A Christmas Devotion
These devotional thoughts on Christmas come to you from Laing Stevens, my dad. Be blessed. Be encouraged.
One of the greatest mysteries that our Heavenly Father performed was the incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ! The Almighty Jehovah humbled Himself, and as John so aptly put it, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Four verses out of the New Testament stand out in my mind as we approach that glorious day:
Matthew 3:17, "and behold, a voice from heaven said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.'"
There is true glory in the fact that Jesus, who sat at the right hand of the Father was the same baby in the manger. What a humiliation! He was about to embark on a world and life that He helped create. That’s like the potter becoming the clay. He even created the star that hovered over the Nativity scene that night. Lord help us to be even more intentional with our journey to becoming more like You.
1 Timothy 3:16, "Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory."
God has made Christmas so real by manifesting Himself in the flesh. There can be no doubt! The advent of Christmas is a real, honest to goodness statement to us who are sinners saved by grace and to those who have not yet been saved. God has made it very clear the He is real and that all human life is essentially spiritual. He also has made it very clear that we are lost but not abandoned. There would have been no need for a Savior if we were all lost and forgotten!
Luke 2:10, "And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.'"
Do all you can to not allow Christmas to be degraded into a reason to just shop. Keep the mystery that we cannot truly explain, and the beautiful, and the majestic. Focus on God in everything. We get so thrilled to watch our kids faces as they light up and burst into some spontaneous, almost freakish sound as they delight in the presents. We need that same excitement when we worship the God who came from His throne in heaven 2,000 years ago. We need that same excitement when we worship God. The announcement of "great tidings of great joy" is every bit as important today as it was 2,000 years ago. Christmas is a day of unequalled wonder!
Luke 2:11, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
Here is a poem by John Milton. Nothing else needs to be said:
This is the month, and this the happy morn,
Wherein the Son of Heaven’s eternal King,
Of wedded maid, and Virgin mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring.
That glorious form, that Light insufferable,
And that far beaming blaze of majesty,
He laid aside, and here with us to be,
Forsook the courts of everlasting Day,
And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.
Oh! Run; present them with thy humble ode,
And lay it lowly at His feet,
Have thou the honor first thy Lord to greet
And join thy voices with the Angel quire,
From out His secret altar touched with hallowed fire!
May the Lord bless you and yours! It is the day we celebrate when heaven met earth and the glory of God encased in flesh, came to save the world. Merry Christmas!
