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Merry Christmas! Maybe celebrate. The day King was born!
Merry Christmas!
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Category Archives: Christmas
This Man Has Done Nothing Wrong — Reflections on Luke 23
We are familiar with the account of Jesus’ birth. We are also familiar with the accounts of Jesus’ death. The familiarity sometimes produces a carelessness in our approach to God. It is very true that Jesus loves us. This is why He came. Sin had separated us from God, who loves us so very much.
Jesus takes sin very seriously. He knows that our sin is what keeps us from experiencing Him and His love. It keeps us from being close and connected to Him. Jesus took sin so seriously that He was willing to suffer and die a horrendous death on the cross. He took upon Himself the punishment we all deserve for the sin in our lives. As the thief on the cross pointed out.
”We (himself and the other thief) are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man (Jesus) has done nothing wrong.”“
Luke 23:41 NIV
Jesus had done nothing wrong… He knew the only way we could be free of sin and it’s destruction was His sacrifice.
Jesus took sin seriously, but do we? We come to Him desiring for our lives to be bettered by Him, but freedom from sin comes through the cross. When we receive Jesus’ forgiveness and cleansing we then need to follow Him further to the cross. At the cross we die to ourselves, we die to sin so we can be alive in Him. Sin destroys! I ask you as Paul did, “How can we who are dead to sin live any longer there in?” Romans 6:2.
The Baby we celebrate this time of year came with a mission to destroy the power of sin. He lived His life on earth to fulfill the mission of the cross. As we receive the gift of Christmas— Jesus’ salvation, may we continue to follow Him from the manger to the cross where sin must die.
“Even Tax Collectors Came”-Reflections on Luke 3
Years ago the President of the United States spoke at a venue 30 minutes drive from my home. The preparations for his arrival were extensive. Security, the press, state officials were all in action. Publicity of his arrival was everywhere. If you wanted to see him you had to prepare for him to come.
Someone greater than the President has arrived, Jesus the Son of God. In our chapter today, John announced Jesus’s coming. Curiosity consumed the common people.
John preached a baptism of repentance from sin to prepare the peoples’ hearts for Jesus to appear. People despised by the religious elite wanted to know how to be prepared for “God’s salvation.”
“Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?””
Luke 3:12 NIV
We know the story goes on. Jesus did indeed come. He became our Emmanuel, God with us. How do we respond to our invitation to come to Him? Have we “Prepared the way for the Lord” in our hearts?
The tax collectors, the most despised of sinners by the Jewish religious elite came because they wanted more than the wealth they had amassed and approval of the occupying army, the Romans. They asked a question that rings in my heart today. “Teacher, what should we do?”
As we take a few moments each day to prepare our hearts to celebrate the arrival of Jesus to our world during the first Christmas, may we ask the same question. He will not turn away the most despised and desperate one who is trapped by sin. He will not turn us away. What should we do in response to the one who longs to baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire and bring us into a relationship of oneness with Him?
May we ask Jesus the same question the tax collectors asked John all those years ago. “Teacher what should we do?”
“Searching for You” – Reflections on Luke 2
“When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.””
Luke 2:48 NIV
Searching for Jesus. So many have done it and still do…
At the time that Jesus was born, the Shepherds searched for Jesus. The Wisemen searched for Him too. (Matthew 2)
Even Mary and Joseph searched for Jesus, when they lost Him on a road trip at the age of twelve. (Verses 41-51).”
At some time in our lives, we all search for Jesus. We all look for something more than the existencial life that we see. Could there be more?
Christmas is God’s answer to that question. For a moment in time, Jesus stepped into our world to show us “Yes, there is something more!” All the miraculous encounters in this chapter of Luke: angels singing, stars shining, Simeon holding Baby Jesus in the temple praising God, the prophetess Anna speaking of Jesus as the long awaited redeemer. These all pointed to that “something more.”
However, we all at some time in our lives miss Jesus. We miss seeing Him for who He truly is and knowing Him as He longs to be known.
Mary and Joseph missed the 12 year old Jesus traveling home from Jerusalem. When they searched for Him for days, they found Him in the temple. He told them He was in His “Father’s house.” They didn’t understand what He was saying to them about His “Father’s house”. Jesus had become familiar to them- their kid.
Jesus can be familiar to us too, but He wants to be so much more to us. We’ve heard about Him for years and every December we have celebrated His birth. BUT He wants to be the One we long for, and search for, the one we KNOW- intimately. We are assured that we too will find Him when we search for Him. He desires to be found.
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13 NIV
The Day That You Were Born
As I look out my window
On this beautiful morn
I think of what it was like
The day that You were born.
Was the air a little crisper?
Did the sky seem more blue?
Was the beauty in the sunrise more intense
As it rose in honor of You?
Did all of creation’s groaning stop
As it welcomed You that day?
A precious little baby
Who came to show us the way.
You came to look through human eyes
And touched with human hands
To feel the pain that we all feel
To be God and yet a man.
You came to give the sacrifice.
The one that covers them all
From the largest of all my sins
Down to the very small.
What can I give you?
How can I ever repay?
I have nothing but my life.
Take it all I pray
As I look out my window
On this beautiful morn.
I worship Emmanuel, God with us,
And thank Him that He was born.
Happy Birthday Jesus!!!!
Christmas in Luke (Day 24)
Today’s reading is Luke 24.
Hope seemed lost after the crucifixion. Even though Jesus had plainly told His disciples He would have to suffer and be crucified, but He would rise again, they did not understand.
The women who followed Jesus had went to tomb with spices for Jesus’ body, but instead they found two angels there proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection.
On the First Christmas, Angels proclaimed Jesus’s birth. On Resurrection Sunday, the Angels proclaimed Jesus alive forevermore! He was not there among the dead but He is risen just as He said!
The reign of darkness has been broken The King of Kings came to our world. When life seems to be at it’s darkest hour, remember God’s light has come! May it shine in our world as we celebrate Jesus Birth!
Christmas in Luke (Day 23)
Today’s reading is Luke 23.
This is the reason!
As we are getting close to Christmas Eve and Christmas may we remember this truth. Jesus came with a purpose. He came to give Himself away on our behalf. The betrayal, the unjust judgement, the accusations, the pain, the crucifixion: all of this was why His arrival lit up the skies with worshipful angels declaring God’s favor to us the night of Jesus’ Birth. Christmas is not really Christmas without Jesus and it means nothing without remembering He had come to die for us.
Thank you Jesus!
Christmas in Luke (Day 22)
Today’s reading is Luke 22.
As I read today’s chapter, tears came to my eyes. Jesus said in verse 14 “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer…”
Jesus knew…
It was no surprise to Him the events that unfolded throughout the rest of this chapter: the betrayal of Judas, the arrest, the denial of Peter, the accusations of the religious leaders. Jesus knew. In fact when they arrested Him, He said, “…this is your hour— when darkness reigns.” (Verse 53) Jesus knew what was coming. This was all part of His plan.
Before the first announcement of His conception 33 years prior; before a single angel began a song of worship in the skies over Bethlehem the night He was born; before His first cry as a baby in a small stable as He was held in Mary’s hands: He knew.
He knew He had come to a world that would reject Him and He knew He would suffer and die for us, but He came to us anyway. He came because He “eagerly desired” to eat with us/ be with us. He wanted to make the way for us to come to Him. He knew…
He still eagerly desires our communion with Him today. As we celebrate His coming to us, the First Christmas, in the days ahead, may we not forget how much He eagerly desired to be with us. So He came.
Christmas in Luke (Day21)
To be honest when I skimmed over the text this morning, I was having a hard time finding Christmas in this chapter. Much of it is a description Jesus gave of future events that included hardships, persecution, and death. He encouraged His disciples to stay faithful, to “stand firm” (Verse 19), to “stand up and lift up your heads…” (Verse 28)
But I looked once more at the first four verses of the chapter. Jesus was at the temple and watched as a poor widow came and “out of her poverty put in all she had to live on,” (Verse 4) into the offering box. She came and worshipped God with all she had.
In the account of the first Christmas there were several ordinary people who willingly laid aside their plans and gave all they had in order to be instruments of worship. Joseph obeyed the angels instruction to take Mary as his wife when he had found out she was pregnant and the baby wasn’t his. Mary was willing to go through the humility of becoming pregnant with God’s Son when those around her would not believe. The shepherds came to worship a King when they were not affluent or royal.
Today I find myself poor in spirit as well. Life’s circumstances and my mother’s sickness weigh heavily on my heart. But if I look at the widow as an example, I find myself wanting to give out of my poverty in my heart. I haven’t got much to give, but I can give my gratitude. I have a hope that no matter what my day, my week, my month may bring my God is bigger. His love sustains me.
Yes the worship of the first Christmas was the same as the poor widow. It was worship given out of lack to the one who supplies all our needs. May that be the worship of my heart as well. If all that I have is a hallelujah may I give it because He is worthy.
“give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
“I could sing these songs
As I often do
But every song must end
And You never do
So I throw up my hands
And praise You again and again
‘Cause all that I have is a hallelujah
Hallelujah
And I know it’s not much
But I’ve nothing else fit for a King
Except for a heart singing hallelujah
Hallelujah”
Christmas in Luke (Day 20)
Today’s reading is Luke 20.
I love taking the month of December and focusing on the most blessed event of human history, Jesus’s Birth, and reading Luke. All the warmth and tenderness of the moment in the Bethlehem stable has been remembered over and over as we have focused on all the details surrounding His arrival and shortly after. Then there has been each account of all the miracles Jesus performed while here walking the earth, and the truth He spoke that we have been reading each day.
With each miracle and each word, we have read how He was being closely watched by a group who wanted to kill Him. Today’s reading includes a parable Jesus told to expose the hearts of those people — The parable of the evil farmers, tenants who wanted nothing to do with the landowner. The landowner tried desperately to receive some fruit from the vineyard He had planted. His tenants beat the servants the landowner had sent to communicate with them. Finally the landowner appealed to them by sending his son, whom he loved. These tenants threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him. Jesus finished this parable with the words,”The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” (Verse 17)
With all that Jesus did that was good, kind, and miraculous, He was still rejected. But the very person they rejected, Jesus, was the person that God had sent to save. We also have a choice when faced with the person Jesus. We can accept Him and His lordship over our lives, or we can reject Him.
May we examine our hearts this Christmas season. As we celebrate the tenderness of our God who has come to us as a baby to be with us, Jesus- Emmanuel, may we not reject His desire to become God within us. He longs to do good and to fill our lives with Himself. May our hearts be opened to receive Him!
Your Love 