Category: Devotionals

How do you show someone that you love them? A parent might buy his child a special gift, or spend time helping her child with homework. A child might help her mom with the dishes or help his dad shovel snow. A husband may drive his wife to the train station, or give her a hug when it’s especially needed. A wife may set aside some uninterrupted time alone with her husband, hiring a babysitter, if needed. A friend may be there for her friend in a time of need. There are many ways in which to show love.

Scripture tells us that not only is love from God, but God is love (1 John 4:7-8). God loves each and every one of us, and we need to look no further than the baby born in a stable in Bethlehem to know that. That little baby, whose birth we will celebrate in just a few days, would one day bear a cross on the road to Calvary, giving His life so that we could have eternal life in heaven. That little baby is Jesus Christ, God’s one and only Son. God showed us that He loves us by sending His Son into the world so that through Him, we may have eternal life (1 John 4:9).

If we love God, it is only because He first loved us. If we love each other, as we should, it is only because God has shown us what love truly is. And, the best part is that, if we love each other, God lives in us and perfects His love in us (1 John 4:10-12).

Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ. About 2,000 years ago, Jesus came to earth, born of a virgin as the prophecies foretold. He came for a purpose, to save each and every one of us from the eternal death that was the penalty for our sins. He took our sins upon Himself and gave His life on a cross, providing the way for us to have eternal life. Jesus also came so that we can find rest from the burden of sin and its consequences.

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV)

These are words that provide comfort to all who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He came to earth and died for our sins, that when we turn from our sins and follow Him, we are no longer subject to the penalty for our sins. What stands out to me in these verses is that, for us to enjoy the rest from our burdens that Jesus promises, there is action required on our part.

“Come to me…”

First and foremost, we must come to Jesus. This means that we need to believe in Him, turn from our sins and accept Him as Lord and Savior of our lives. We need to give our lives to Him and have a relationship with Him. We cannot just stand on the sidelines and watch what He does in the lives of others. We must allow Him into our lives.

“Take my yoke upon you…”

A yoke is a wooden crosspiece that is placed over the necks of two animals and attached to the cart or plow they are to pull so that the animals work together. Jesus wants us to take His yoke upon us so that we can follow Him, we can walk side by side with Him as we go through life. But while the yoke placed on animals can be quite heavy, the yoke that we share with Jesus is light. When we share His yoke, He directs our paths and makes our burdens easier to carry than if we tried to carry them ourselves.

“Learn from me…”

The third action required of us is to learn from Jesus. We need to be His disciples, to learn from His words and from His example as we strive to become more like Him. By definition, a disciple is someone who follows and learns from a teacher or mentor, and there is no greater teacher or mentor that we can follow than Jesus.

Jesus promises to ease our burdens and give us rest. We must simply do our part by coming to Him, sharing His yoke as we follow Him, and learning from His words and His example.

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The New International Version. (2011). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

For 38 years, I worked for a utility company. I started my career there as a meter reader and retired as a supervisor. I had worked my way up through various levels in the union until one day, I was promoted to management as a customer service trainer. After several successful years in training and development, I decided to apply for a position as a supervisor. Things didn’t go quite as well as I had hoped they would and eventually, I was faced with a decision. I could stay in my position as a supervisor and risk the possibility of losing my job, or I could take a demotion and become a customer service representative, working alongside employees I had once trained or even supervised. I chose the latter and learned an important lesson in humility.

Humility is a characteristic that all believers should try to display in their lives. It is a characteristic that is pleasing to God (1 Peter 3:4). God desires that we clothe ourselves in humility. In our relationships with others, we are to display humility. When we do, we receive God’s grace (1 Peter 5:5). On the other hand, pride puts us in opposition to God. It causes us to fall and leads to destruction (Proverbs 16:18). In my job situation, if I had decided not to take the demotion because of pride, I would very likely have dealt with a negative outcome. But, instead, in humility, I took the demotion and eventually worked my way back to a supervisory position, where I then was successful.

Probably the greatest example of humility can be seen in the Christmas story. Jesus, the Son of God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, came to earth in human form, being born as a tiny, dependent, fragile baby. And, although He was God’s Son and, as such, could very well have been born in a palace, He was born in a stable, a place where animals were kept. Although He could have slept in the best crib that money could buy, He instead slept in a manger, the feeding trough of animals. Although Jesus was divine, He became like us, and then in humility and obedience, gave His life on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8).

As we celebrate His birth in just a few days, as we look at manger scenes in our homes and churches, as we sing our beloved Christmas carols, may His example of humility shine forth and lead us to follow His example.

Back in the 1980’s, I attended a performance of “Saturday Night Live.” The show was broadcast live from the studio and, like most shows that have a live studio audience, the show had an announcer. His name was Don Pardo, and his job was not only to announce the opening and closing of the show and to introduce the celebrity guests but also to warm up the audience before the taping of the show began. When the show did begin, because of the efforts of Don Pardo, the audience was already applauding and cheering. Pardo was not the main event but was there to get the audience ready for the main event, the show itself.

In a stage play, in order to bring the audience to where the play takes place, the stage has to be set. I once played James Keller, brother of Helen Keller, in a production of The Miracle Worker. The play was being produced in a former courthouse in Queens and, as you might imagine, this building had no stage. So, we built a stage, and not just any old stage, but one that had several levels. Once the stage was built, we then “set the stage,” preparing and decorating it for the various scenes in the play, so that each of those levels became a specific part of the Keller home.

To set the stage for something can also mean to be a catalyst for something that will happen later. Galatians 4:4 says that when the fullness of time had come, when the time was right, God sent His Son, Jesus, to be born of a woman. In other words, for the time to be right for God to send His Son, the promised Messiah who would deliver us from sin, the stage had to be set. All the pieces had to be in place so that the time would be right for Jesus to come into the world and secure freedom from sin for each and every one of us. But, what made it the right time?

That Jesus had to come was unquestionable. Sin had corrupted the world and separated man from God. Through the prophets, God promised to send a Messiah. The prophecies spoke of a child being born of a virgin and even pointed to Bethlehem as the place where the Messiah would be born. The prophecies spoke of the suffering servant pointing to the fact that Jesus would suffer and die for us. But the prophecies did not say when this would happen.

The period of time between the voice of the last Old Testament prophet and the beginning of the New Testament was about 400 years. Many things took place during that time, things that set the stage for the Messiah. Israel fell under the rule of two different empires, first the Greeks, then the Romans, both of whom had a tremendous effect on the Jews.

Greece had a great influence on the culture of not only Israel, but also of the world, and Rome provided a strong legal and political force. Because of this, the time into which Jesus was born was a time of peace and a time in which travel and communications were better than ever. This made it the perfect time for God to send Jesus into the world, as the gospel message that would be preached after His ascension into heaven could be spread much more easily during that time than at any other time before it.

The time when God sent Jesus was also the perfect time because of the religious system that was in place in Israel. Before this time, the most influential men in Israel were the priests. But, when Jesus came, it was the Pharisees who were more influential. The Law and the traditions of men were of great importance to the Pharisees. And the priests, the Sadducees, were more concerned with wealth and position than with God’s purposes for them. These leaders had lost touch with God’s plan and, as a result, they were not ready to accept Jesus for who He was.

These were some of the things that had to be in place in order to “set the stage” for the coming of the Savior. And so, in the fullness of time, on that night in Bethlehem, a virgin named Mary gave birth to the baby who would become the Savior of the world.

“Good morning, good morning, the best to you each morning. K-E-double L-O-double good, Kellogg’s best to you!”

“The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup!”

Cereal and coffee manufacturers spend lots of money coming up with advertising slogans that are aimed at convincing us that their product is the best way to start our mornings. Morning is the time between dawn and noon. It is the time when most of us wake up and begin our days. Many of us start our days by eating breakfast. In fact, we are often told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But there’s an even better way to start our days, with worship and prayer. Any time of day is a good time to praise God and spend time with Him in prayer. But Scripture gives many reasons to begin our mornings in that way.

In addition to bringing the start of a new day, morning also brings with it renewed hope and joy (Psalm 30:5). Morning brings light where there had been darkness. It is a reminder that God’s love never ceases, that His mercies are never-ending. It is a reminder of how great God’s faithfulness really is and how His mercies are new each morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). It is a reminder of His grace, a reminder that He is our salvation in times of trouble (Isaiah 33:2). These are just some of the reasons why we should start each day praising our God and spending time with Him in prayer.

Scripture gives us many examples of the importance of beginning each day with prayer and praise. In Psalm 88:13, the psalmist says that his prayer comes to God in the morning. And in Psalm 5:3, he says that the Lord hears his voice in the morning and it is in the morning that he offers his prayers to God and waits for God to answer. In Mark 1:35, Jesus rose very early in the morning and went off to a quiet place to spend time in prayer. Psalm 92:1-2 tells us that it is a good thing to give thanks and praise to God in the morning. One of the duties of the Levites was to stand each morning and give God thanks and praise (1 Chronicles 23:30).

When we start our days in prayer, we are declaring the importance of starting each day with God. And that can set the tone for the rest of the day. Truly, the best part of waking up is not the coffee in our cups, but the words of prayer and praise on our lips. 

It has become an annual tradition of mine to read Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have read the book so many times that I can almost recite the entire story from memory. But, no matter how many times I have read it, it never fails to warm my heart, to inspire me, and to bring me joy. It’s not the story itself that does all these things, but rather the theme behind the story, the theme of redemption, of a heart softened and a life changed.

The story of Ebenezer Scrooge is one of a man who, because of greed, disappointment, and bitterness, developed a hardness of heart. He cared only about his money and not about those around him who were in need. He had pushed away the people who cared for him and wanted nothing more from him but his friendship and love. But, due to the intervention of three Christmas spirits, Scrooge was reminded of the things that are most important in life. As a result, Scrooge began to change. When in the presence of the last of the spirits, Scrooge himself said, “I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past hope!”

Of course, Scrooge was not past hope, and the same can be said for each of us. No matter where our hearts are, no matter how hardened they may have become because of the cares of life, we are never beyond hope. We have a God who loves us enough to have sent His Son to earth two thousand years ago, to be born as a baby who would one day become our Savior, giving His life so that we can have eternal life with God. When we believe in Him, when we accept His gift of salvation and follow Him, like Scrooge, we are changed. Scripture tells us that, when we are in Christ, we are a new creation. The old person is gone, replaced by a new and better version (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Christ came to bring joy to the world. He came to give us peace in our hearts. He came to make us the children of God that we were created to be. He came to give us hope. What better time of year to remind ourselves of this than during the Christmas season? Dickens ends A Christmas Carol with the following line: “And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, every one!” This Christmas season, take time to reflect on the love that God showed us by sending Jesus to us, to reflect on how truly blessed we are.