Tag Archives: nature

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Like a Thief

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The alarm of discovering your house or car has been broken into stays with you long after the thief has vanished. Though most are not eyewitnesses to the looming figure that wrongfully entered, victims of such crimes often report seeing shadows in every corner and silhouettes peering through their windows. Signs that someone had been there are enough to call them to alertness. Long after all the evidence was collected and my shattered car window repaired, I continued to imagine someone else’s fingerprints on my steering wheel, in my console, lingering reminders of the intrusion.

Whether you have experienced the shock of burglary and its lasting effects or the violating despair of personal loss, the Bible’s portrayal of Christ as one who will come like a thief in the night is a startling image. The description is one that seems uncouth amongst the many, far less taxing images that are now sentimentally upon us—a peaceful mother and father beside a quiet baby in a manger, a bright star that guides wise men in the obscurity of night. It seems odd that the gospel would juxtapose these images of one who comes as a child of hope and yet returns like a looming, unwanted figure. But this is the counsel from Jesus himself: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”(1)

The cry of the Christian season of Advent, the sounds of which are just starting to stir, is the cry not of sentiment but of disrupted vigilance. One of the key figures in celebrating the season, John the Baptist brings the probing message that continues to cry in urgency: “Are you ready?” Are you ready to discover this infant who came to dwell in the midst of night and suffering? Are you ready to hear his invasive message? Are you ready to discover God among you, the hunter, the thief, the King, the human? During the season of Advent, the church calls the world to look again at stories that have somehow become comfortably innocuous, to rediscover the many disruptive signs that someone has been here moving about these places we call home, to stay awake to the startling possibility of his nearness in this place even now. “I say to all,” says Christ, “Stay awake.”(2)

The owner of a house who has been disturbed once by a thief lives with the wakefulness that this thief will come again, however persuasively she is urged to see otherwise. She remembers the signs of a presence other than her own—prints left behind, a door left open, the memory of life disturbed—and she vows to keep watch, knowing, even against odds, that the thief will be back. In the same way, yet without fear, the season of Advent cries for our alertness to the vicariously human savior whose breaking into our world has charged every ordinary moment with expectation.

The child who was born in Bethlehem came quietly in the night, unbeknownst to many who dwelled near him. Like a thief, he shattered myths that proposed we were autonomous; he disrupted systems and powers and lives we thought were shielded. Yet Jesus came not to steal and destroy, but to dwell in all that overwhelms us, to live in a world groaning in death, fear, injustice, and suffering. His humanity shows us what it means to be truly human, overturning the categories we make for ourselves. Like a whimper in the night, his presence in the ordinary may go unnoticed. But he is near and knocking. Fear not and keep watch.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Matthew 24:42-44.

(2) Mark 13:37.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – The Worst Made the Best

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God chose what is low and despised in the world.

1 Corinthians 1:28

Walk the streets by moonlight, if you dare, and you will see sinners then. Watch when the night is dark, and the wind is howling, and the thief is hiding in the door, and you will see sinners then. Go to the jail, and walk through the wards, and notice the men with heavy overhanging brows, men whom you would not like to meet at night, and there are sinners there. Go to the reformatories, and note those who have betrayed a rampant juvenile depravity, and you will see sinners there.

Go where you will, you need not ransack the earth to find sinners, for they are common enough; you may find them in every lane and street of every city and town and village and hamlet. It is for such that Jesus died.

If you will select for me the grossest specimen of humanity, if he be but born of woman, I will still have hope for him, because Jesus Christ came to seek and to save sinners. Electing love has selected some of the worst to be made the best.

Pebbles from the brook are turned by grace into jewels for the royal crown. Worthless dross He transforms into pure gold. Redeeming love has set apart many of the worst of mankind to be the reward of the Savior’s passion.

Effectual grace calls deep-dyed sinners to sit at the table of mercy, and therefore none of us should despair.

Reader, by that love looking out of Jesus’ tearful eyes, by that love streaming from those bleeding wounds, by that faithful love, that strong love, that pure, disinterested, and abiding love, by the heart and by the tender compassion of the Savior, we urge you not to turn away as though it was nothing to you.

Rather, believe on Him and you will be saved. Trust your soul with Him, and He will bring you to His Father’s right hand in everlasting glory.

Family Bible Reading Plan

  • 2 Chronicles 7
  • 2 John 1

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Turn or burn

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“If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.” Psalm 7:12

Suggested Further Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:5-12

God has a sword, and he will punish man on account of his iniquity. This evil generation has laboured to take away from God the sword of his justice; they have endeavoured to prove to themselves that God will “clear the guilty,” and will by no means “punish iniquity, transgression and sin.” Two hundred years ago the predominant strain of the pulpit was one of terror: it was like Mount Sinai, it thundered forth the dreadful wrath of God, and from the lips of a Baxter or a Bunyan, you heard most terrible sermons, full to the brim with warnings of judgment to come. Perhaps some of the Puritan fathers may have gone too far, and have given too great a prominence to the terrors of the Lord in their ministry: but the age in which we live has sought to forget those terrors altogether, and if we dare to tell men that God will punish them for their sins, it is charged upon us that we want to bully them into religion, and if we faithfully and honestly tell our hearers that sin must bring after it certain destruction, it is said that we are attempting to frighten them into goodness. Now we care not what men mockingly impute to us; we feel it our duty, when men sin, to tell them they shall be punished, and so long as the world will not give up its sin we feel we must not cease our warnings. But the cry of the age is, that God is merciful, that God is love. Who said he was not? But remember, it is equally true, God is just, severely and inflexibly just. He were not God, if he were not just; he could not be merciful if he were not just.

For meditation: The “meek and lowly” Lord Jesus Christ spoke often of judgment because of his care for the souls of men and his longing for them to repent and find rest (Matthew 11:20-30).

Sermon no. 106

7 December (1856)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – The Creator of the World

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“In these last days [God] has spoken to us in His Son . . . through whom also He made the world” (Heb. 1:2).

Christ is the agent through whom God created the world.

John 1:3 testifies, “All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” Jesus has the ability to create something out of nothing (cf. Rom. 4:17), and that sets Him apart from mere creatures. Only God can create like that; we can’t. If you could create, you’d live in a different house, drive a different car, and probably have a different job—if you had any job at all. You could just sit in your backyard and make money. Fortunately, God didn’t give depraved men and women the right to be creators.

The ability to create ex nihilo belongs to God alone and the fact that Jesus creates like that indicates He is God and establishes His absolute superiority over everything. He created everything material and spiritual. Though man has stained His work with sin, Christ originally made it good, and the very creation itself longs to be restored to what it was in the beginning (Rom. 8:22).

The common Greek word for “world” is kosmos, but that’s not the one used in Hebrews 1:2. The word here is aionas, which does not refer to the material world but to “the ages,” as it is often translated. Jesus Christ is responsible for creating not only the physical earth, but also time, space, energy, and matter. The writer of Hebrews does not restrict Christ’s creation to this earth; he shows us that Christ is the Creator of the entire universe and of existence itself. And He made it all without effort.

What about you? If you don’t recognize God as the Creator, you’ll have difficulty explaining how this universe came into being. Where did it all come from? Who conceived it? Who made it? It cannot be an accident. Someone made it, and the Bible tells us who He is: Jesus Christ.

Suggestion for Prayer

Praise God for the wonder of His creation, which we can so easily take for granted.

For Further Study

Read Colossians 1:16-23 to discover the relationship between the creation and your salvation.

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Entirely by Faith

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“And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” (1 John 5:14,15, KJV).

A friend who had participated in one of our lay institutes a few years ago shared with me his experience when he first realized the practical benefits of the biblical concepts which I like to call “spiritual breathing” – exhale by confession and inhale by claiming the fullness of the Holy Spirit by faith in accordance with the promise of 1 John 5:14,15.

This friend had agreed to teach a Sunday school class of young students. But there was one problem: he was apprehensive about the assignment because he had never taught studies (of the age)?

My friend planned to arrive at church early in order to make proper preparation for the arrival of his new class. He had asked his family to be ready to leave the house early on that Sunday morning.

As sometimes happens, the family was late in getting ready and, as he sat in the car in the hot sun, he began to resent his family’s tardiness. He began to fume and fuss while waiting for them. The longer he waited, the more tense and irritated he became.

Finally, his family loaded into the car – and he was ready to explode with anger. Before he went very far, the Holy Spirit reminded him that his attitude and actions were not honoring to the Lord.

Furthermore, he knew that he would be sharing with the children in Sunday school about God’s love, forgiveness and patience. Applying the principle of “spiritual breathing,” he exhaled by confessing his sin and inhaled by appropriating the fullness of the Holy Spirit by faith. Filled with the Holy Spirit and overflowing with God’s love, he introduced several young men to Christ that morning.

Bible Reading: Romans 1:8-16

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Whenever the need arises, I will practice “spiritual breathing” to help me experience spiritual victory and live a supernatural life. I will tell other Christians about the concept of “spiritual breathing.”

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.R. – Beyond Your Ability

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The apostle Paul reports in II Corinthians 8 the remarkable generosity of the Christians in Macedonia. Despite great affliction and deep poverty, he says they were overflowing with joy, and even gave beyond their ability.

They gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

II Corinthians 8:5

When it comes to Christmas gifts and loved ones, giving beyond your ability is not a good idea. A good number of Americans will make that mistake and spend the next year digging out of a financial hole. There is a better way to celebrate Christmas than making it a debt debacle.

Before you give to others, first give yourself to the Lord as the Macedonians did…allowing His wisdom to guide your every decision. There are many things you can do this season for your family, for your neighbors, and for your nation – things that don’t require breaking the bank – to make an eternal impact. Measured by the world’s values, you may not appear to have the resources or ability to change anything. But when you give yourself first to the Lord and then serve as a vessel to pour out His love, there are no limits. Make this season the one in which you truly discover and share His love…beyond your ability!

Recommended Reading: Proverbs 3:5-10

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – It Began with a Tree

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And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.—Genesis 2:9

The Christmas story begins with a tree, but not the kind of Christmas tree with brightly colored lights or ornaments. The Christmas story begins with a tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in the Garden of Eden.

God had given Adam and Eve only one restriction in that literal paradise: stay away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But before long, that’s just where we find them. Of course, we know the rest of the story. They listened to the serpent and ate the forbidden fruit. And once that happened, they lost their sweet fellowship with God.

A few verses later, we come to the first Christmas verse in the Bible, where God said to the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

Here the battle lines were drawn. The Devil knew this Messiah would come—and that He would come from the Jewish people. So he tried to stop that from taking place.

Really, as we look at the Christmas story, we realize that it doesn’t begin in Matthew or Luke. It begins in the Old Testament. Before there was a world, before there were planets, before there was light and darkness, before there was matter, before there was anything but the Godhead, there was Jesus—coequal, coeternal, and coexistent with the Father and Holy Spirit. He was with God. He was God.

Jesus Christ became human without ceasing to be God. He did not become identical to us, but He became identified with us. The real message of Christmas is that God came to this earth. The real message of Christmas is Immanuel, God is with us.

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Family Expectations

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Many of us have a fantasy that our family will be like the Waltons or the expectation that our friends will be like members of our family.  Jesus did not have that expectation. Look how Jesus defined his family in Mark 3:35: “My true brother and sister and mother are those who do what God wants.” When Jesus’ brothers did not share his convictions, he didn’t try to force them. He recognized that his spiritual family could give him what his physical family did not.

We cannot control how our families respond to us. Our hands are tied. We have to move beyond the expectation that if we do good, our family will treat us right! The fact is they may; and then again, they may not! Let God give you what your physical, earthly family does not. And don’t lose heart! God still changes families.

From Grace for the Moment

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Power Within

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Acts 1:8

God’s Spirit works in every believer. He doesn’t limit Himself to pastors and missionaries. If you’ve received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, then residing within you is the same great power that raised Christ from the dead. (See Rom. 8:11.) The Holy Spirit creates godly character in all who follow the Lord.

The fruit of the Spirit is the character and conduct the Holy Spirit produces in believers (Gal. 5:22-23). These are qualities that we can’t generate consistently on our own. Especially in this season, the most powerful message we can give isn’t a testimony or sermon; it’s the life we live when the pressure is on, temptation is tremendous, or we are buried under an avalanche of problems.

The world doesn’t need more festive decorations or empty songs. Instead, it needs to witness godly families loving one another, businesspeople working with integrity and frugality, and young men and women who choose moral purity. The world needs to be exposed to believers who are obedient.

By showing peace instead of anxiety, or practicing patience rather than speaking a sharp word, a Christian bears witness to the beauty of the gospel. We attract unbelievers to Jesus through our words and deeds. They may turn down a doctrine, but they can’t ignore a righteous life.

The strongest gospel message doesn’t always come from a pulpit. The most powerful witness for Jesus Christ where you work, where you live, and where you relax is you. In the next few weeks and into the new year, be mindful of the message you preach through your words and actions.

Bible in One Year: Galatians 1-3

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — The Birth of Christmas

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Read: Luke 1:26-38

Bible in a Year: Daniel 3-4; 1 John 5

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. —Matthew 1:24

When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and then to shepherds with good news for the world (Luke 1:26-27; 2:10), was it good news to this teenage girl? Perhaps Mary was thinking: How do I explain my pregnancy to my family? Will my fiancé Joseph call off the betrothal? What will the townspeople say? Even if my life is spared, how will I survive as a mother all alone?

When Joseph learned about Mary’s pregnancy, he was troubled. He had three options. Go ahead with the marriage, divorce her publicly and allow her to be publicly scorned, or break off the engagement quietly. Joseph chose option three, but God intervened. He told Joseph in a dream, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:20).

For Mary and Joseph, Christmas began with submitting themselves to God in spite of the unthinkable emotional challenges before them. They entrusted themselves to God and in doing so demonstrated for us the promise of 1 John 2:5: “If anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them.”

May God’s love fill our hearts this Christmas season—and every day—as we walk with Him. —Albert Lee

Fill my heart, Lord, with rejoicing at the gift of Your love and forgiveness found in Your Son Jesus.

Reflect on the wonder of Christmas by reading more about Mary and Joseph at discoveryseries.org/hp074

Obedience to God flows freely from a heart of love.

INSIGHT: The announcement that Mary would become pregnant and give birth to the Messiah is nestled in the middle of another pregnancy story—that of Zacharias and Elizabeth, relatives of Mary. This too was a miraculous pregnancy, as the couple was old and had never been able to have children. Their child, who would be John the Baptist, would preach repentance and prepare the way for the Messiah.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Our Union with Christ

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As is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 1 Corinthians 15:48

The head and members are of one nature, and not like that monstrous image that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. The head was of fine gold, but the belly and thighs were of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet partly of iron and partly of clay. Christ’s mystical body is no absurd combination of opposites. The members were mortal, and therefore Jesus died; the glorified head is immortal, and therefore the body is immortal too, as the record states: “Because I live, you also will live.”1

As is our loving Head, so is His body, and every member in particular. A chosen Head, therefore chosen members; an accepted Head, therefore accepted members; a living Head, therefore living members. If the head is pure gold, all the parts of the body are pure gold also. There is a double union of nature as a basis for the closest communion.

Pause here, devout reader, and see if you can contemplate the infinite condescension of the Son of God in exalting your wretchedness into blessed union with His glory without being overwhelmed by the wonder of it. You are so feeble and poor that in remembering your mortality, you may say to decay, “You are my father,” and to the worm, “You are my sister”; and yet in Christ you are so honored that you can say to the Almighty, “Abba, Father” and to the Incarnate God, “You are my Brother and my Husband.”

Surely if relationships to ancient and noble families make men think highly of themselves, we have more cause to glory than all of them. Let the poorest and most despised believer take hold upon this privilege; do not let an unthinking laziness prevent him from tracing his pedigree, and do not let him focus so much on the here and now that he fails to think profitably of this glorious, heavenly honor of union with Christ.

1) John 14:19

Family Bible Reading Plan

  • 2 Chronicles 6:12-42
  • 1 John 5

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – The Destroyer destroyed

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“That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Hebrews 2:14

Suggested Further Reading: Genesis 3:1-15

At last the day arrived; it was telegraphed to the court of hell that at last Christ would die. They rung their bells with hellish mirth and joy. “He will die now,” said he; “Judas has taken the thirty pieces of silver. Let those scribes and Pharisees get him, they will no more let him go than the spider will a poor unfortunate fly. He is safe now.” And the devil laughed for very glee, when he saw the Saviour stand before Pilate’s bar. And when it was said, “Let him be crucified,” then his joy knew no bounds, except that bound which his own misery must ever set to it. As far as he could, he revelled in what was to him a delightful thought, that the Lord of glory was about to die. In death, as Christ was seen of angels, he was seen of devils too; and that dreary march from Pilate’s palace to the cross was one which devils saw with extraordinary interest. And when they saw him on the cross, there stood the exulting fiend, smiling to himself. “Ah! I have the King of Glory now in my dominions; I have the power of death, and I have the power over the Lord Jesus.” He exerted that power, till the Lord Jesus had to cry out in bitter anguish, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” But, how short-lived was hellish victory! How brief was the Satanic triumph! He died; and “It is finished!” shook the gates of hell. Down from the cross the conqueror leaped, pursued the fiend with thunder-bolts of wrath; swift to the shades of hell the fiend did fly, and swift descending went the conqueror after him.

For meditation: The powers of darkness enjoyed only an hour of apparent victory over the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 22:53), but it resulted in his victory procession with them on public display as his captives (Colossians 2:15).

Sermon no. 166

6 December (1857)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – The Heir of All Things

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“In these last days [God] has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things” (Heb. 1:2).

Since Jesus is the Son of God, He is the heir of all that God possesses.

When Christ first came to earth He became poor for our sakes, that we, through His poverty, might be made rich (2 Cor. 8:9). He had nothing for Himself—He had “nowhere to lay His head” (Luke 9:58). Even His clothes were taken from Him when He died, and He was buried in a tomb that belonged to someone else.

It is beyond our understanding to imagine that the Galilean carpenter who was crucified like a common criminal, naked and bleeding on a cross outside the city of Jerusalem, is the King of kings and Lord of lords. But He is!

As the Son of God, Jesus is the heir of all that God possesses. The apostle Paul explains that all things not only were created by Christ but also for Him (Col. 1:16). Everything that exists will find its true meaning only when it comes under the final control of Christ.

The psalms predicted that Christ would one day be the heir to all that God possesses. The Father, speaking to the Son, says, “Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Thy possession'” (Ps. 2:8). God also declared, “I also shall make Him My first-born, the highest of the kings of the earth” (Ps. 89:27; cf. Col. 1:15). “First-born” refers to legal rights—especially those of inheritance and authority.

When Christ comes to earth again, He will completely and eternally inherit all things (Rev. 11:15). And because we have trusted in Him, we are to be “fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16-17). When we enter into His eternal kingdom, we will jointly possess all that He possesses. We will not be joint Christs or joint Lords, but will be joint heirs. His marvelous inheritance will be ours as well.

Suggestions for Prayer

Thank God for making you a joint heir with Christ. Thank your Lord for allowing that to happen through His death on the cross.

For Further Study

Read Revelation 5:1-14 and 11:15-18, noting how the inhabitants of heaven respond to Christ.

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Way to Wisdom

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“For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler for them that walk uprightly” (Proverbs 2:6,7, KJV).

One of my brothers and a sister and I recently stood at the bedside of our 93-year-old mother. The doctor and nurses had just left the room after informing her that she needed a pacemaker for her heart.

After the doctor left, she called us around her. “Now I want you to join with me in prayer,” she said. She began to pray, her countenance radiant from the joyful assurance that God was listening and would answer:

“Father in heaven, I need Your help. I do not know if I need a pacemaker, but You do. Tell me what to do, because You know what is best for me.”

“Mother,” I asked, when she had finished praying, “how will you know when God answers you?”

She replied, “God will tell me what to do as He always does.” Later in the day she informed the doctor that she would not need a pacemaker. The doctor was disappointed, and he encouraged her to reconsider.

After he left, I inquired, “Mother, how do you know that you’re not to have a pacemaker?”

“Well,” she replied, “before I prayed I had an impression that this was the right thing to do because the doctor and nurses felt so strongly, but as I prayed God seemed to take away the desire.” Months later we all agreed that she had made the right decision as her health was greatly improved.

For more than 75 years this beloved saint has known the faithfulness of this promise for wisdom. “He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler for them that walk uprightly.”

Is Christ real? Does He give answers to practical problems of life? Inquire of one who has walked with Him for more than three-quarters of a century and you will have no doubts. To achieve this wisdom, you must seek it with all your heart. The world’s wisdom, great as it may be cannot begin to measure up to the divine wisdom available to one who faithfully reads, studies, and meditates upon God’s Word and who has a close intimate relationship with Him in prayer.

Bible Reading: Proverbs 2:1-5

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will seek God’s supernatural wisdom by diligently studying God’s Word, through prayer and through fellowship with others who walk with God.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; H.L.M. – Priceless Gift

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Two-time Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington has starred in films such as Malcolm X, Glory, and The Book of Eli. Yet Washington considers his faith in Jesus Christ his priority. He daily reads the Bible and is one of Hollywood’s most devout Christians. In fact, Washington’s faith has influenced the roles he’s played – and the fact that he’s been married to the same woman since 1983, a lifetime by Hollywood standards, is a testimony in itself.

You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21

“I’ve had an opportunity to play great men and, through their words, to preach. I take what talent I’ve been given seriously, and I want to use it for good,” said Washington. “Everything that I have is by the grace of God. Understand that. It’s a gift.”

When the angel announced Jesus’ name to Joseph, he also explained His purpose: to rescue people from the power and the penalty of sin. Thank your Heavenly Father for the incredible, priceless gift of salvation. Gratefully unwrap your many blessings throughout this month as you draw near to Him and spend time in His presence. As you do, remember to include gratefulness for the privilege of being a praying American!

Recommended Reading: Hebrews 7:23-28

Night Light - James & Shirley Dobson

Night Light for Couples –Family Whispers

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“Be joyful always.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16

Levity and lightheartedness are glue that holds family members together. Families willing to laugh at funny stories about growing up are sure to forge a strong bond for the tough times.

We heard about a mother who decided to hold her squirming toddler in her lap during his first Muppet movie. Midway through, they lost control of a large Pepsi and a box of buttered popcorn. The gooey mixture flowed over the child into the mother’s lap. Since the movie was almost over, she decided to sit it out. What she didn’t know was that she and her son were being cemented together. When the movie ended, they stood up… and the mother’s wraparound skirt stuck to the bottom of the toddler, came unraveled, and followed him up the aisle. She stood there clutching her slip and thanking the Lord she had taken time to put one on!

Another mother wrote us about a little miscommunication involving her preschooler: “Perhaps there should be a uniform word for ‘potty’ when children have to go to the bathroom. My three‐year‐old has been taught to refer to that act as a ‘whisper.’ Well, his grandfather came to visit us, and in the middle of the night my son came to his bed and said, ‘Grandpa, I have to whisper.’ Not wanting to awaken his wife, he said, ‘Okay. Whisper in my ear.’” So the little boy did.

The telling and retelling of funny moments like these can connect families for generations. God created us with a sense of humor for a reason. We believe that He wants us to use it.

Just between us…

  • Why do you think that God created us with an ability to laugh?
  • Do you remember any funny family stories from your childhood?
  • How can we preserve our family heritage through stories?

Lord, we’re grateful we can share funny times with our kids. Help us make them part of a grand story that will bind us together for years. Amen.

From Night Light For Couples, by Dr. James & Shirley Dobson

C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis Daily – Today’s Reading

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On Freedom (and predestination)

Witness the doctrine of Predestination which shows (truly enough) that eternal reality is not waiting for a future in which to be real; but at the price of removing Freedom which is the deeper truth of the two.

From The Great Divorce

Compiled in Words to Live By

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Peace Beyond Comprehension

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Philippians 4:6-7

Once, after I gave a sermon on peace, a woman came up to speak with me on the status of her son, who’d been in a terrible accident. Doctors had given him little chance of survival, but he was slowly recovering. “What you said about peace passing our understanding is true,” she said to me. Even when her son was on the brink of death, her heart had been assured that the heavenly Father was near and in control.

Paul wrote from a prison cell to remind believers that giving their concerns over to God would result in peace. Having a quiet spirit in a storm of trouble doesn’t make any human sense—we’re “supposed” to become anxious; it’s only natural. But our God is supernatural, and He is living inside us in the form of the Holy Spirit, so we can remain peaceful.

No matter what harsh circumstances may challenge our faith, peace grounded in Christ can’t be broken. With the Father’s omnipotent hand protecting and providing for us, what reason do we have to be afraid or fretful? What we must do is keep our eyes and our faith focused upon the Lord. “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You” (Isa. 26:3).

We live in a world of conflict, and we often find ourselves suffering heartache. It’s easy to become fixated on a situation and how it has disrupted our lives. But peace comes from choosing to trust that God will bring about a resolution in His time and in His way.

Bible in One Year: Galatians 1-3

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — What Christmas Is All About

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Read: Luke 2:8-14

Bible in a Year: Daniel 1-2; 1 John 4

There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. —Luke 2:8

Fifty years ago A Charlie Brown Christmas was first broadcast on American television. Some network executives thought it would be ignored, while others worried that quoting the Bible would offend viewers. Some wanted its creator, Charles Schulz, to omit the Christmas story, but Schulz insisted it stay in. The program was an immediate success and has been rebroadcast every year since 1965.

When Charlie Brown, the frustrated director of the children’s Christmas play, is discouraged by the commercial spirit of the holiday season, he asks if anyone can tell him the real meaning of Christmas. Linus recites Luke 2:8-14 including the words, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (vv. 11-14 kjv). Then Linus says, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

During this season filled with our own doubts and dreams, it’s good to ponder afresh God’s great love expressed in the familiar story of Joseph, Mary, the baby Jesus, and the angels who announced the Savior’s birth.

That’s what Christmas is all about. —David McCasland

Father in heaven, as we approach Christmas, may we grasp in a deeper way Your amazing gift to us.

God broke into human history to offer us the gift of salvation!

INSIGHT: Two angels are named in the Bible: archangels Michael (Dan. 10:13; Jude 9; Rev. 12:7) and Gabriel (Dan. 8:16; 9:21; Luke 1:19, 26). Angels appeared a number of times in connection with Christ’s birth. Gabriel appeared to Zacharias (Luke 1:11-20) and then to Mary, announcing that she would become the mother of the Messiah (v. 26). An unnamed angel, which most scholars believe was Gabriel, appeared three times in dreams to Joseph (Matt. 1:20; 2:13, 19). Gabriel also announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds and, joined by a “multitude of the heavenly host,” declared glory to God (2:8-14).

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Hospital of the Cross

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Ask, and it will be given to you.

Matthew 7:7

There was a place in England that no longer exists, where a loaf of bread was served to every passerby who chose to ask for it. Whoever the traveler was, he had only to knock at the door of St. Cross Hospital, and the loaf of bread was his to enjoy. Jesus Christ loves sinners so much that He has built a St. Cross Hospital, so that whenever a sinner is hungry, he has only to knock and have his needs supplied.

He has actually done better: This Hospital of the Cross has a bath; and whenever a soul is marred and filthy, it may go to this effective fountain and be cleansed. No sinner ever went into it and found that it could not wash away his stains. Sins that were scarlet and crimson have all disappeared, and the sinner was made whiter than snow.

As if this were not enough, there is attached to this Hospital of the Cross a dressing room, and a sinner making application simply as a sinner may be clothed from head to foot; and if he wishes to be a soldier, he will be provided not just with street clothes, but with armor that will cover him from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. If he asks for a sword, that will be given to him, and a shield too. He will be denied nothing that is good for him. He will have spending money as long as he lives, and he will have an eternal heritage of glorious treasure when he enters into the joy of his Lord.

If all these things are available by simply knocking at mercy’s door, then, my soul, knock hard this morning, and make large requests of your generous Lord. Do not leave the throne of grace until all your wants have been spread before the Lord and until by faith you are confident that they will all be supplied.

You need not be shy about taking Jesus up on His invitation. No unbelief should hinder when Jesus promises. No coldheartedness should restrain when such blessings are to be obtained.

Family Bible Reading Plan

  • 2 Chronicles 5, 6:1-11
  • 1 John 4

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.