LOVE
Monday, December 25
READ: Luke 1:26-38, Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:1-20, Matthew 2:1-6
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
For many, today will be filled with family, frenzy, and food. For others, today will be a quiet reminder of the distance that separates them from loved ones, or of loved ones who are no longer with them. Let’s pray for each other today.
Don’t let the significance of this day get by us. Let every tradition remind us of their origin. We exchange gifts because that’s how the Magi worshipped the King of the Jews. We eat food knowing Jesus is the bread of life. As we gather with and/or remember family, our minds should be drawn to that family in the manger. Let your traveling be cause for connection with the shepherds and Magi who left their homes to celebrate the arrival of our Savior.
Let’s pray that no matter what fills the hours, our hearts are filled with the love of God in Jesus.
PRAY: Thank God the Father for stopping at nothing to reconcile us to Himself, that while we were still sinners, He sent his son. Thank God that no matter how discouraged, dismissed, or distant we feel, Jesus is here! Our wait is over. God is with us and He is all we need!
Tuesday, December 26
READ: Matthew 1:1-17
December 26 is called Boxing Day in several countries around the world. It’s the day people get out the boxes, totes, and bags and pack up Christmas decorations. I get where that tradition comes from. Christmas is the only holiday people continue to observe well past the day itself. Maybe that’s because of our traditions. There are so many movies to watch, family members to see, gifts to open, etc. Let’s be real here, though. We know that’s not what Christmas is actually about. So, maybe the rest of the world can take or leave the continued celebration, but Christians should not be so quick to box it all up.
Epiphany is 12 days after Christmas. It’s traditionally the day that commemorates when the Magi arrived at the home where Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were. I encourage you to keep the celebration going. If not that long, maybe at least until New Year’s Day. After all, we’re commemorating the day Jesus was born to die so we could one day pray for him to save us and give us new lives…and it was a plan hatched at the dawn of time.
The genealogy in the beginning of Matthew’s gospel account is easy to skip over, but it’s important to take it in. In that time and culture, family lines were traced through the men – the fathers. Yet, Joseph was not the father of Jesus. Matthew uses these verses to show how Jesus comes from the line of David, like prophecies said he would, but he does so through men AND women! Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Uriah’s wife, and Mary are all named in this family record. They don’t replace anyone, but are linked to key figures in Jewish history. In fact, the repeating phrase is, “whose mother was…”
Matthew is making another case. Let’s not forget the mothers! These prominent women would shape the nation of Israel by how they raised their sons. Mary is no exception. In fact, she was specially chosen by God to raise His son because the way she would carry out that role would help shape Jesus’ humanity. Jesus was fully God and fully human. He needed a mom to become the man we know from Scripture.
So, today, as you reflect on the love of God on display in the manger, also consider the love of the mother that raised him. Thank God for Mary’s faithfulness, obedience, and being an amazing mother!
PRAY: Thank God for Mary. Thank Him for moms. After you say amen, call your mom and tell her you love her. Moms don’t hear that enough. Then, keep the Christmas celebration going a few more days. God used multiple generations to build to Jesus’ arrival. Let’s linger in celebration for a few extra days!
Wednesday, December 27
READ: Luke 1:26-56
On the surface, Mary and Zechariah have a lot in common. They were both visited by an angel…the same angel, in fact. He delivered similar news. “You shouldn’t be able to have a baby, but you’re about to.”
On the surface, their initial responses seem very similar. “How will this be? Conception isn’t possible.”
That’s where the stories head in very different directions. Gabriel rebukes Zechariah and silences him for nine months, but he provides Mary with an explanation of how God will make it happen. What’s up with that?
Take a close look at the responses from Zechariah and Mary. Zechariah said, “How can I be sure of this?” Mary said, “How will this be?” It’s easy to read those quickly and hear them as the same question, but they’re not. Zechariah is the center of his question. “How can I be sure of this?” He doesn’t seem to think it’s possible, so he’s asking for some sort of proof.
Mary doesn’t mention herself in her response. “How will this be?” She was already betrothed. Gabriel didn’t give a timeframe. She could have easily been like, “So, Joseph and I will be married and will have a son and God will make him the Messiah.” But she didn’t. She knew Gabriel was saying she’d be pregnant before she ever had sex.
We often sing a song based on Romans 8:28. The refrain is summarized thusly: though we can’t see beyond it and we can’t wrap our minds around it, in all things, God is working for our good. Basically, we’re singing what is implied in Mary’s response. “I trust the Lord, even though I don’t know how He’s going to do this.”
Once Gabriel explains how it will happen, Mary says, “Let it be done.”
Wrapping our heads around the nativity can be difficult. The God of the universe becoming a baby to die so we could live with him forever…that warrants some questions…and submission and praise! Yet, God loves us so much that He went to these lengths to be with us forever. Our response? Like Mary, to love God enough to ask good questions and praise God when He answers.
PRAY: Pray that God would help you be like Mary. Ask Him to show you the right questions to ask and that He would give you a posture of listening. Then, ask for the same kind of trust Mary had – trust that God is working in all things for your good.
Thursday, December 28
READ: Matthew 1:18-25
Imagine being Joseph. You approach Mary’s father and ask for his daughter’s hand. Her father agrees and you make arrangements. You have a ceremony to commemorate your betrothal and for the next several months, maybe a year, she is considered your wife, save two significant details. She is still considered her father’s responsibility until such a time as you are ready to take on the full responsibility of caring for her every need. When that time comes, she leaves her father and mother and the two of you become one.
That means you are committed to each other in every spiritual and emotional way short of that which comes with physical intimacy. You are considered her husband. She is considered your wife. If you die, she’s a widow. If she sleeps with another man, she’s an adulteress.
You’re building a house for the two of you, getting everything ready to be fully married and start your life together. Mary goes to visit her cousin for a while and when she comes back, she is obviously pregnant. But you are a righteous man. You didn’t sleep with her. You wouldn’t dishonor her family that way. You thought she was righteous, too. How could she violate tradition and faith like this?
You’ll just resolve this quietly. That’s the right thing to do, for her sake. Then, an angel comes to you in a dream and confirms everything Mary said, but you don’t wake up thinking you ate some bad tacos. You know deep, deep down that this is legit. God did this one-of-a-kind miracle. The Savior is coming and he’s coming through your fiancé!
You wake up, filled with holy conviction. You go to Mary’s father and tell him what just happened. You tell him you are ready to take the full responsibility of caring for Mary and she becomes your wife.
Jesus would later say we are blessed when people lie about us and mistreat us because of him. Imagine the stain on Joseph’s righteous reputation when he decided to marry the apparent adulterer. Was it really his? If not, was he really going to raise the product of such sin?
Joseph was surely blessed. So are we when God brings us a difficult assignment and we stay the course. We have all we need in Christ – including the power to press on for the kingdom no matter what others throw our way.
What have you been waiting for? Are you starting to see Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of it? Chances are, pursuing his will for your life will be hard at times.
PRAY: Ask God to make you like Joseph – willing to believe what He says and strong enough (by His power) to do whatever He’s calling you to next.
Friday, December 29
READ: Philippians 2:5-11
Jesus gave up his divine privileges, obeying God the Father to an extreme that we are meant to follow. Why? John writes “God is love” (1 John 4:16). Jesus is God, but did not consider equality with God something to cling to. Other translations interpret this as meaning “something to be used to his advantage.” In other words, Jesus, being God, is love and, as love, he denied himself to become human and make his dwelling among us.
Taking the humble position of a slave means to obey the will of his Master (God the Father) with reverence and without hesitation.
The paradise we look forward to as Christians; an existence without death or disease, sadness or sin, want or war – that’s what Jesus left when he came to earth. He had lived eternally before that moment in perfect heaven and left it all to live within many of the limitations of this broken world so that God could reconcile us to Himself through himself on that cross.
This is a love we can never match because we are not God. However, it is a model of love we can adopt because the same power that raised Jesus from the grave is inside of us.
What are you waiting for? Hope? Peace? Joy? Love? It is all available in Christ. In fact, Christ is the only reliable, constant, perfect fulfillment of hope, peace, joy, and love. In him, you will find everything you need. Through him, you can share hope, peace, joy, and love with others.
Be like Jesus. Do not consider what could be used for your own advantage, but humble yourself in obedience to his calling. Get to know the needs of the people around you, seek from the Lord how you can help, and follow His lead. In pointing people to the only reliable source of hope, peace, joy, and love, you, too, will find it.
PRAY: This gift of Jesus is not meant to be kept to yourself. It’s meant to be shared. Ask the Lord to show you opportunities to share Jesus with others all year long.