Advent Devotions – December 1st
In those days… What do you remember when you think of Christmas past? What memories come to mind, emotions to heart? “In those days”. Are they your “good old days”, days in which you visit and perhaps still live? In light of the struggles we are living in right now with the pandemic, are they as close as simply last year’s holidays? We can get trapped by the past. Often we romanticize memories, make them softer, kinder, larger, sweeter than they were in reality. Do our hearts ache for a more simple, easier holiday?
Perhaps you are the opposite – memories of holidays gone by hold only pain, bitterness and disappointment for you. Your drag the chains of your past as much as Marley’s ghost from A Christmas Carol. They haunt you and keep you from Christmas present.
As we begin our countdown to Christmas, let’s intentionally live in the present moment. Realize you can choose from this day forward how you will live, and why you will live.
Regardless of circumstances, the main reason for Christmas hasn’t changed. May we look to the Christ Child, Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2). Look to the baby in the manger, the God-man on the cross, and blessed/gloriously, the risen Christ, Lord of all. Choose to let this Christmas be about His never-changing gift of love to humanity. Take His gift of sacrificial love by accepting Him as your Savior. Unwrap the gift of Jesus and eternal and abundant life today. Bring Him the good memories, the bad memories, let Him redeem your past, your present, your future.
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