God wants nothing more on God’s Christmas List than for you to return to Him and receive His pardon. It’s why He sent Jesus and the Word became flesh. It’s the reason for a pregnant virgin and O Little Town of Bethlehem with a manger. It’s too hard for us, indeed impossible, for us as […]
This season of the year, plenty of good-hearted folks go from one holiday stress to another. Hurry online. Hurry in traffic. Hurry in the stores. Hurry in the supermarkets and farmers markets. The clock is ticking down … stress, stress, stress. Frankly, that is no way to go about the holiday season, but I’ll admit, […]
How wonderful that the Messiah was born long ago! That He lived back then and not now…in a culture far more respectful of life in general–and life in the Lord specifically–than we know today. Ages prior to the pro-life community’s appealing to God’s Word to choose life, the Lord held out His hands to His […]
If God’s Christmas List contains what He wants, not just at Christmas, but always, then fearing the Lord instead of man would be a big-ticket item. Joseph knew that. In the Christmas story, Joseph heard that Mary was pregnant and that meant shame. In their culture, Mary would be stoned to death for being pregnant […]
At the Annunciation—the angel’s proclamation from God to Mary about her becoming the mother of the Messiah—have you ever stopped to think about how Mary was reflecting back to God the beautiful Image of God in her? “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38). Mary displayed […]
In the song “God’s Christmas List” which inspired this year’s Advent Devotional series, the second verse goes “As children we believed/ The grandest sight to see/ Was something lovely wrapped beneath the tree/ Well heaven surely knows/ That packages and bows/ Can never heal a hurting human soul” and then launches into what grown-ups would […]
In 2 Peter 3:9, we read that God wants everyone to come to repentance. It doesn’t matter if we’re a butcher, baker, candlestick maker, or even a priest. Since we all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), there’s repentance God wants from each and every one of us…individually. And sometimes, the means […]
Perhaps since I announced this year’s theme “God’s Christmas List” you’ve been thinking it’s mighty presumptuous to imagine God’s Christmas “Wish” List, especially since He doesn’t need anything. There are plenty of Scriptures that lay out clear as a Christmas bell what God wants. From you. From me. From us. He wants willing shepherds and […]
As we conclude our look at the life of Joseph: A Life With Many Colors as well as the book of Genesis, we can see God’s story of timeless love and forgiveness. Bad stuff happens in this life. People harm us. Mistakes occur. Intentional misdeeds are uncovered. And sometimes grudges are kept. But not always. […]
Jacob’s life on earth is nearing its conclusion… in Egypt. In Egypt? Reading on in our series Joseph: A Life With Many Colors, Genesis 48:1 Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. 2 When Jacob was told, “Your son […]
