AND IT'S A WRAP

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 1:1,17, 18-25

Merry Christmas Eve! At long last, the busy season has ended.

The decorating is done, the gifts purchased, wrapped, and under the tree; preparations have been made for tomorrow’s dinner, and now, a much-needed pause as you gaze at the twinkling lights on the tree.

Right! For some of us, it’s Christmas Eve, and we’re frantically trying to finish the shopping and baking as we hurry past the undecorated tree.

No matter which scenario, tomorrow, whether we’re ready or not, Christmas will arrive. Soon afterward, we’ll put everything away as we anticipate ushering in the New Year. Next week this time, it’ll be New Year’s Eve, a time of reflection and planning.

Comparably, as Matthew reflects on the birth of Jesus, he begins by listing Jesus’ lineage. All the generations, from Abraham through Christ, confirmed, “Jesus was a Jew, but also back through David to inform the readers that Jesus is qualified to rule on the throne of David.”[i]   

In the first seventeen verses, we meet forty-six people spanning over 2,000 years. All ancestors of Jesus. For the prophecies of Jesus’ birth to come to pass, the sovereignty of God had to orchestrate every detail.

For example, God’s authority ruled the delay of Isaac’s birth. He orchestrated Joseph’s brothers throwing him in the pit so they could sell him to Potiphar, and eventually he would stand before Pharaoh. He was there when Ruth left her country and traveled with Naomi. God arranged the union between Joseph and Mary.

Every aspect of the forty-six persons listed in the lineage of Jesus was divinely designed so that “… it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the LORD by the prophet, saying, BEHOLD, A VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND SHALL BRING FORTH A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME EMMANUEL, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matthew 1:22-23).

As you pause tomorrow and enjoy the wonder of Christmas, remember three important truths.

1) God knows the plans He has for you. – Jeremiah 29:11

2) God’s greatest gift to humankind was the gift of His Son, Jesus. –John 3:16

3) God’s desire is for you to know you have eternal life with Him.—“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13).

MY GIFT TO YOU!

I’ve been so busy typing the devotionals I haven’t bought you a gift or got those Christmas cards in the mail. So, I decided to give you a gift from my heart—quotes from my message board that inspired me as I’ve navigated through this challenging year. It’s my prayer that these words will encourage you to keep on keeping on for Jesus Christ until your work on earth is done.

o   “Where God’s finger points, there God’s hand will make the way.”

o   “You are where God wants you to be at this very moment. Every experience is part of His divine plan.”

o   “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand” (Proverbs 19:21).

o   “Every hard duty that lies in your path that you would rather not do, that it will cost you pain and struggle or sore effort to do, has a blessing in it. Not to do it, at whatever cost, is to miss a blessing.”[i]

o   “The greatest things are always hedged about by the hardest things.”

o   “God is in this story! God is in the details.”

Merry Christmas, my friends. And to all, God’s Might!

And the Happiest of New Year’s filled with God’s Light!  

Father, we surrender this past year

and give it up to You.

We give You our failures, our regrets,

and our disappointments,

for we have no more use for them. 

Make us new women,   

forgetting what lies behind

and pressing on toward that

which lies ahead of us.

We give You all our hopes

and dreams for the future.

Purify them by Your Spirit

so that our wills

shall truly reflect Your will for us.

As we stand on the threshold of another year,

encourage us by our successes of the past,

Challenge us by the power of Your Word,

and guide us by the presence of Your Holy Spirit.

Thank you, Father, for hearing our prayer

And for a new beginning.  

In Jesus' Name, Amen

Author Unknown, Obtained from the Internet, source unknown

This year, may we WORRY less and WORSHIP our LORD more!

[i] Streams in the Desert, © 1996 by the Zondervan Corporation, October 19 devotional