Time Out! Devotions

What do you consider most significant about Christmas? Many people would say visiting with relatives, attending parties, or giving and receiving gifts. For believers, however, Christmas is far more than a December holiday with time off from work. It is a personal promise from God to mankind.

The significance of this special day is embodied in two scriptural names. In the first chapter of Matthew, an angel of the Lord told Joseph that Mary, his fiancée, would bear a son conceived of the Holy Spirit. He instructed Joseph to name the child “Jesus” (Matthew 1:21). He also announced that the birth would fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy: “‘They shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23, referring to Isaiah 7:14).

Let’s examine the two names in this passage––Jesus and Immanuel. The name “Jesus” is a transliteration of the Old Testament Hebrew word Joshua, meaning “the Lord is salvation.” When the angel said, “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21), he was pointing to the significance of that original Christmas: God provided a solution for your sin and mine, as well as for the sin of the entire world—past, present, and future.

Seven hundred years before Christ’s birth, Isaiah’s prophesy was a word of hope and encouragement to Judah as it faced a great crisis. The prophet’s message was an indication of what God was about to do then as well as what would ultimately be fulfilled in the Messiah’s advent. Immanuel, a name full of promise, was God’s way of assuring the Old Testament saints that He was with them. Taken together, these two names encompass what we need for our entire life: Jesus, the pardoner of our sins, and Immanuel, the divine presence within us to help and guide every moment of every day. The names and the promises in them are the foundation for every facet of Christian life.

So how did God engineer that first Christmas to fulfill the promises of Jesus and Immanuel? His method was the incarnation. On the night Christ was born, the eternal God–motivated by love–entered the human family. He was supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit and physically born of a virgin. Jesus never ceased to be God, and He remained perfectly sinless in His being.

If the incarnation hadn’t take place exactly as it did, then we would still be living in our sin. According to Scripture, the punishment for sin is death (Romans 6:23). The Bible also says that God rejects any imperfect sacrifice (Deuteronomy 17:1). Jesus, because of His absolute sinlessness, is the only one who could save us by offering Himself as a payment for our sin-debt.

Apart from the birth of God in human flesh, every one of us would have to stand before God with all of our sin resting upon us—and our sins would separate us from Him (Isaiah 59:2). So the incarnation is the promise of Jesus—“the Lord is salvation”—for every person in the world.

But that was not the full extent of God’s awesome plan. He also promised us His presence, which was fulfilled in the birth of Immanuel. Jesus was “God with us,” the incarnate Deity, who physically lived and walked among men to show us what the heavenly Father is like.

Before His crucifixion, Jesus encouraged His disciples with the promise of God’s indwelling presence. Christ said that when He went away, He would ask the Father to send the Spirit of truth, who “abides with you and will be in you” to teach, remind, comfort, and guide every step of the way (John 14:17, 26).

Far better than God simply being “with me” is God within me, for me, and through me! And that is His promise to every generation of believers—the incomparable, supernatural, immeasurable God will take up residence inside us and be everything we need. Once He lives within you, there will never be a time you have to walk without Him (Hebrews 13:5).

In light of the wonderful promise of God’s redemption and presence, believers should be confident and courageous. We don’t have a single need He can’t satisfy. What cause have we for worry or fear when the sovereign, almighty God is with us?

So this year, as you gather on Christmas morning, I encourage you and your family to kneel and give thanks to almighty God. The incarnation is the very essence of Christmas. There’s nothing wrong with the gifts or festivities, as long as they don’t crowd out what belongs in first place: Christmas is about God breaking into humanity, shattering time, and becoming life and hope and help to all mankind.

(by Dr. Charles Stanley from In Touch Ministries online)

God is working in you to help you want to do and be able to do what pleases him.
Philippians 2:13 NCV

What God said about Jeremiah, he said about you: “Before I made you in your mother’s womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work” (Jeremiah 1:5 NCV).

Set apart for a special work.

God shaped you according to yours. How else can you explain yourself? Your ability to diagnose an engine problem by the noise it makes, to bake a cake without a recipe. You knew the Civil War better than your American history teacher. You know the name of every child in the orphanage. How do you explain such quirks of skill?

God. He knew young Israel would need a code, so he gave Moses a love for the law. He knew the doctrine of grace would need a fiery advocate, so he set Paul ablaze. And in your case, he knew what your generation would need and gave it. He designed you. And his design defines your destiny. Remember Peter’s admonition? “If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies” (1 Peter 4:11).

I encountered walking proof of this truth on a trip to Central America. Dave, a fellow American, was celebrating his sixty-first birthday with friends at the language school where my daughter was studying Spanish. My question—“What brings you here?”—opened a biographical floodgate. Drugs, sex, divorce, jail—Dave’s first four decades read like a gangster’s diary. But then God called him. Just as God called Moses, Paul, and millions, God called Dave.

His explanation went something like this. “I’ve always been able to fix things. All my life when stuff broke, people called me. A friend told me about poor children in Central America, so I came up with an idea. I find homes with no fathers and no plumbing. I install sinks and toilets and love kids. That’s what I do. That’s what I was made to do.”

Sounds like Dave has found the cure for the common life. He’s living in his sweet spot. What about you? What have you always done well? And what have you always loved to do?

That last question trips up a lot of well-meaning folks. God wouldn’t let me do what I like to do—would he? According to Paul, he would. “God is working in you to help you want to do and be able to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13 NCV). Your Designer couples the “want to” with the “be able to.” Desire shares the driver’s seat with ability. “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4 NIV). Your Father is too gracious to assign you to a life of misery. As Thomas Aquinas wrote, “Human life would seem to consist in that in which each man most delights, that for which he especially strives, and that which he particularly wishes to share with his friends.”

So go ahead; reflect on your life. What have you always done well and loved to do?

Some find such a question too simple. Don’t we need to measure something? Aptitude or temperament? We consult teachers and tea leaves, read manuals and horoscopes. We inventory spiritual gifts and ancestors. While some of these strategies might aid us, a simpler answer lies before us. Or, better stated, lies within us.

The oak indwells the acorn. Read your life backward and check your supplies. Re-relish your moments of success and satisfaction. For in the merger of the two, you find your uniqueness.

From Cure for the Common Life
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2006) Max Lucado

Would you like a daily dose of Max delivered to your inbox?
The first of many new features on the NEW MaxLucado.com are two daily emails from Max Lucado.

Sign up for Grace for the Moment, Volume 2 (text) and One Minute MP3s (audio link) www.MaxLucado.com/subscribe

UpWords®, the Teaching Ministry of Max Lucado
is a 501c3 nonprofit organization

KNOWING THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL ALLOWS US TO WAIT PATIENTLY FOR HIM TO RESCUE US. TRUE RELIEF DOES NOT COME WHEN THE PROBLEM IS RESOLVED BECAUSE MORE PROBLEMS ARE ON THE WAY! TRUE RELIEF COMES FROM AN ENDURING HOPE IN GOD’S ULTIMATE SALVATION. ONLY THEN WILL ALL TRIALS BE RESOLVED.

Psalm 62 (NIV)

¹ My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.

² He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

³ How long will you assault a man? Would all of you throw him down— this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

⁴ They fully intend to topple him from his lofty place; they take delight in lies.With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse. Selah

⁵ Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.

⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

⁷ My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah

⁹ Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath.

¹⁰ Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

¹¹ One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong,

¹² and that you, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done.

Prayer can release our tensions in times of emotional stress. Trusting God to be our Rock, rescuer, defense, and fortress changes our entire outlook on life. No longer are we held captive by hurtful treatment from friends or relatives, but are released to follow an unchanging God, our Rock and fortress.

When we weigh people on the scales of importance, certain things such as wealth, honor, power, or prestige add immeasurably to a person’s importance in our eyes. But God cancels out all of these things so that all people are weighed equally in His eyes.

What, then, can tilt the scales when God weighs us? The work we do for Him. Wealth, honor, power, or prestige add nothing to our “weight” in God’s eyes, but the faithful work we do for him has eternal value.

(from the Life Application Bible – Living Bible edition)

Genesis 21:1-7 (NIV)

¹ Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. ² Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. ³ Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. ⁴ When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. ⁵ Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶ Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” ⁷ And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Who could believe Abraham would have a son at 100 years of age – and live to raise him to adulthood? But doing the impossible is everyday business for God.

Our big problems may not seem so impossible if we let God handle them.

“Who would have dreamed!” After several promises, a visit by two angels, and the appearance of the Lord himself, Sarah finally cried out with surprise and joy at the birth of her son. Because of her doubt, worry, and fear, she had forfeited the peace she could have felt in God’s wonderful promise to her.

The way to bring peace to a troubled heart and mind is to focus on the promises of God. Trust Him to do what He says!

(from The Life Application Bible  – Living Bible edition)