Category: Devotionals

The accounts of the birth of Jesus are filled with beauty and wonder. The shepherds, the heavenly choir, the angel messenger announcing to the shepherds the birth of the Savior. I love that part of the story. After scaring the living daylights out of the shepherds, the angel tells them not to be afraid, he has news of great joy–a child has been born in Bethlehem and not just any child, but the long-awaited Messiah. Knowing that the shepherds will want to go and see the child, the angel then tells them what to look for, a baby lying in a manger, who was wrapped in swaddling cloths (Luke 2:11-12).

Wait! Swaddling cloths? Let’s stop there for a minute. What exactly are swaddling cloths? I’ve read and heard this story so many times and never thought about that. So, I grabbed my dictionary and looked it up. Sure enough, it was right there, a listing for swaddling clothes. The definition is narrow strips of cloth wrapped around an infant to restrict movement.

So, Mary wrapped Jesus in these cloths to restrict movement, just the way nurses in a hospital wrap newborns tightly in a blanket. But it isn’t just to restrict movement, it’s to make the baby feel secure. After spending nine months wrapped in the warmth of a mother’s womb, the world a baby has been delivered into can be kind of scary and cold, and that’s why we wrap the baby up in that way.

When you think about it, isn’t that something we never outgrow? We all need to feel that kind of security, don’t we? But we won’t get it from being wrapped in swaddling cloths, but from being wrapped in God’s love. The world around us can be a scary place sometimes. But, we can take comfort in knowing that we have a heavenly Father who loves us so much and is always there to wrap that love around us and make us feel secure.

Thank You, heavenly Father for wrapping us in the swaddling cloths of Your great love.

Those words have been running through my head today, perhaps because our church choir is singing the Christmas worship song, Adore, at our Christmas services this year.

These words make up the refrain of the beautiful carol, O Come All Ye Faithful, which we hear and sing at this time of year. Many of us even sing the refrain by itself, and not just during the Christmas season. As both of these songs played in my head, I thought about that word–“adore.”

We adore our spouses (at least, we should!). We adore our children and our grandchildren. And, we even find our pets “adorable.” So what does the word “adore” mean?

In the dictionary, there are three definitions for the word “adore.” It can mean to be very fond of. It can mean to regard with loving admiration and devotion. That is what it means when I say that I adore my wife or my children and grandchildren. But the very first definition given for the word “adore” is to worship or honor as a deity or as divine. That’s what it means when we sing, “O come, let us adore Him.” We are worshiping and honoring Jesus Christ and acknowledging Him as God.

One thing that really caught my attention in the dictionary entry for “adore” was the etymology of the word. The word “adore” comes from the Latin word “adorare.” That word breaks down like this–ad meaning “to” or “toward” and orare meaning “to speak, pray.” Interesting!

So, when you think about the origin of the word, if we adore Him, we should do so with our mouths. It is a verbal act. It is not just looking at Him lovingly and admiring Him from afar. It means we should open our mouths and speak of our love and worship and the joy that He brings using words and song, just as the Word tells us in Psalm 100:2.

Seek the Lord, and when you find Him, open your mouth in praise and adoration for the King of kings and Lord of lords–the one true God.

Joy is important to the Lord. There are numerous verses in His Word where the words joy or joyful appear. Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. God wants us to feel joy.

So, when should we be joyful? When our lives are filled with blessings? Yes, we should be joyful in those times and it is easy to do so. But what about those times when things aren’t going so well? When life is crashing down on us or we are faced with difficult circumstances–should we be joyful then? The answer again is “yes.”

God’s Word tells us that we should be always be joyful (1 Thessalonians 5:16). It tells us that we should even consider it pure joy when faced with the trials of life (James 1:2-3). Now, I’m not saying that’s easy. It can be very difficult. So, how do we do it? By focusing on God and seeking His presence. When we connect with God and set our eyes on Him rather than our circumstances, we tap into the joy that comes from Him, the true joy that endures through all circumstances.

No matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, we need to be thankful. We need to remember that, no matter what we are going through, we are His and our true joy is found in Him. The things going on around us can’t stand against Him. That’s reason to be joyful!

As I sat waiting on the Lord today, I thought about the devotions I had read. Most were about Christmas and full of lots of insight and inspiration. What did the Lord want to talk to me about today? What message did He have for me from the stories of Jesus’ birth? Maybe it was about gifts or about obedience to Him. Or perhaps it was about the peace that Jesus brings.

It turns out that it was none of those things–at least not for today. The Lord put my wife, Linda, in my thoughts and directed me to Proverbs 31. Today, He wanted me to honor my wife since it is her birthday.

God has blessed me with a wonderful woman as my wife. She is a woman of good character and is worth far more to me than any treasure. She always brings me good and never harm. And, just like the wife that Solomon speaks of in Proverbs 31:10-31, she fears the Lord and I praise her for that. And so, I give her honor today for all that she is and all that she does.

If you have a wife who blesses you the way mine does, be sure to let her know that. Speak the words of Proverbs 31 over her. She will be blessed and so will you.

Thank You, Lord, for blessing me with a wife who is such a treasure. Bless her today and every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

(Happy Birthday, Linda! I love you!)

During my quiet time one morning, I felt that God wanted to talk to me about worship, so I opened His Word. The Psalms seemed like the perfect place to start. I felt compelled to turn to Psalm 139. As I read this psalm, it became clear to me that God wasn’t speaking to me about worship after all. Instead, He was showing me how well He knows me and how much He is involved in my life.

What God was telling me is this: He knows everything about me, from the things I do to the things I think and say. And He knows them before they happen! He is always with me. He is in front of me. He is behind me. There is no place I can go that His presence is not in. He made me and He knows every part of me. He knows all of my days and the events in them before they have even occurred. One of the most awesome things He showed me was that He places His hand of blessing on my head.

Knowing that God knows all of this about me is a humbling thought. There are many things I have done and said in my life that I am not proud of. But, it is also a comforting and pleasant thought. What it means is that God loves and cares for me deeply. Why else would He want to be so much a part of my life? Of course, knowing all of this does instill in me a desire to worship Him. Guess that’s why I started out that day thinking He wanted to talk to me about worship!

Have you ever had a case of the “what-if’s,” or, as they are sometimes known, the “if-only’s?”

Dwelling on the past serves no purpose. The past cannot be changed. Dwelling on what could have been or might have happened if we had lived our lives differently is really just a waste of energy.

I find myself doing this at times. I think about what might have happened if only I had been more dedicated to my writing when I was younger. Or, what if I had finished college? I could have accomplished so much. That type of thinking cannot and will not change a thing in my life today, and it will certainly not change the future.

Instead, what I need to do, what we all need to do, is focus our energy on the here and now and what lies ahead. We need to the the things that we can do today to make tomorrow better than yesterday. But, we can’t be overly concerned with the future either. Jesus said that we shouldn’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow brings its own worries (Matthew 6:25-34).

We need to focus on today, doing what the Lord guides us to do, seeking His face, and living righteously. When we forget the past, focus on today, and avoid worrying about tomorrow, the result is greater happiness.

Christmas is all about God’s great love for us and the salvation that He has provided through His Son, Jesus (John 3:16). As we celebrate His glorious birth this Christmas, let us not forget the reason that He came—to restore our relationship with our Creator by taking our sins upon Himself through His death on the cross of Calvary.

Romans 12:1 tells me that my body should be a living and holy sacrifice to God. This is the way He wants me to worship Him. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus tells me that I must worship God with all my heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. That means that I should not just worship Him with my mouth, but with everything I have, with my life. 

God is speaking to me today about humility. One of the things I pray for every day is that He will help me always to turn from pride. My desire is to be humble, just as Jesus was.

The Word of God is very clear on the value of humility in God’s eyes. He cares for the humble, but keeps His distance from the proud (Psalm 138:6). He exalts those who are humble, but humbles those who exalt themselves (Luke 14:11; 18:14). He will lift up all those who humble themselves in His sight (James 4:10). Jesus said that the person who becomes as humble as a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:4).

In Jesus, God has given us the perfect example of humility. Jesus is one with God the Father (John 17:21) yet, out of obedience to the Father, He humbled Himself by taking the form of a man and then willingly gave up His life through the shameful death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). The salvation of each and every one of us was more important to Him than His own life. He humbled himself and died for us so that we could have eternal life with Him in heaven.

The Christmas story (Luke 2:1-20) also gives us some wonderful examples of humility. Jesus is the Son of God and, as such, He reigns over the heavens and the earth. Yet, He came to earth as a tiny baby. He was not born in a palace, but in a dirty stable. He didn’t have an expensive crib or the finest clothes, but slept in a manger wrapped in strips of cloth. His earthly parents were not royalty, but a poor carpenter and his young wife. And His birth was announced, not to all the kings of the earth, but to a group of lowly shepherds.

Lord, I thank You for Your Son, Jesus, who came down from heaven and gave us the perfect example of humility. As we reflect on the story of His birth this Christmas, I pray that we will grow in our desire to be humble servants who strive to be like Him. In Jesus’ name. Amen!