Countdown to Christmas - Prepare Your Heart for the Birth of Jesus Christ - Your Savior
Today’s Devotion
DECEMBER 24 – JOHN 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
What’s the best Christmas gift you’ve ever gotten? Maybe it was the brand-new doll or bike you wanted when you were little, or the newest phone that everybody wants if you’re a little older. Maybe it was tickets to a concert or the promise of a trip - something you’d never get to do otherwise. Or maybe it’s simply time with someone that you weren’t sure you’d be able to see - a child, home from college; a family member in the military.
The greatest gift ever given at Christmas is Christ. He is a gift because what He brings could never be earned or bought; only given. He Himself is the gift. To have God as one’s very own, to be one with God again - this is what Jesus promises, and what He gives. It is a promise not only for “the faithful”, for the few in contrast to the world. This is a promise for all people of all time. It is a mark of God’s love that He gave His Son for us, even when people still deny Him, mock Him, and ignore Him.
We do not. We worship Him. We honor Him. We acclaim Him as Lord, for only Christ is the summation of all our hopes. Deliverance from death, the forgiveness of our sins, and the promise of eternal life come with Him. That Baby lying in the manger is far more than He seems. God grant that each of us turn to Christ in faith and find life, Amen!
Lord God, heavenly Father, we give thanks that in your great mercy and compassion you allowed your dear Son to become incarnate and through him redeemed us from sin and eternal death. Enlighten our hearts by your Holy Spirit that we may always be thankful for such grace and be comforted in all trouble and temptation, and at last, obtain eternal salvation; through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
All Devotions Written By Pastor Kurt Hagen
Yesterday’s Devotion
DECEMBER 23 – ISAIAH 9:6
For to us a child is born. To us a son is given.
The authority to rule will rest on his shoulders.
He will be named:
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
By all rights, Jesus should be a walking contradiction. Someone who is the Mighty God at the same time He is a child, born in time from the nature of His mother? Someone who is a mighty warrior, and also the Prince of Peace? Someone who is a baby, and yet is called Everlasting Father? Fallen human reason scoffs at the things said of Christ, and will not know Him or serve Him. People erect fanciful castles in the air, spun from spurious human logic and weak-brained thinking, and expect to vaunt themselves against the Holy One of Israel, He who has all authority in heaven and on earth to rule and who will destroy all authority on the Last Day.
We know better. And we know better not because we know better, with our reason or logic, for after all, fallen human reason must be enlightened and informed by God’s Word. No, we know better because faith knows things unseen. Faith is a kind of knowing that goes beyond sight, to unseen realities. It even lays hold of Christ, who even though you do not see Him now, you love Him, and at the thought of His salvation for you you are filled with a glorious and inexpressible joy. This Child could have held all the might of man within His hand simply by virtue of who He is, from His very birth - even from His goings out which are of eternity, as the prophet Micah reminds us (5:2). Yet He chose to set it all aside, to wade through the muck of human sinfulness, to embrace us and hold us fast in the midst of our brokenness.
This is what it truly means to rule: not to be waited on, to languish on the throne while underlings scurry to do your bidding, to pop grapes into your mouth as minions labor mightily to bring your whims to fruition; but rather to serve, instead of being served - and to do this by giving one’s life as a ransom for many. Only Jesus could fulfill this. Only Jesus could lead like this. Only Jesus is the Savior. All hail King Jesus, the Child born to us! Amen.
O Emmanuel, God with us, our King and lawgiver, the expected of the nations and their Savior: come to save us, O Lord our God.
Our Advent Daily Devotions for 2021
November 29 - Psalm 24:3-5
November 30 - Matthew 4:10-22
December 1 - Luke 1:26
December 2 – Luke 1:30
December 3 – Luke 1:31
December 4 – Luke 1:32
December 5 – Luke 1:38
December 6 – Luke 2:1
December 7 – Luke 2:3
December 8 – Luke 2:4-5
December 9 – Luke 2:6-7
December 10 – Luke 2:7
December 11 – Luke 2:8
December 12 – Luke 2:9
December 13 – Luke 2:10
December 14 – Luke 2:11
December 15 – Luke 2:12
December 16 – Luke 2:13-14
December 17 – Luke 2:16-17
December 18 – Luke 2:20
December 19 – Matthew 2:1
December 20 – Matthew 2:10
December 21 – Matthew 2:11a
December 22 – Matthew 2:11b
December 23 – Isaiah 9:6
December 24 – John 3:16 (Christmas Eve)