What Are You Doing Post Christmas?
Good Morning Friends,
Yesterday the Queen of England’s annual Christmas address aired on the BBC. Regular broadcasting stopped and with some fanfare she was introduced with music and without a spoken word but just the words on the television screen…THE QUEEN. The beauty of the presentation was that she in a very classy way witnessed her faith in Christ. She reminded us watching that we are to get inspired to do good works and that the word inspire really means to breath in the life of Christ and the love of Christ in all we do. She has been on the throne for 63 years. So with some degree of wisdom before she shared some examples of the charitable work of her family, she quoted Saint Teresa. She iterated, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
She ended by wishing everyone a Happy Christmas. In England royalty has a history of not wanting to get too merry. Anyway, it was a good show for a lady of 90 years who by the authority of her position chose to honor God on Christmas as her small thing done with great love. And now today on the second day of Christmas I am contemplating that the invasion of the Christ of Christmas can be near us in every season. Friends, this Spirit is to be in us during the best of times and the worst of times, inhale by exhale, in the timeless reality of God’s love. So in the next year we can have a countdown to Christmas or a count up of the days of Christmas hope extending God’s invasion of love into human history, one breath of love at a time, one act of inspired love at a time….one by one. So, What Are You Doing Post Christmas?
Scripture: Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.
Romans 5:1-10 (NRSV)
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 (NRSV)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 (NRSV)
Message: Ok, I am hoping for more than twelve days of Christmas. I am hoping that just as Dickens reinvented and revived it so too can we experience that spirit of active usefulness and kindness that perseveres throughout the year by being broken up and dispersed across time and place in acts of kindness and love. Here we can celebrate the gift of the Christmas season in every season. Here we realize that we can find peace with God when we surrender our will. We can have 24/7/365 access to God when He takes up residence within us. We have something to celebrate every day because we have the unmerited favor of God…grace. Friends, each day we can rejoice in the hope that we might actually live the life God designed us to live. For when we know in faith that God has our best interests at heart we can persevere day after day. Knowing that this must produce character, our hope is strengthened with confidence and the love of God in the Holy Spirit that can bless us each and every day. Friends, today is a day to be inspired. Today is a day to extend the invasion of Christ into human history. Today is a day to realize that God became one of us to reveal to us the power of love to reign in our lives and to redeem us. It is nothing less than God’s ordaining of the incarnation of love as the standard for measuring love and for witnessing God’s ability and willingness to save us all one act of love at a time.
Pray we be authentic. Pray we be of good cheer. Pray we be aware of God in each of our breathes, each moment of each day. Pray we eat of the fruit that is never out of season…Joy. Pray we take the light out into the world each and every day…love. Pray we are inspired to obedience in a faith that will live in the light of the world to come. Pray we be inspired to take action in a love that last.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 