God Wants Us to Free Others and Share with Them -Advent 9 (2019)

If there’s one thing even the most secular among us associate with Christmas, it’s gift-giving. We’ve got that one down to a marketing plan and a future debt reduction program. But conspicuous consumption and outdoing one another, or even the Black Friday divide-and-conquer dash from store-to-store to quickly grab all the bargains, isn’t the kind of gift-giving God has in mind.

God’s idea is that we would see the gift we’ve been given in Christ, His gift of freedom, and to share Him abundantly with others. Share the Gift Who keeps on giving.

Think about it:

When we take our final breath, will the diamond pendant that says “I love you” or the big screen TV truly matter? What about the gift of salvation?
How does charity reflect gratitude?
In the song “Grown Up Christmas List” that we’ve been using for this devotional series, how do these lyrics reflect what God wants? So here’s my lifelong wish/ My grown-up Christmas List/ Not for myself, but for a world in need/ No more lives torn apart,/ Then wars would never start/ and time would heal the heart/ And everyone would have a friend/ And right would always win/ And love would never end, oh/ This is my grown-up Christmas List/ 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.

What God wants for Christmas is… for you to share Him with others.

Dear Lord, Help me to see the greatest gift ever given is Jesus. Thank You for Your amazing Gift of love, a Savior, a brother, a friend, a sacrifice, a guide, and a way back home to You, our God. Open my eyes, Lord, to see Your goodness and open my heart and encourage my heart to share You with others…to share You abundantly…because Your gift is eternal. I praise You! Amen.

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Join me beginning December 1, 2019 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Let’s enjoy exploring what might be on God’s Christmas list.

Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:

Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2018) Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times. Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence. His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology. They began November 29, 2015.
Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols. You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives. They began November 30, 2014.
The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John. It began December 1, 2013.
The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story. It began December 1, 2012.