Wednesday (Day 25)

VERSES: Hebrews 11:13-16, 2 Corinthians 5:8-10, & John 14:1-6

In this reading plan, we have walked through the theme “Home for Christmas.”  The first seven days looked at the hometown of Jesus’ birth, Bethlehem.  The second seven days looked at the events in and around the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth in the days when Mary was pregnant with Jesus.  The third set of seven days looked at the humble home of Jesus on that first Christmas night, a manger.  And finally, the past three days looked at how God leads us home to Him, so that He might shine His light into our lives.

In today’s reading, we conclude our study by asking a bigger question, “Where is our true home?”  Years ago, my grandmother was struggling with dementia and would often call our house confused and ask to go “home.”  Problem was, she could not identify where home was.  Time and disease had sadly confused her.

Where is your home?  Many of us have lived in many different houses and in many different towns.  As I write this, I am 51 years old and have lived in 13 different houses/apartments in 7 different cities.  I spent all of my “growing up years” in one location, but have spent nearly 30 years in another.  So which of these places is “home”?

Followers of Jesus, we actually share a home.  Our home is not on this earth, but is in heaven.  Our primary identity is not bound by this world, but by the God who made it.  God has promised us an everlasting home, peace on the earth, and an environment where every need is met and every tear is dried.  And yet, we live in a world where homes break down, nations war, and many tears are cried.  Are God’s promises for real?  Yes, they are!  However, not all of them will be fulfilled in this life.  When we arrive in our heavenly home, and when God creates the new heaven and the new earth described in Revelation 21-22, then all His promises will come true.  We can count on it. 

Our citizenship is in His city, so let us live today in light of who we really are, and the values of our “homeland.”  One day, we will see Jesus face to face and give an account for our lives.  May we follow Him home, expectant for that day.

You can find the full devotional in pdf here.

You can find more information about our church and Christmas programs by visiting wildwoodchurch.org  Merry Christmas!

Tuesday (Day 24)

VERSES:  John 1:9-18

Many years ago in a 1964 game against the 49ers, a Minnesota Viking defensive end recovered a fumble and (in the confusion of the moment) got turned around and ran 66 yards THE WRONG WAY into his own end zone.  Thinking he just scored a touchdown, he threw the ball out of bounds in celebration, resulting in a safety.  Though he worked hard and sincerely thought he scored, he was mistaken.  Instead of “winning,” he was “losing” – that moment at least.

In today’s passage, Jesus is referred to as both “life” and “light.”  These are two things that all of humanity wants and needs.  In fact, they are intimately connected.  You cannot have life without light.  When God created the world at the beginning of all things, He FIRST created light, as it was necessary for everything else to survive (Genesis 1:3).  Though all of us want and need life and light, we sometimes run the wrong way to find them.

In the confusion of life, it is all too easy for us to get turned around and headed in the wrong direction.  Sometimes we think that Jesus wants death and darkness for us . . . to remove the fun out of life by telling us what we cannot do.  In the temptation of everyday life, we scoop up an “opportunity” and run in the opposite direction of Christ, headed towards drugs, pornography, an affair, gossip, greed, etc., thinking that if we run hard enough in that direction, we will “win.”  The problem is, these temptations do not produce the celebrations we desire.  When we reach that “end zone,” like the Vikings “wrong way run,” we find shame and not satisfaction.

When John tells us that Jesus is both life and light, he is like a coach reminding us which goal line we were created to move towards.  Jesus does ask us to follow Him as He heads in a particular direction . . . but that direction is always life and not death; it is light and not darkness.  This is not to say that there will not be challenges as we follow Christ . . . but it is to say that those challenges are momentary, while the “win” is eternal.  When we do not follow Christ, it is just the opposite . . . the ecstatic feelings are fleeting, but the “loss” lasts.

Jesus wants to light your house this Christmas with His life.  Will you follow Him?

You can find the full devotional in pdf here.

You can find more information about our church and Christmas programs by visiting wildwoodchurch.org

Monday (Day 23)

VERSES:  Matthew 2:6-12

How did God lead you “home” to Him?  For some, God uses the encouragement and testimonies of friends and family.  For others, God uses the preaching of His Word or the reading of devotional material.  Still for others, God uses natural revelation that illuminates the awesome power and divine identity of God.  For others, God uses a bit of each of these things, all utilized by the Holy Spirit to draw us to God.

The point is, if we have a relationship with God, it is because He has invited us to have a relationship with Him.  If the universe were a game of hide-and-go seek and God did not want to be found, we would never find Him.  But God does not want to hide.  Instead, God wants a relationship with us and has reached out in His grace, revealing Himself to us and leading us home to Him.

The Magi are just another example of God leading people to Himself.  Through the testimony of His people (Daniel), and through the authentication of His Word (the quotation of Micah 5:2 recorded in Matthew 2:6), and through the star in the sky (Matthew 2:9), God wooed the Magi from their eastern home, across a rugged desert, past societal expectations, and above ethnic divisions and into the presence of the King of Kings and the Savior of the World. 

And when the Magi arrive in Bethlehem, they bow down and worship Jesus with all that they had, offering symbolic gifts highlighting the identity and ministry that Jesus would reveal over His lifetime. 

God has invited you home to Him.  Like the Magi, have you responded to that invitation? 

You can find the full devotional in pdf here.

You can find more information about our church and Christmas programs by visiting wildwoodchurch.org

WEEK 4:  He leads us home

Sunday (Day 22)

VERSES:  Numbers 24:17, Daniel 2:46-49 & Matthew 2:1-6

In the days following Jesus’ birth, a group of Magi from the east (probably Iraq or Iran), saw a new star and made a long journey to Jerusalem.  This is a familiar story to us, so it seems “normal” that Magi would journey hundreds of miles across a desert in response to a new star … BUT, we would do well to ask a few questions.

First, who were these Magi?  The Magi were a group of star gazers who were prominent in Babylon and Persia for hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus.  As a matter of fact, during the time of the Babylonian captivity, several young Jews were carted off to Babylon, and one of them (Daniel) was placed in charge of (you guessed it) the Magi in Nebuchadnezzar’s court! 

Second, why would these star gazers associate a new star with a new king in Jerusalem?  Daniel lived in Babylon among the Magi 500 years before Jesus was born, but Daniel prophesied about the time when Messiah would come.  He put a time table on it in Daniel 9:24-27 that pointed towards Jesus’ day.  Additionally, the Jews had another Scripture that alluded to a star representing the arrival of a liberating leader (Numbers 24:17).  Daniel may very well have referenced this hope to the Magi during their decades together.  It is difficult to know for sure, but it is easy to see Daniel’s influence prompting the Magi to watch for the arrival of a new star around the time of Jesus’ birth.

Third, we also need to ask, why were Herod’s priests and scribes not also looking for Messiah’s arrival?  This will come even more clear if you read Matthew 2:13-18, but Herod was a ruthless and jealous man and saw Jesus as a threat.  The priests and scribes knew where Messiah would be born, but they were too afraid of Herod to check it out.

It is interesting to see God’s pursuit of the Gentile Magi, using Daniel to teach God’s prophetic promises and create a Messianic hope.  The Magi embraced that message and were ready to act and respond when the star appeared.  God is still speaking through His Word and through His world today.  Like the Magi, will we come and worship or, like the priests and scribes, will we stay at home?

You can find the full devotional in pdf here.

You can find more information about our church and Christmas programs by visiting wildwoodchurch.org

Saturday (Day 21)

VERSES:  Luke 2:15-21

I recently read an account by Colin Webster of a woman named Thelma Howard.  In 1951, Howard was hired by Walt Disney to be his housekeeper.  She worked in that role for 30 years, becoming a real life Mary Poppins to Disney’s children and grandchildren.  Like many other members of Disney’s staff, Howard was given a share of stock each year for Christmas.  Howard collected all these shares, but never cashed them in, simply keeping them in a box beneath her bed.

According to an LA Times article from 1994, nearing the end of her life, Howard was living in poor conditions sharing a room with three other people in a very modest nursing home without a view.  Disney’s children found her in this condition and moved her to a better location for her last days but nothing indicative of what she was really worth.  Upon her death, Thelma Howard’s estate was valued at $9 million (mostly due to the Disney stock she owned but never cashed in.) When those Christmas gifts from Walt were eventually “opened” and cashed in, they ultimately would be used to bless many through her foundation helping those in need.

This story reminds us that for Christmas gifts to be activated, they must be opened.  Upon learning that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the shepherds had an option.  Would they “open” this gift and go and see the newborn King, or would they stay in the field and keep this gift under their bed?  The shepherds responded with faith and visited Jesus and told all the wonders of what they saw.

How about you?  Jesus has come to offer you the Christmas gift of peace with God and forgiveness of sin.  Will you open this gift and place your faith in Him today?  Like Mary, will you treasure in your heart the person of Christ and rely on Him and Him alone for your salvation?  You can open this Christmas gift today by praying to God and expressing your faith and trust in Him.

You can find the full devotional in pdf here.

You can find more information about our church and Christmas programs by visiting wildwoodchurch.org

Friday (Day 20)

VERSES:  Luke 2:6-14

Have you ever rewatched a movie with a surprise ending?  The first time you saw it, your jaw dropped with the plot twist, but by the tenth time seeing the movie, you come to expect the previously unexpected turn.

In today’s verses we see the birth of Jesus followed by a number of surprising twists and turns. 

First of all, Jesus is laid in a manger.  A MANGER!  An animal’s feeding trough.  This was the humble abode where Jesus, the King of Kings, would spend His first night on the earth.  How rare was this?  Well, the angels tell the shepherds that they will be able to identify which baby was Jesus because Jesus was the only baby in Bethlehem lying in a manger!  We are so familiar with this story, that we are no longer shocked by this reality.  Even more shocking, though, is WHY Jesus was laid in a manger … because there was no room for Him indoors.  No one else was willing to be inconvenienced so that Jesus could be born in a more accommodating setting.

The next big surprise came with angels filling the sky outside Bethlehem.  Again, we are so familiar with this story that we just think that angels ALWAYS fill the night sky around Bethlehem, but remember, those who first saw them were terrified.  Why?  Because it was not normal for angels to be in Bethlehem’s sky.  And, who did the angels first inform of the birth of Jesus?  The shepherds of course!  Again, we have lived an entire lifetime seeing shepherds in our nativity scenes, so their angelic visit makes sense to us, but it was a shock to the first century.  Shepherds were not people invited to formal events, and due to their proximity to the elements they interacted with in their vocation, they were deemed ritually unclean, making them religious outsiders.

May you read these very familiar verses today with fresh eyes.  As you “rewatch” this familiar piece of history, don’t be desensitized to its amazing message.  Unto the religious outsiders and those stained by sin, a Savior is born!  “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!”  May your heart do what the residents of Bethlehem did not – make room for Jesus to be honored and worshiped with our obedience, affection, and faith.

You can find the full devotional in pdf here.

You can find more information about our church and Christmas programs by visiting wildwoodchurch.org