Day of Praise

Tu, 12/30/14, 6th Day of Christmas, "Day of Praise" -

Matthew 1:20-21 - "But as [Joseph] considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.'"

I remember a time I was putting my socks on. Ya know, one foot on the floor, and one foot lifted up. Like a flamingo. That lost its balance. And fell over. It hurt. But not too much because, on the way down, I was laughing because I knew I'd tell y'all.

But no puttin'-on-your-socks fall could ever hurt as much as Joseph and Mary knowing from Day One that they were giving birth to a child who had a lot of pain coming his way so he could "save his people from their sins."

The only way a parent could endure such sorrow is by ultimately remembering that every child 1) comes from God, 2) belongs to God, 3) is meant to personally know God, and 4) finds peace in every sorrow through a relationship with God.

Hey, Gang, the sooner we help children know God personally through Jesus, (and they can know him well before Kindergarten), then the easier it is on everybody.

Furthermore, in Proverbs 6:16, we hear that "there are six things that the Lord hates." You can look them up if you like. Bottom line is that I'm pretty sure we've all done at least one of the six. And in light of that reality, let's use the 6th Day of Christmas as another day to thank God for what we hear in today's Bible verses in Matthew 1. Let's thank God for sending Jesus to "save his people from their sins." And, if we remember how God sees us all as his children who belong to him, then we all can be thankful that we're "his people" whom he saves.

So, ok, y'all have a great day! Merry Christmas Day #6! And be blessed in spreading the love!

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson