Advent Devotionals

Published in The Secret Place

Title: Rude Awakening
Thought for Today: Center Your Christmas in Christ
Read: James 1:2

One night my six year old got out of bed to get a drink of water. Her brother had left his remote control airplane in the middle of the hallway. She stepped on the plane and hurt her foot. Fortunately, neither was broken.

The shadows don’t always trip us up; sometimes we are hurt by what was put in our path before the darkness fell.

This time of year beautiful twinkling lights show their beauty in the night. The bedecked houses and trees are a constant reminder of the season. Yet, often that very prompt that can bring pain.

Perhaps you’ve suffered a recent financial loss or a loved one has gone to be with the Lord. It could be you had an unhappy childhood and Christmas brings memories you’d rather forget.

Whatever the case, God wants to help you around whatever is tripping you up. He wants you to experience joy, even in the center of your sorrow.

The darkness can also be trimmed with lights.

Lord, give me the strength to focus only on the light of Your face.

Title: Tongue-Tied Faith
Thought for Today: When we love souls, we will think more of other people than we think of ourselves.
Read: Mark 16:15

The Salvation Army bells peal out loudly, clearly, and unashamedly. If only we could give out our faith that way.

Too many times I feel awkward, embarrassed, and tongue-tied when I share the gospel with others. Except for the other day when I met with an unchurched friend for a cup of coffee. She told me about some hard times and asked me to pray for her. Impulsively, I asked if we could pray right then and to my delight she agreed.

An unknown author exclaims, “In infancy Christ startled a king. In boyhood He puzzled the doctors; in manhood He ruled the course of nature…He never wrote a book; yet the libraries of the world are filled with volumes that have been written about Him.”

The season can give you the opening for which you’ve been waiting. Invite your neighbors over for cookies and tea. Ask one of the children to read the Christmas story. Take a hurting friend to a local church’s seasonal program. Buy some gifts for a needy family and enclose a heartfelt note.

Use Christmas to talk about the reason for Christmas.

Lord, give me the courage to share your message all the time but especially today.

Title: Miracle Tax
Thought for Today: He cannot have taught us to trust in His name and brought us this far to bring us to shame. –J. Hudson Taylor
Read: Romans 8:28

Sales tax, excise tax, federal income tax, social security tax, state income tax, inheritance tax, gasoline tax, liquor tax, cigarette tax, property tax, deed tax, license and registration fees, building permits, hotel room tax, entertainment tax, capital gains tax, and the list goes on.

As much as we don’t like being taxed, Americans can pay taxes through the mail or the Internet. Mary and Joseph had to appear personally in Bethlehem in order to be counted and to pay their tax.

It didn’t matter that they were newly married.

It didn’t matter that Mary was great with child.

It didn’t matter that they would have to trek by foot.

They had to travel. They had no choice.

But if they hadn’t had that tax to pay, then one of the great prophecies of all time wouldn’t have been fulfilled.

“But though Bethlehem Ephratah…out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler of Israel. (Micah 5:2)”

Out of Bethlehem came our Savior.

Only our Jesus could turn a tax into a miracle.

Lord, help me to remember your ability to make every circumstance in my life come out for good.

Title: Cell Phone Joy
Thought for Today: To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult every year. –E.B. White
Read: Luke 2:8-14

You see them everywhere. Tucked by a woman’s ear as she hurries through the mall. Attached via a small cord that hides a microphone so it looks like the gentleman might be talking to you but he really isn’t. Rather he is talking to his colleague or babysitter or tailor or client or a myriad of other people with whom he does business.

According to the latest statistics, 62 percent of cell phone users say they bring their phones with them everywhere. 97 percent have talked or seen someone talking while in a restaurant. The New York City Council recently overrode the mayor’s veto and approved a bill that bans cell phone use in that city during concerts, plays, lectures, and other performances.

It’s a wonder God didn’t use cell phones to announce the birth of His Son. Can you imagine the symphony of rings pealing the news? Instead He used the highest developed technology of all time, angels.

Their announcement brought joy and peace. Now if only a cell phone could do the same thing…

Lord, thank you for the angels’ willingness and delight as they announced your arrival. May I share the same excitement about You through my life today.

Title: Missing Christmas
Thought for Today: It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty founder was a child Himself. –Charles Dickens
Read: Isaiah 9:6

When I was a child, my parents were busy with church preparations this time of year. Since Dad was the pastor, many duties fell on him from the traditional ones like sermon preparation and visiting sick parishioners to the unusual like getting wax out of the carpet after the candle lighting service and cooking ten 30 lb. turkeys for the homeless dinner. Mom directed and supervised the adult and children’s choir performances while making sure the advent decorations remained in place and the fliers announcing the Pageant were error free.

Consequently, Mom and Dad were tired during this season. One year Dad decided to take us all out to eat on Christmas day. It is a beautiful memory. The four of us plus a friend of the family enjoyed the quiet as well as the delicious food.

Mom and Dad took pleasure in a short breather and I’m sure the enjoyed the clean up even more.

Sometimes it isn’t all the traditions that make the season. Rather it is the time we take to sit back and reflect.

Otherwise you just might miss Christmas altogether.

Lord, help me to take a break so I can take some time to reflect on You.

Title: The Gift
Thought for Today: The birth of Jesus is the sunrise in the Bible. –Henry Van Dyke
Read: 2 Corinthians 9:15

The picture never leaves my mind. A tiny girl bent over a bassinet staring at a bundle. The expression on her face is not one of delight but of shock. A brother has come to live in the home and somehow the girl knows even at one and one half years old that her life is never going to be the same.

It hasn’t. From that Christmas day years ago, when my brother came home from the hospital in a large red stocking, we have known sibling rivalry and revelry. Growing up we loved each other and hated each other almost simultaneously.

There is another much more important birth that brought some of the same sentiments. There was a great deal of joy and excitement but there were also people who felt threatened by His very presence. Although His tiny fingers couldn’t have gripped a sword, the visit by the Wise Men alerted a paranoid Herod.

But nothing could stop God’s gift to mankind. Time in Egypt protected Emmanuel. Now wrapped in swaddling clothes with a card that reads, “Whosoever”, Jesus is the real gift that keeps on giving.

Thankfully, our lives will never be the same.

Lord, thanks for giving me the greatest gift of all, You!