mall or even on-line, that we should be putting on our gift list for Jesus Christ. Today we start with the gift of being a good neighbor.

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31 – Most of us know that Jesus told us to love our neighbors, but it helps to remember that Jesus had neighbors too! He took the time to talk with them while He was also doing the more miraculous things like healing some of them. Jesus took time to change water into wine at a nearby wedding. He raised a widow’s son from the dead at a neighboring village and showed fisherman how to catch enough fish for a month. But in His own neighborhood Jesus was rejected!

Do you have neighbors who have rejected our friendship, invitations to special events at church or even good mornings at the mailbox? But, their rejection doesn’t get us off the hook from the command to love. Instead, Jesus might say, “Welcome to the club!”  He was so roundly rejected and His own brothers and sisters didn’t believe in Him and even Mary began to wonder about His sanity. But Jesus just kept on doing what He could. Jesus continued to share the good news that God had anointed Him to bring the gospel to the poor, freedom for the captives and sight for the blind. One day some of them would understand. His mother followed Him to the cross. Two of His brothers became apostles and more than half of His disciples came from the nearby city of Capernaum.

How can you give the gift of being a neighbor to someone this Christmas? Shepherds gave him praise. A small boy offered five loaves of bread. The woman at the well gave Him water and a rich man, a tomb to borrow for three days. Ask God for ideas, then step out in faith, because we will never know what He can do with what we give until we place it in His hands!

This morning I’m sharing one of my favorite Christmas songs called There’s a Rose in Bethlehem. May you have a blessed day and stay tuned for eleven more gifts along our journey to Christmas this year.

The Mystery of Christmas

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The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the only one of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 NIV

When I stopped to put my dollar in the Salvation Army bucket outside of our local Walmart the bell ringer started to talk about Christmas. At first it was nice meeting someone who seemed to appreciate what Christmas is supposed to be about. But soon He was steering the conversation down the path of a somewhat bizarre interpretation of who and how the baby in the manger came to be. He kept pressing his point further and further with detail after detail that fit together until His conclusion somehow lost its way. Sadly I had to walk away, because what had begun as a celebration of God’s gift felt more like the dissection of a butterfly.

There is a beauty and a mystery in the incarnation that we can only see with eyes of faith. When each Christmas we pause and ponder on the astonishing reality of God coming as a baby we can only kneel in awe and worship. We ask again the question Mary asked, “How can these things be?” Again the answer comes. “The Spirit of God will overshadow you…”

If we try to get hold of every detail we end up like a drowning man grasping at straws. We can get our hands around straws, but only God’s Spirit and our faith that He has come can save us in the end. Then with John we can say, ” And we have seen His glory… Full of grace and truth!”

Photo by Frank Cone on Pexels.com

Wrapping Gifts

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But emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:7-8 ESV

One Christmas our youth group joined together to raise funds to purchase devotionals from Joni and Friends ministry as gifts for nursing home residents. One highlight was the hour we spent wrapping the books. Did you ever stop to wonder who came up with the idea of gift wrapping? Isn’t the gift itself what people really want?

I think it all comes down to presentation and that is something even God chose to do when he sent Jesus to the manger of Bethlehem. In a strange sort of way Jesus was God- gift wrapped! When we wrap gifts we do it to keep it a surprise. In that same way no one could see who Jesus was in his swaddling cloths in the manger. It took angels telling the shepherds to get an audience for His birth!

Another reason for wrapping is to say. “I prepared this just for you!” In that same way Jesus was sent, not only for the whole world, but also for each one of us individually. He gives Himself to each of us one by one. Some of us open presents on Christmas Eve and others Christmas morning but for all of us the gifts are wrapped and sitting under the tree because it makes us wait till the right time to open them. At just the exact right time Jesus came, the gift was presented and we by faith have been unwrapping the love God in Jesus Christ ever since.

I offer to you the Christmas song Mary I Have News that I wrote back in 2017. This gift first came to Mary who God chose the carry His gift in her womb and then share Him with the world (including us). Mary’s is an amazing story that we can still share in as God has also chosen us to carry Jesus within our hearts. Have a blessed week everybody!