A brief prayer is offered that you can add to your daily
prayers this week. The scripture is from our Sunday Service Bulletin for
today. Today is the final Advent sermon
where we explore “Christmas” as an adjective instead of a noun.
EPISTLE READING: Titus 3:4-7 (English Standard Version)
4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God
our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by
us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing
of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom
he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so
that being justified by his grace we might
become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Devotion: Christmas
Presents
When we were very young children, Christmas presents made
the weeks of Advent a time of wonderful expectation. Receiving gifts was very
much on our minds. As we get older, the reaction of someone to our gift that
was not only unexpected but was just perfect for the recipient is a thrill to us.
In fact, for me, it is way more fun to see that kind of reaction than most
anything. Our Christmas gift from our Savior is of course, the Messiah and His abundant
Grace and eternal life with Him. We talk about mercy and grace this time of
year, what does it all mean? For Christians, mercy is not getting something you
really deserve and grace is getting something you don’t really merit. I can
imagine how pleasing to God it is when a sinner realizes that His gift of
salvation is perfect and accepts it with praise. As an older Christian now, I
am actually starting to revert to some of the wonderful anticipation of my
childhood when I think of finally “opening” my personal gift from our Savior.
We pray: Lord thank
you for Your perfect gift! Amen
Merry Christmas and blessings to you and yours!
No comments:
Post a Comment