Sometimes I think it’s a good idea for churches to advertise on their sign out front what they actually preach. The sign said, “Christmas is not just a season. It’s a state of mind.” If that’s what they’re actually teaching on the inside, I don’t need to check it out. It will save me from a waste of time in the hectic holiday season of peace.

What exactly is a Christmas state of mind?

Is it like Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind.” Full of nostalgia and scenes–feelings of give-and-take. Don’t care if it’s in Chinatown or on Riverside. Reality, you’ve let it slide. You don’t need any reasons, you’ve left them all behind?

Uh, hello?

Jesus is the reason for the season. Leaving Him behind in your Christmas state of mind is missing the most important part of why Christmas should even register on our calendars.  

Luke 2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

In the Santa Baby world of materialism, the state of mind called “inner peace” will never intersect with reality. No accumulation of stuff as a Black Friday bargain to put under the tree will replace God’s free gift of His Son, placed in a manger. 

Nothing you can buy can replace what you can’t:  Jesus. 

If this Christmas reality is what you’ve left behind, what He did for us in His birth, life, and death, then without Christ, your Christmas is just “mas” or maybe even más.  Which will always be unfulfilling when it ends up back at the store, out at the curb, or in a box for the summer’s garage sale.  We need Jesus to intersect with our reality. It’s only in Him that we will have peace with God.

Reflect today on how nothing else can substitute or give us that state of mind in this season of peace. Only Jesus is our Prince of Peace.

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Power and fame bring out the worst in most people. The landscape is littered with child actors who became total misfits, celebrities who turn into their own solar systems, and with politicians who want to run everyone else’s lives even while failing to manage their own. It’s not surprising it’s called a “lust” for absolute power.  Lord Acton once famously said,

 Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

While the corrupting influence of power is kind of a truism among humanity, there is one notable exception: Jesus Christ.

Famous as a baby.

Famous, period.

Arguably the most influential person ever to walk the planet.

Even for those who don’t regard Him as Savior.

What other 33-year-olds whose work span lasted only three years had such a lasting impact on earth, even nearly 2000 years after death?

Absolute power.

Ah, but absolutely perfect, absolutely just, absolutely benevolent, absolutely holy.

This is what was prophesied about the Messiah in Isaiah 9: 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Reflect today on what sets Jesus Christ apart in terms of absolute power.

For insight, read Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

One of the surest ways to recapture the wonder, the timeless wonder, of the Christmas story is to recall what actually happened from the perspective of power. Until the birth of Christ, Death held the knife at our necks for every man, woman, and child. It was always there, all the time. Lurking in the background. Waiting for the next kill.

Death was in the power position and no one had the power to escape it.

Then the Savior was born, bringing eternal life as the Son of God and Son of Man. “In Him was life” (John 1:4).

It was God’s power play and the Timeless hope for all humanity.

Isaiah 9: 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Why is it so hard to experience the wonder?

Perhaps it’s because in our youth-driven world, we go through our days denying the reality of death. We know it happens…to other people.  In other places.  All the time.  Most of us though, remain untouched by it for the vast majority of our days.  The truest horror of the magnitude of death is something many of us have been graciously spared from witnessing.  We have a hard time relating to scenes from Aleppo or Mosul or seeing with wonder, that the Gospel still offers real hope to those very places.  Indeed, there are people in Syria and Iraq and refugees in Germany discovering the hope of the Gospel and the reassurance that nothing can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:31-39). 

To the soldier who prays through each verse of In Christ Alone (Townend/Getty), knowing the assurance and reality of God’s power–this is what gets him through the stresses of war, of seeing his fellow soldiers die, and be permanently wounded.  Stuart Townend was interviewed about his song In Christ Alone,

“It seems like this song is timely,” Townend says. “We in the West have had our sense of safety and security brutally torn apart by recent world events, and it’s caused many to re-evaluate the foundations of their life. I feel that the song has helped to stir faith in many believers that God really is our protector; that our lives are in His unshakable hands.”

For reflection today, read the lyrics of In Christ Alone and identify how Christmas was God’s Power Play over death.

• In Christ alone my hope is found,
• He is my light, my strength, my song
• This Cornerstone, this solid Ground
• Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
  • What heights of love, what depths of peace
  • When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
  • My Comforter, my All in All
  • Here in the love of Christ I stand
• In Christ alone! – who took on flesh,
• Fullness of God in helpless babe.
• This gift of love and righteousness,
• Scorned by the ones He came to save
  • Till on that cross as Jesus died,
  • The wrath of God was satisfied
  • For every sin on Him was laid
  • Here in the death of Christ I live.
• There in the ground His body lay,
• Light of the world by darkness slain:
• Then bursting forth in glorious day
• Up from the grave He rose again
  • And as He stands in victory
  • Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
  • For I am His and He is mine
  • Bought with the precious blood of Christ
• No guilt in life, no fear in death,
• This is the power of Christ in me
• From life’s first cry to final breath,
• Jesus commands my destiny
  • No power of hell, no scheme of man,
  • Can ever pluck me from His hand
  • Till He returns or calls me home
  • Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

(Stuart Townend, Keith Getty)

In the movie The Santa Clause, the elf named Judy is having a discussion with Scott Calvin who simply cannot believe that he’s seeing what he’s seeing.  Far from believing he’s the new Santa, he thinks he needs a CAT scan. He states emphatically, “I stopped believing in Santa Claus a long time ago.” Then Judy says something that’s very profound. For an elf. “That’s not surprising. Most grown-ups can’t believe in magic. It just… sort of grows out of them.”

Ignore for a moment that she’s talking about magic and instead, consider how children marvel –they experience fullness of wonder —and how the faith of a child is unquestioning at a point beyond the final “Why?” that we adults often ask. Judy, the little elf says, “You’re missing the point…Seeing isn’t believing: believing is seeing. Kids don’t have to see this place to know that it’s here. They just… know.”

Do you see the wonder of it all?  Or do you wonder why you aren’t seeing it?

Today reflect on this: When is the last time you marveled in wonder without trying to have it all figured out?

• You marveled at God existing before anything had been created!
• You marveled at the vast diversity of creation in the universe and the complexity of each organism and function required to live on this planet.
• You marveled at reproduction for plants and animals and people and what an amazing process that is.
• You marveled at how God went outside the box and became “God with us,” Immanuel, because we were sunk without Him. God became fully man while still being fully God and looking like a Jewish carpenter.
• You marveled at how a baby in a manger was holy, born from a virgin, and never sinned…not even once!
• You marveled at angel choirs and wise men and disciples proclaiming His holiness and a star showing the way.
• You marveled at how all this could happen and yet people crucified Him anyway.
• And it was all by God’s design because He loves us so much!

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Oh, to have been a shepherd and witnessed that angel choir! I’m sure those shepherds were never the same. When they were old and sitting around the bar drinking their Mogen David, they’d recall the glory days: “Remember when…” When we were just minding our own business. When life was filled with wonder. Waiting for a Messiah and being told He was a baby in a manger. Ditching the sheep or hoping we could find an inn that would allow them (not knowing that Mary and Joseph couldn’t even find an inn). Hustling all the way to Bethlehem to see this sight, and there He was: just as the angels said. To our naked eye, He looked like any other baby. But to our minds’ recollections, we can’t get the angels out of our heads.

He’s the One we’ve been waiting for! The angel choir announced His birth!

Wow! The wonder of it all.

Luke 2:15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

All who heard it were amazed, but for how long? Were those who heard filled with timeless wonder? How many people heard these shepherds and thought they’d maybe had a bit too much Mogen David or spent too much time around sheep? And how many believed this preposterous story of a Virgin giving birth and a Messiah born to save God’s people?  Especially since this King wasn’t on a throne but on the hay in a manger because the Messiah’s mom and dad couldn’t convince an inn-keeper to take them in. Some Messiah, some must have thought.

But for those who believe, we are still filled with wonder–even a timeless wonder. We don’t need to hear the angels sing to know they did. We believe. We’re full of wonder at God’s unfolding mystery and how He continually does things outside of our boxes of daily humdrum and expectation.

For reflection:  What about you? Are you filled with wonder?

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Have you ever read a mystery that was so good, you simply couldn’t put it down? And then resolution to the mystery was so surprising that you had to go back and re-read the entire thing to see how, yes indeed, the pieces all fit together with such precision that it was simply brilliant? The mystery of God’s plan of redemption is like that on steroids.

From the moment of the fall of man when the consequences of our rebellion caught up with us as mortality, God’s plan was already in motion. Before sin, the plan was a closed book waiting to unfold in earthly time. After sin entered our picture and human death along with it (Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord), the plan of God was opened and He began to reveal little bits of this mystery. Like breadcrumbs or clues as prophecy.

Our adversary, Satan, is real but he’s not omniscient like God is. He can only use what has been created by God whereas God can do things never done before and never to be done again. So when Satan thought he’d cornered God by tricking Adam and Eve into rebellion, he had no clue that God already had a plan that would unfold as a good mystery and as good as done!

Even God’s angels, the ones pronouncing the Messiah’s birth would not fully understand what God was doing and we’re not even at the end of the story yet. Only in the omniscient mind of God is the wisdom of His plan fully known. 1 Peter 1:12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

Reflect today on how the birth of Christ was key to unlocking this mystery of wisdom.

Romans 16: 25 Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him– 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Do you suppose God laughs at how clever He is? At His own wisdom, kind of delighting in it? At knowing beforehand how He would work everything out and defeat Satan—who for a moment at our rebellion in Eden, gained a foothold in the lives of men and women? At the wisdom and beauty in rescue, earning by His love and sacrifice the very devotion we already owed Him from the beginning?

I’d like to think He does. Not in a sense of gloating, but as a victor delights in the victory itself…particularly when it’s revealed that the beneficiaries of that victory are others. And in this case, we are His children. 

Jesus is God’s wisdom revealed!

Matthew 4:13 Leaving Nazareth, [Jesus] went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali–

14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles– 16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

Who would have thought that God would become a man in order to rescue the sons of men? And He’d do it all without sacrificing one bit of His divinity: fully man, fully God! Who’d have dreamed it was even possible? And salvation would be found 3 decades later in the one who at Christmas was an innocent baby in a manger?

How did this happen at Christmas in the Incarnation?  For insight reflect on Colossians 1: 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.

How does it happen also at Easter in the Crucifixion?

Reflect on Colossians 1: 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—

How do the two work together in tandem to make resurrection and eternal life possible?

Colossians 1: 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness– 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

When I think of the plan of God, I’m picturing the game of chess. Not that I’ve played much chess or am particularly good at it. But one of the reasons I don’t sleep very much is that my mind is on creative overdrive …all the time. I run on adrenaline and analogy. So, chess–and I ask myself whether the birth of Christ was the victory as the game ending checkmate … or was it just check with Easter being checkmate?

I’d argue Christ’s birth was checkmate because God’s Word is always true. Once the Son of God was incarnate, the victory was already achieved even if our adversary still investigates every possible play knowing fully that it’s “game over.” 

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

How is this checkmate? What’s the difference?

Check: “Usually, novice players are expected to announce check when it happens in order to be sure their opponent notices the situation. Among more experienced players, many consider it rude to announce a check, as these players expect to notice the check themselves. If your king is in check, you must find a way to prevent the king from being captured.” There are three ways to accomplish this: (1) move the king, (2) block the check with another piece, or (3) capture the attacker.

Checkmate: If a king is under attack, but none of these methods work to prevent the king’s capture, the result is a checkmate and it ends the game immediately.

So then why do I think this is checkmate and not check?

Well, the birth of the Messiah made the victory as good as done. Because Jesus is God. He’d make it to the Cross and the tomb and be resurrected just as God said, because God’s Word never fails. God never fails.  And Jesus is God. There are no moves Satan could make to sideline or block Christ…and there was no taking Him hostage or out of His divinity.

This is why the angels could pronounce the birth of the Savior, Christ the Lord, as good news of great joy (checkmate) and not just cheering the latest play as clever while Satan finds a real way out to remain as prince of this world.  Once Jesus was born King of kings, Lord of lords, and Savior, it’s “game over.”

Reflect upon the “already but not yet” aspect of the Timeless Victory in Isaiah 9.

In the birth narrative, what is already and what is not yet? Luke 2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

What does Satan hope to accomplish in exploring every move even though it’s ultimately defeat?  He has a purpose in mind.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Do you ever feel like Charlie Brown, not feeling happy, and wondering if anyone can tell you what Christmas is all about? It’s not easy to keep perspective in a culture that assaults the holy with the secular at every turn. Isaiah says that our response to the light dawning ought to be joy. Not just any joy, but a Timeless joy that’s rooted and grounded in victory. It was prophesied in Isaiah 9:3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. 4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. 5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

There is tremendous-even Timeless- joy in victory but there’s a deep, deep sadness at victory denied…or fear that it will be. Like the end of the story will be nothing but a bad ending. That we’ll be forced to live in defeat forever. That mortality and death will have the final say! We can resonate with the Apostle John whose end-times vision is recorded in Revelation 5:1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.

John wasn’t being a whiner or a poor sport. In some regards it was more like PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) in which the battle had been fought, the hope had been real all these years!  But the victory was nowhere to be seen. Everywhere John looked, it was victory denied. Death and oppression would rule the day… and I guess, that was that. No hope for the consolation of Israel.  No hope for restoration of people to their God.  It’s no surprise that he weeps.

Revelation 5:5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Here is the Timeless Joy in this victory. The Christ Child whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, the Son given, the Wonderful Counselor and Prince of Peace from Isaiah 9, He is the Lion and the Root and the Lamb whose victory over death gives us Timeless Joy.  Indeed, He is the consolation of Israel and the Savior of those who will receive Him.  All this joy became real in a baby born at Christmas!  Rejoice!

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Driving back from Florida over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, we encountered 3 different traffic stoppages. Traffic on exit ramps had backed up onto the expressway. It was a total standstill. Why? “Black Friday” shoppers were out in force, waiting in long traffic lines at the malls, on the roads leading to the malls, and on the expressways leading to the roads that led to the malls. Not only was our temporal joy diminished due to the traffic, but I would imagine that at least some among the great throng of consumers were wondering if it was all worth it. Would the latest bargain actually provide a lasting joy…a Timeless joy? Probably not.  It’s a good thing that Timeless joy, real joy, isn’t so easily lost.

I began thinking of the Whos in Whoville and how on Christmas morning, they gathered and held hands and sang with joy in their hearts because of what Christmas is really all about…even minus the Grinch-stolen bargains: the snoozers, the orangutans, and the bamboozles… or whatever they were all called.

Which came first? Materialism or the secularism?

As I continued sitting in traffic trying to get home, I thought of an analogy. It’s like a syringe. When the plunger is removed, the thing of lesser substance gets sucked in to fill the void. Did we remove God from our lives and the Timeless joy His Savior brings… and material stuff simply replaced Him? Or did we focus so much on the temporal joys of what a bargain can bring, that we actually forced Christ out of Christmas?

I suppose it’s pretty fruitless to ask that question even if it did idle away the hours. The answer is simple: we need more of God and the Timeless Joy…the “good news of great joy for all the people” proclaimed by the angels…and less of the Black Friday bargains encroaching on Thanksgiving night and proclaimed by the Thanksgiving Day ad circulars.

Let’s seek after the greater things this Advent. His joy is Timeless!

For reflection, read Luke 2:8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

• What made the joy great?
• What makes it Timeless?
• What was the angels’ response?
• What was the response of the shepherds?

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!