Day by Day

[Soldier4Christ]

"Pause – Ponder – Prepare"

John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Luke 3:16
   

Let’s for a moment ponder what is happening here: John is answering those who want to know all about him and his God-given role in history. But instead of talking about himself, John would rather speak about the coming Savior, Jesus.

God had given John a role and it wasn’t about him – his role was to prepare people to meet Jesus. He did this by calling them to consider their sinfulness and to repent so that, when their Savior arrived, they would recognize Him and trust in Him to save them from their sins. These Advent devotions could do no better than to do what John did – to turn our hearts toward Jesus so that when we celebrate His birth we recognize that He alone is our Savior from sin.

What John did was as unusual then as it is today. There are many ways we can prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but sometimes our activities draw more attention to us than to Jesus. Too often our celebrations become a competition as to who has the most lights or the tallest Christmas tree or who receives or gives the most extravagant gifts. We might come out looking pretty good, but Jesus gets forgotten. John never drew attention to himself; he continued to call sinners to repent and turn to Jesus. What then will we do?

[Soldier4Christ]

"Filled with Joy"

The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Psalm 126:3
   

This short verse not only summarizes what Christmas is all about, it also summarizes what Christians believe. The Lord has sent a Savior – Jesus – and He has redeemed us from our sins. To redeem means to buy back … He bought us back with the innocent suffering and death of His Son. And God gives all of this to us, above and beyond the daily blessings He provides, despite our complete unworthiness. No wonder we are filled with joy.

Nowhere in God’s Word does He say that we have done great things for Him so that He can be impressed. In fact, the one man who said something similar went home unjustified according to Jesus (Luke 18:9-14). We have not done great things for God, nor can we do so. We cannot measure how close we are to God by figuring out how good we are, no matter how much we imagine our good works are worth. God knows we are unworthy, and still He does great things for us.

The Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus has done for us the great things we could not do for ourselves. We are filled with joy – at Christmas and forever – because what Jesus has done brings us forgiveness, peace, reconciliation with God, and life everlasting in paradise.

[Soldier4Christ]

"The Unshakable Kingdom"

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28-29
   

For many years those who treasure Christmas have complained about how much this holy day as become commercialized. In recent years, attacks on Christmas have become quite open. But if Christmas is no more than an excuse for retailers to make money, then there really is nothing special about the day. And when Christians close their church doors when Christmas falls on Sunday, as some did last year, how can we expect society to revere the holy day? If treasured celebrations like Christmas can be torn down with impunity, then perhaps nothing is sacred and even Christianity itself is under attack.

Jesus assures us that His kingdom cannot be shaken even though the heavens and the earth will all be destroyed. It’s this unshakable kingdom that Jesus promises to give to His faithful people. Although we do not yet enjoy this kingdom in all its fullness, we still live under Christ’s rule and trust that anything we now lack He will surely provide in due time. This is why the coming Christmas celebration is a remarkable day for giving thanks to God, whom we worship with reverence and awe. He provides all we really need.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Leaping for Joy"

“But for you who revere My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.” Malachi 4:2
   

Here God provides a beautiful picture of what the coming of Jesus means for those who trust in Him as their Savior. It is like the sun rising and bringing healing to all upon whom it shines. Those who reject Jesus and His healing forgiveness will find a much different fate, but it is all joy for the forgiven people of God.

It’s no accident that Jesus is called the “sun of righteousness.” Although the world would expect Jesus to come like a ticket-taker and collect tokens from those who have accumulated the sufficient amount of righteousness, that isn’t what we learn about Him from the Bible. God knows that our sinfulness will always leave us empty-handed in the righteousness department, but Jesus has an overabundance of righteousness that becomes ours through Him.

At the coming of Christ, we will leap like calves because the burden of our sin will be completely removed. We don’t realize just how much our sin weighs us down because we live each and every day of our lives under its heavy weight. Even for the strongest, sin is a tremendous burden that drags us down to the grave. The righteous healing that Jesus brings removes that burdensome weight and we shall leap for joy forever in ways we can hardly imagine.

[Soldier4Christ]

"The Real Thing"

[Jesus said,] “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect – if that were possible. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.” Mark 13:22-23
   

I’m told that those who handle money are taught to look for counterfeit bills in a certain way. They don’t learn about what counterfeits would look like; instead they learn what the genuine article looks like. There are many ways to make false currency, but the real thing is always the same.

So it is with Jesus. He never changes, but how do we recognize Him when He comes? In John 5:39, Jesus provides the answer: “The scriptures testify about Me.” The Holy Scriptures tell us who Jesus is, why He came, what He did, and what He’s going to do.

A good summary statement is found in Ephesians 2:8-9, which tell us that our salvation is a gift from God through Jesus. Most false Christs would cast doubt about the “gift” and the “not-by-works” part, turning our attention away from Christ for the assurance of salvation toward their own words or our own worthiness or feelings. Because we are sinful, we live under the law, and anything that turns us away from Christ is false ― no matter how comforting or reassuring it may seem. During Advent, as always, it’s important to keep our focus on Jesus so that we won’t be deceived by counterfeits.

[Soldier4Christ]

"A New Kind of Love"

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11
   

What a wonderful prayer is found in this verse. Yet I expect it is extremely common, if not universal, for pastors to pray this same prayer concerning the people in their congregation.

It might appear strange to worldly American ears to pray that love would abound in knowledge and insight because the world equates love with a feeling. But unfortunately, feelings are fickle and when pleasure turns to pain and joy to sorrow, the world would abandon love for something more pleasurable. Praise God that in Jesus we have a Savior who continued to love even when those who took no small pleasure in torturing Him put Him to death.

The second half of the verse is equally foreign to our ears, though equally wonderful in Jesus Christ. The blamelessness for which St. Paul prayed comes through faith in Jesus, not because we somehow deserved what was best and took care of it! For our sinfulness condemns us, and the only way we will be found blameless in the day of Christ is if we have His pardon and forgiveness. Jesus said, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent” (John 6:29). He won complete forgiveness and salvation for us – all the glory and praise goes to God.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Power Games"

“But who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.” Malachi 3:2
   

The first coming of the Son of God into His creation was such a tremendous event that we even find ourselves counting our years from that date forward. In looking at the prediction of Malachi in this Bible verse, we realize it’s also a great and wonderful day to celebrate because it didn’t happen as he warned.

The world is impressed with power. “Might makes right” is the creed of many and one we might all like to try. Some people, including some Christians, say, “My God is bigger than your god,” as if this were something to boast about. Fortunately Jesus didn’t feel that way when He came to live among us. Jesus has power, but you wouldn’t know it to look at Him. Jesus didn’t come to play the power game; He came to be our Savior. He meekly let them crucify Him so that He could take the fire and we might escape.

Malachi’s warning was tempered by God’s promise in the 17th verse of the same chapter where the Lord Almighty promised, “They will be Mine in the day when I make up My treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.” The almighty Lord will spare us even on the final Judgment Day because His Son, Jesus, was faithful on our behalf.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Pause – Ponder – Prepare"

As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.’” Luke 3:4-5
   

A very special guest is coming to your house this Christmas. What should you do to get ready? You could certainly clean your home to make it ready and welcoming. But what if you do something to offend your guest while he’s there? If that happened, you’d probably feel obligated to apologize and perhaps even send a gift. Of course, the value of the gift would have to be proportionate to the size of the offense or you could risk offending your guest again.

What if your honored guest was God Himself? How would you prepare for His coming? What about the things you’ve done to offend Him – those things called sin? Any gift you might give already belongs to Him, so you can’t impress Him with even the most extravagant gesture. You certainly can’t make God think you are better than you are – He already knows you aren’t even half as good as you think you are.

Advent isn’t about God coming to punish you, nor is it about trying to make yourself worthy to meet God. Advent is about God honoring us with His presence in Jesus. Love was born at Christmas – Jesus came to do all that was necessary to make us worthy.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Everything’s Under Control"

Show me Your ways, O LORD, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long. Psalm 25:4-5
   

In what or in whom do you place your hope? Many children hope that Santa Claus might bring them a favorite toy. This becomes a great opportunity to teach children that they can’t always get the things they hope for, helping them appreciate what they have and keeping them from becoming spoiled.

Perhaps you put your hope in your job or having enough in savings to get you through any circumstance. But even the most diligent, hard-working person can be laid off or lose a job, or an accident or illness can make money fly away like the wind. Yet this becomes a great opportunity for keeping us from getting spoiled and thinking that we don’t need God.

St. Paul reminds us in Romans 8:26 that “we do not know what we ought to pray for.” This is why we pray to God in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Since God is our Savior, we trust that He knows best and that He has everything under control. So we pray that God would show us His ways, teach us His path, and guide us in His truth, because He is our Savior in Jesus Christ, in whom we trust all day long.

[Soldier4Christ]

"The Right Clothes"

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Romans 13:14
   

Some might read this Bible passage and think that all we have to do to be a Christian is to put on Christ just like we would a fancy set of clothing. Some would say, “As long as we look like Christ in some superficial way, then we don’t have to be like Christ in any meaningful way.” This is exactly what the Pharisees were trying to do. They not only wore their WWJD (What Would Jehovah Do?) bracelets on their arms, but on their foreheads as well. It wasn’t enough.

We all have seen ill-mannered people dressed in fine clothes. They may look respectable, but it is only a matter of time before they show what they’re really like on the inside. Jesus spoke of such people (and of all of us) when He said, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19).

Our problem is not that we aren’t dressed properly, but that we have a diseased heart. The trouble with a bad heart is not only that dressing it up doesn’t heal it, but that we can’t transplant a healthy heart ourselves. Fortunately Jesus is the Great Physician who creates in us a new heart through Baptism and God’s Word. Only through Christ’s power can we forget the desires of our sinful heart and find ourselves clothed in Him.

[Soldier4Christ]

"More than Just a Pardon"

The LORD has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your Savior comes! See, His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him.’” Isaiah 62:11
   

So what’s the big deal with Advent? The Bible passage above shows that the prophet Isaiah knew the answer long before Jesus came. “See, your Savior comes!” The coming of the Savior is a big deal. Imagine if you were imprisoned on death row. In that situation, the most important thing to you would be the arrival of a messenger bringing news of your pardon … or not. The arrival of such a pardon would mean life. The absence would mean death. Because of the sin we live with every day, we face a death sentence unless we receive a pardon.

Advent anticipates the pardon. Christmas Day celebrates that our pardon has arrived. Good Friday remembers that our pardon was accomplished at the cost of Christ’s suffering and death in our place. Easter is the celebration that we have been set free and the threat of death no longer hangs over us.

But Isaiah’s message is about more than just a pardon. The Lord promises that we will receive a reward when our Savior comes – the riches of His heavenly kingdom. It is no wonder that Christmas is such a joyous celebration preceded by a season of such expectation.

[Soldier4Christ]

"The King Comes"

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” Luke 19:38
   

If Advent is the time to be hopeful for something good to come for us, then we ought to know what to expect. In this verse from the Bible, the people of Jerusalem seem to expect a triumphant king, but Jesus knew what was waiting for Him in Jerusalem … and it wasn’t the adoring throngs. Only a short time before the crowds cheered Him on with these words, Jesus had told His disciples that He was going to Jerusalem to be handed over, mocked, insulted, spit on, flogged, and killed. That doesn’t sound very blessed, but still He went to Jerusalem.

It wasn’t the first time Jesus made what we might view as a seemingly bad choice. As God, He knew that the people He had created in His own image had sinned and that the only way to save them from eternal punishment was to suffer in their place. So, to accomplish this, He became man and was born in Bethlehem so that He could suffer as a man for the sins of all mankind.

If we are honest, we have to admit that this is not an equal trade. The Son of God … for me? It’s not fair, but Jesus thought we were worth it. Because He came for us all, faithful Christians can say, “We are blessed because our God, the King, comes to save us!”

[Soldier4Christ]

"The Source of Strength"

May [the Lord] strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones. 1 Thessalonians 3:13
   

These words from the apostle Paul to some of the very first Christians are a great lead-in to how God’s way of salvation is exactly opposite to the world’s. Where worldly theologians would encourage us to strengthen ourselves, St. Paul prays that God Himself would be the strength of His people. Paul could write this with confidence because there are many places in the Bible that tell us that this is true, such as Psalm 28:8 – “The LORD is the strength of His people, a fortress of salvation for His anointed one.”

What comfort in these days of Advent to acknowledge that while our own strength is limited, God’s is limitless. There will always be times when our strength is not enough; but when God is working on our behalf even the worst trouble cannot overcome God’s strength.

The world would not expect this, thinking that we can accomplish this on our own by being so good that there is nothing to blame. But St. Paul reminds us that the only way we can truly be blameless before God is to have our sins are forgiven. This forgiveness can only come through faith and trust in Jesus who took away the punishment for our sins so that He might present us blameless to God.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Promises Fulfilled"

“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.” Jeremiah 33:14
   

In the days leading up to Christmas, it is traditional to hear readings from God’s Holy Word that focus on promises fulfilled. God’s first promise to us came the very same day Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin into the world. As God cursed the serpent, which was the devil, God promised, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers, He will crush your head and you will strike His heel” (Genesis 3:15).

The very same day that Adam and Eve condemned themselves to death by breaking God’s law, God promised that one of their descendants would come and make everything right again between God and sinful people. God repeated this promise throughout history whenever His people needed to be reminded that He would rescue them from sin and its deadly consequences.

In the days of the prophet Jeremiah, God’s people had forgotten about Him and were facing their destruction at the hands of the Babylonians. But God had not forgotten them. Despite their disobedience and unbelief, God declared that He would still keep His part of the promise and send a Savior. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem was the beginning of the fulfillment of this promise, and the death and resurrection of Jesus was the complete fulfillment of our salvation.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Pause – Ponder – Prepare"

“At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:27-28
   

An “Advent” is about the preparation, anticipation, and expectation of something that is coming. Every Advent season Christians look forward to celebrating the day when love was born – the day our Savior, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.

We can’t exactly say what people did in expectation of Christ’s first coming, except that it may be like our awaiting the time of His return. Jesus tells us that His second coming will be preceded by all kinds of anguish, perplexity, and terror. These are not the sorts of things that give us hope, but Jesus tells us to stand up in hope because our redemption is near. It takes great faith to be hopeful when it seems like the whole world is falling apart all around you. Such faith does not come by accident; instead it comes from God the Holy Spirit. This faith is also often strengthened by the very hope that sees us through pain and suffering.

We prepare during the church season of Advent so that our faith can be strengthened in the confidence that our redemption is near. As we pause to prepare for the annual celebration of the Savior’s birth we live in confidence that Christ Jesus has redeemed us and no matter what chaos is going on in the world He will come to rescue us from it.