Believe the Comfort of Christmas: You Shouldn’t Have!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Believe the COMFORT of Christmas!”
“You shouldn’t have!”
When someone presents us with a gift we weren’t expecting or was way beyond the point of generosity, it catches us off guard.
Especially if the person from whom you receive it is not one you have the best relationship with.
When we receive mercy beyond what we expect, it is humbling and comforting at the same time. Mercy tells us that the relationship that was strained or broken is restored. It means things are good again.
God is a God of mercy. Israel had suffered greatly because of their sin and drifting or outright denial of God. Yet in this message of comfort God reminds them:
40 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
… that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
Commentators differ on what the meaning of this phrase is whether it is referring to the punishment for their sin was double or the mercy they experienced surpassed their sin. Due to the context of the flow of thought, I would side with the latter understanding. It is also in line with God’s character to allow his mercy to surpass our sin.
Romans 5:20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is also true that comfort comes when mercy surpasses sin.
There is no greater comfort than knowing that God’s mercy exceeds our sin. There is no greater miracle of grace that God would show mercy to sinful human beings. But that’s just who he is and is why he came to earth at Christmas.
His heart is bent on showing mercy. Consider Psalm 103:8-12:
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
The Lord is certainly just and will punish sin. In fact, that’s what makes his mercy so much more amazing and the reality of Christ coming into the world at Christmas so mindblowing. The reality is God’s heart of mercy far surpasses the sin we commit. If it did not, we would always have to wonder if his mercy was used up on other people. But the fact that his mercy always surpasses sin leaves us with the very real comfort that there is plenty of mercy to go around this Christmas and every day.
Apply: How would God treat you if he treated you as your sins deserve? How does he treat you because of his mercy?
Prayer: Lord thank you for having a never ending well of mercy that you are more than willing to draw from and cover over all our sins.
Believe the Comfort of Christmas: “Paid in Full!”
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Believe the COMFORT of Christmas!”
How much does it cost?
Estimates project that the average household will spend about $1050 on Christmas gifts this year. Did you know that if you put that on a credit card and just pay the minimum payment you would be paying for this year’s Christmas gifts for 5 years…and in the end pay another $553 for them?
You may not think of this as you are in the “Christmas spirit” and shopping for your family and friends. But then the stress comes in January when your credit card bill comes and you wonder, “Why did I spend all that money?”
Debt is stressful.
Perhaps for some you live in debt so much that it is the “norm” of your household. Yet living “paycheck to paycheck” causes strain on marriages and stress to know you are one paycheck away from not being able to pay for the things you need let alone the consumer debt you’ve incurred.
(Tip – set a budget for Christmas and get creative to stick with it.)
There is relief when the debt is paid off. To know that you no longer owe the credit card company and you can actually save that money reduces the stress and the likelihood of a financial emergency.
This isn’t intended to be a “financial advice” devotion, but hey, you got some of that this morning!
I do want to capture the emotions of being financially in debt and stressed that it seems you will never pay it all off and apply that to the words Isaiah is given to speak to God’s people.
Isaiah 40:2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her … that her sin has been paid for,
How amazing would it be if someone for Christmas paid off all your financial debt…including your house? What an amazing Christmas that would be!
How much greater is the debt our sin accumulates every day. It’s like swiping your spiritual credit card to the limit and beyond. The debt we own our perfect, holy Father in heaven is beyond are ability to pay off. Jesus wanted his followers to understand the debt we owe because of our sin.
Matthew 18:23-27 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
He cancelled the debt and let him go.
What relief this servant should have felt! (Yet as the parable ends, he couldn’t even forgive a fellow servant who owed much less.)
This scenario plays out for you and me.
The baby born in the manger of Bethlehem is truly our Savior from sin. He is the one whom God sent to pay the price for our sins. He is the one who cried out from the cross, “It is finished,” the very words a shopkeeper would stamp when a debt was fully paid.
It would be nice to have our financial debt gone (check out daveramsey.com for help), but what has been paid off is your sin. That’s what we get to celebrate this Christmas: Your sin has been paid for!
Comfort truly does come when the debt of sin is fully paid. Jesus paid…it… all!
Apply: Make a list of sins that plague your conscience. Write them on a piece of paper and then when you are done take a red marker and write over the top of it, “PAID IN FULL by JESUS!”
Prayer: Lord, thank you for initiating a payment plan for my sins through your Son Jesus. I praise you that you have given to me the comfort of knowing that the debt my sin incurred before you is paid in full by the blood of Jesus! AMEN.
Believe the Comfort of Christmas: “At Ease!”
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Believe the COMFORT of Christmas!”
Isaiah 40:2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed,
“At ease.”
I will admit I am not a military person, so forgive me if I make a wrong assessment. If I were, I would think these two words would bring relief to any military personnel. “At ease” tells a soldier they can relax. The tension of battle or keeping watch 24/7 is complete. Their time of warfare or potential warfare is complete.
“Welcome home.”
Another two words any soldier loves to hear after serving in a combat zone for a period of time. Their battle is over and they are safely home.
Isaiah is given the words from God to tell the people of Israel, “your hard service has been completed.” “At ease.”
There is coming a time when the reality of sin and its consequences would no longer affect God’s people. The battle against evil will be finished and the time of warfare will be over.
There is comfort knowing the struggle is over.
Muscles relax. Stress goes down. Heartrates subside. Tension evaporates.
I’m waiting for that day when I see Jesus face to face and he says, “At ease. Your time of hard service, of warfare is over.”
The battle is real. It isn’t fought with weapons of physical war, but it is a spiritual battle that is being fought to win souls away from Jesus. The Apostle Paul but it this way:
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
The battle is around us. We live in a culture that is seeking to remove God and a biblical worldview from our society and even call it hate speech if biblical values are expressed. The miracle of creation has given place to the random chaos of evolution. The order of creation and the fact that God created male and female has succumbed to the woke idea that gender is chosen, not given. The institutions of marriage and family that God created for the benefit of people and society are being dismantled into alternative lifestyles and living together without the commitment of marriage. We applaud the killing of babies to the freedom of a woman’s “right to choose” rather than upholding the value and sanctity of each human life…from the moment of conception. We pit one race against another instead of seeing humanity for what it is, one human race in which each soul is valuable to God and to each other. We excuse sin as a mental illness and dismiss it as judgmental should anyone hold another to a standard – God’s or societies.
Do I have to go on? It is wearisome isn’t it? It seems like our small witness in the world is so dim that the forces of darkness are having their way.
We shouldn’t be surprised. Jesus told us that life would not be easy for a Christian:
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:9-13)
It gets wearisome, doesn’t it? It feels like it doesn’t matter. It feels easier to surrender and give in than continue to “fight the good fight of faith.”
Don’t give up. Your faith and witness matter. You/we are here for such a time as this. Christmas still matters. Jesus still matters and people still need Jesus.
I know, there are days we want to crawl up on God’s lap and hear him say, “It’s going to be ok. At ease. Your struggle is over.”
Christmas reminds us that day is coming. Don’t lose heart!
Apply: What struggles are you engaged in because of your faith? What happens to those struggles when you take a few minutes to focus on the focus of Christmas, Jesus your Savior?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for taking on our biggest struggle and in that struggle defeating sin, death and the power of the devil. We look forward to the comfort we will have when you speak to our hearts, “Well, done. At ease.” Amen.
Believe Christmas: Find Comfort this Christmas!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Believe the COMFORT of Christmas!”
Isaiah 40:1 “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”
Do you need some comfort this Christmas?
Somewhere in your life I am sure you are wanting someone to say, “It’s going to be OK.”
Maybe you are facing a diagnosis of cancer.
Maybe you are struggling to make ends meet with the inflation going on in our country.
Maybe you are concerned about the latest variant of CoVid 19.
Maybe you are facing unemployment, divorce, or separation from your children.
Maybe your heart is just full of worry, anxiety and stress for many different reasons.
Wouldn’t you like to crawl up in the lap of the Almighty God and have him whisper in your ear, “It’s going to be OK. I love you.”
This is the picture Isaiah’s words “Comfort, comfort” invites us to picture. God wants Isaiah to invite the people of Israel back into a personal connection with him. Isaiah had been harsh with God’s word of judgment and condemnation for their lives drifting from the Lord and the subsequent hardship that came as a result of their sin.
It was time to comfort their souls and let them know that the consequence and reality of sin was NOT going to be the end game.
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, we may be facing different hardships as a direct or indirect result of sin in our lives or just in the world in general. It’s the broken world around us and our sinful nature within us that robs us of our peace, fills our minds with worry, and seeks to find solutions for life in anything but the Lord.
To try to find comfort, some semblance of peace this Christmas, it can be tempting to seek escape and comfort in food, experiences, shopping, or addictions. The comfort all of these offer is temporary at best and non-existent at worst.
So take up your Savior and the invitation Isaiah gives:
Crawl into the lap of your Savior this Christmas and let his love, his peace, his forgiveness bring true comfort to your heart and life.
Apply: What is causing your worry, stress or anxiety this Christmas season? If you were sitting in the lap of God, what would he say to you?
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for inviting us to sit in your lap and receive your word of comfort this Christmas! AMEN.
PS – Don’t forget Advent by Candlelight on Wednesday, December 1 at 7pm (6pm soup supper). Join us in-person or online!
Believe Week 10: Always Live In View of Eternity…ALIVE!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 10: Eternity”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
It’s Black Friday.
Perhaps the days of getting up early to stand in lines before a store open to get the doorbuster deals are over as you can sit in your living room and buy the same thing on line while watching the football game and have it delivered by the weekend.
Perhaps the days of a 2” stack of newspaper ads sitting on the coffee table for the family to flip through to determine their Black Friday shopping route have given way to scrolling deals on your phone as you sit around the coffee table.
Perhaps the way we shop on Black Friday has changed, but more people than not will buy something today.
I’ve always found it a bit ironic that we have a day of Thanksgiving and gratitude for what we have only to be quickly followed by outright encouragement to buy more.
In spite of this irony, I’ve been out in the crowds of Black Friday. Some deals are just too good to pass up!
However, I have to remind myself of a few things if I am “Always Living In View of Eternity”:
- Material things are temporary; Spiritual things are eternal.
Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19 ).
With more enthusiasm than finding a Black Friday deal, God wants us to find the treasures he’s given to us in the pages of his Word. Anything you buy today will not transmit to heaven, but the faith you strengthen and nurture today will go with you into eternity. Any deal you get today is not as valuable as the gift of grace and forgiveness God has given you for FREE! Enjoy the blessings God has given to you materially, but put your focus and emphasis to store many more spiritual treasures than earthly treasures!
- Remember heaven is your home!
Many of the deals on Black Friday serve to enhance our home with gadgets, gizmos, or time saving mechanisms. Again nothing inherently wrong with these and they can certainly enhance our life on this earth.
But heaven will never be on earth and earth will never be heaven. So don’t forget where your eternal home is…in heaven. Again, we can enjoy the homes God has blessed us with and enjoy decorating them with things we buy, but never forget that all this is temporary and not our eternal home. As much as we buy, as many conveniences as we have, we will never create heaven on earth.
Only God can create heaven in heaven…and he has for you and me to enjoy. That is our home and that is what we have to look forward to because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ! Here’s what we have to look forward to:
Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Live today, Black Friday, in view of Good Friday and remember that no matter what deal you find today, the greatest deal you could ever find was the gift of forgiveness given to you to secure an eternity for you.
Apply: How can you spend more time, energy, or effort storing up treasures in heaven?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for securing my eternity through the life, death and resurrection of your Son, Jesus Christ. Lead me to always live in view of eternity so that I keep all things temporal in proper perspective! AMEN