Making all kinds of lists.
For many that is usually how they start the Christmas season.
Gift lists, party guest lists, menu lists, baking lists.
For many it is a lot of organizing to prepare for Christmas.
But are you also preparing to receive the Christ in reality?
Not just in a more or less emotional Christmas meeting?
Are you willing to receive the Christ,
Not just as a memory on December 25th as a baby in a manger,
But as King of kings and Lord of lords into the very core of your life?
Before the birth of Jesus we read the announcement of the birth of an other baby. Jesus’s cousin John (meaning “God is Gracious.”), who would later be known as “John the Baptist”. He was a blessing where his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed for, but did not expect to receive anymore. Let us read:
Luke 1:13-17
¹³But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. ¹⁴You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. ¹⁶And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. ¹⁷It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
John’s main calling was to “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17).
Let me ask you a question. Are you belonging to the people, who are ready and prepared for the coming of the Messiah?
▪︎ I know He came one day as a baby in a manger,
▪︎ I know He died to set me free
▪︎ I know He is now with the Father
▪︎ And I know that one day He will return
I live in expectancy of His coming.
Are you with me in that expectation?
Or will that day turn out to be the most terrifying and terrible day of your life?
▪︎ I call on you to listen to what your creator tells you in the Bible.
▪︎ I call on you to follow your Savior, or to keep following Him.
▪︎ I call on you to give Him an opportunity to change you, or to change you further.
May your focus be
▪︎ Not on all kinds of man made festivities
▪︎ Not on all kinds of religious utterances
▪︎ But on the Christ only!
Don’t wait till Christmas to receive the Christ,
▪︎ but surrender to Him today!
▪︎ start a new life with Him today
Prayer suggestions
▪︎ Ask God to help you, to stay fully focused on Him.
▪︎ Ask God to help you, to shut out all the distractions so you can stay fully devoted to Him.
Internet: harryschoemaker.nl
Or directly to: devotionals.harryschoemaker.nl
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