From Grief To Glory
By Sulare Fernando, 19, Sri Lanka I stare out into the sea beyond the horizon, The waves rise and fall across the blue ocean. I recalled one early morn six years ago, These waves thundered in, stealing everything I owned. Screams of despair sank beneath the water, The extent of tragedy was unveiled the day [...]
ODB: Amazing!
December 25, 2010
READ: Matthew 1:18-25
Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife. —Matthew 1:24
The Christmas story, recorded in Matthew and Luke, has become so familiar that I wonder if we grasp the reality of what actually happened: An angel told a young virgin that she would conceive a child by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:26-38). The angel then told her fiancé to marry her and name the baby Jesus, “for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Shepherds saw angels in the sky and were told of a Savior’s birth in Bethlehem (Luke 2:11). Wise men traveled hundreds of miles to worship the One who, they said, “has been born King of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2). Amazing!
Equally astonishing is that Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men did exactly as they had been told. Mary yielded herself to God; Joseph took her home as his wife; the shepherds went to Bethlehem to find the baby in a manger; and the wise men followed the star. With no idea of the outcome, they all took the next step by faith in the Lord. Amazing!
How is it with us this Christmas? Will we trust God and follow His leading even when we face uncertainty and overwhelming circumstances?
When you and I obey the Lord, the outcome is truly amazing!
- David C. McCasland
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading. —Chambers
Source: Our Daily Bread
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Loading ...ODJ: a different Christmas
He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever (v.4).
READ: Revelation 21:1-7
With gifts wrapped and under the tree, Christmas Eve came to a close. God’s goodness had been evident, but this year was different. Unfolding blankets and sheets, my husband and I created beds of the two couches in our family room. My husband’s parents, who live in town, were using our bedroom upstairs. Three months earlier, their oldest son—and only other child—had ended his life. Keeping them close, we wanted to remind them of what they still had as they continued to grieve what had been lost.
Christmas can be complicated. While parties, gifts, and family reunions are certainly blessings, they can’t take away the pain of broken relationships, absent loved ones, or unmet expectations. Without question, God is the Unchanging One who is the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17). But He is also a God who is well-acquainted with our suffering (Isaiah 53:3). Even the humble beauty of the nativity remains incomplete without the cross.
Not your typical Advent passage, Revelation 21 reminds us that we will one day experience a new heaven and new earth. The purpose in Christ putting on flesh was to restore what had been lost. God with us (Matthew 1:23). He not only comforts us in our sorrows, but He has promised that “He will live with [us], and [we] will be His people. God Himself will be with [us]” (v.3). The turmoil present in the world reminds us, “All creation has been groaning . . . . And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us . . . for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering” (Romans 8:22-23). Anxiously awaiting Jesus’ return, we are to celebrate His hope as He holds us in both our joy and our pain. —Regina Franklin
Are there aspects of this Christmas season that have been difficult for you? Why must hope be something we choose and not a feeling we wait to experience?
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...The Bright Star of Bethlehem
By David Wijaya, Indonesia The night when Jesus Christ was born, a star was shining brightly in the sky. The Bible recorded that during the rule of King Herod, Magi from the East (also known as Wise Men) came to Jerusalem seeking baby Jesus because they saw His star as it rose (Matthew 2:2). Surely [...]
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODB: Peace on Earth?
December 24, 2010
READ: Luke 2:8-14
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. —John 14:27
I wouldn’t want to pick a fight with a sky full of angels, but I must admit that I’ve always wondered about the promise of peace the angelic host made to the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem. For the last 2,000 years, peace on our planet has been at best a rare commodity. Wars continue to ravage innocent lives, domestic violence is a growing calamity, divorce rates soar, churches split, and peace in our restless and wayward hearts seems to be an elusive dream.
Where is the promised peace? Actually, on reflection, we can see that Jesus brought all that is needed for peace in our world. He taught the principles of peace, calling for people to love their neighbors as they love themselves. And as He was leaving this planet, He promised, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you” (John 14:27). He told us to turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, forgive offenses, reject greed, tolerate each other’s weaknesses, live to serve and love one another as He has loved us.
It seems that in large part, peace is up to us. Paul verifies that in Romans 12:18, “As much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” This Christmas, let’s make peace our gift to the world in which we live as we reflect the Prince of Peace.
- Joe Stowell
When we experience peace with God, we can share His peace with others.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(2 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5) Loading ...ODJ: watching
You, O God, are my fortress (v.9).
READ: Psalm 59:6-10
My 7-year-old son, Wyatt, loves chess. I first taught him to play on the chessboard in our local coffee shop, and last Christmas he asked for his own set to enjoy at home. Recently, we were playing after dinner, and Wyatt became infatuated with the knight—the piece that moves two squares, then one more square (like an “L”). His strategy was fixated on his desire to get the knight to move all over the board. So, with his focus fixed on the knight, I methodically moved one pawn (the piece that can move only one square at a time) across the entire board, taking out his pieces along the way.
We’re tempted to fixate on all kinds of things: our image, another person’s opinion of us, our success or our failures. When things go poorly for us (bad health news or relational disappointments or financial woes), we search everywhere and look to anyone in a flailing attempt to figure out how to change our situation. We try very hard to save ourselves.
The psalmist knew serious trouble. He spoke of violent men who were hunting him down, “snarling like vicious dogs” (Psalm 59:6). Their assaults were not merely physical: “Their words cut like swords,” he wrote (v.7). Do you feel as if someone is after you or as if some circumstance has consumed you? Are you experiencing a relationship that’s painful, that cuts to your soul?
Rather than working frantically to find your own remedy (which never ultimately works), Scripture invites you to turn to God, knowing that He’s the only One who can rescue you. The psalmist encourages us to quiet our heart, turn fully to God, and proclaim, “I watch for You” (v.9 NIV). We don’t watch for ourselves or our friend or our spouse. Our true help doesn’t come from these sources. We watch for God. —Winn Collier
Who or what do you watch for when you need help? What happens when we’re slow to watch for God?
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Keeping Christmas
By David C. McCasland It’s possible to keep Christmas and yet lose Christ. READ: Luke 1:26-45 That Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. —Luke 1:35 One of the most respected TV journalists of our time was Harry Reasoner. In 1971 he gave a Christmas commentary that [...]
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...Giving this Christmas: A Shared Life
Submitted by Melisa Manampiring, Indonesia In this season of giving, I would like to share a song that I wrote. May the words of this song inspire you to take note of the needy people around us.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ODB: Christmas – God’s Cure
December 23, 2010
READ: John 1:10-18
Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. —John 1:17
If your physician called you and in a serious voice said, “Please come in as soon as you can. I have something to discuss with you,” you would know he has bad news! Your first response might be, “No, I don’t want to know.” But you go because it is only when you know the diagnosis that you can learn the cure.
God, our Great Physician, also has some bad news—about man’s spiritual condition. When against His expressed warning Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God told Adam that all mankind would die spiritually and physically. That’s the bad news.
But He also gave the solution. He promised a Savior (Gen. 3:15). The apostle John tells us, “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). But how does that help? Jesus came that first Christmas to bring God’s grace, something that none of us deserve because like Adam we have all sinned. But Jesus also came to reverse what sin brought. He came to be the truth (John 14:6) that would bring us back to God. He came to “save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
Listen to what the Great Physician has to say in the Bible about your spiritual condition. Then accept the cure He has provided—the gift of salvation through Christ.
- C. P. Hia
Spiritual blindness can be cured only by the Great Physician.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ODJ: forgetting faces
Remember the Lord your God. He is the One who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant He confirmed to your ancestors with an oath (v.18).
READ: Deuteronomy 8:11-18
In 2004, a woman named Claire contracted viral encephalitis. After treatment for her illness at a local hospital, she returned home. But her memory had been dramatically affected. Claire developed a condition known as prosopagnosia—the inability to recognize faces. After several years of effort, she can finally pick out her husband’s countenance in a crowd, but she still can’t point out her children if they’re with a group of friends.
Claire’s condition reminds me of something Moses warned the Israelites about—forgetting the face of God. Just prior to God’s people concluding their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, at the doorstep to the Promised Land, the prophet gave them a loving warning: “Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey His commands” (Deuteronomy 8:11). Moses knew that in Canaan the people would trade tents for “fine homes” and manna for bountiful buffets of food that would leave them “full” (v.12).
When prosperous days come calling (v.12), you and I are often tempted to forget what God has done for us (v.15). We become proud and convinced that our goods and great success came about by our “own strength and energy” (vv.14,17). It’s a subtle change that happens as we leave humility (caused by humble circumstances) and embrace arrogance and self-reliance (prompted by prosperity).
If things are going well for you today, drop to your knees and humbly thank God. “He is the One who gives you power to be successful” (v.18). Don’t forget His face.
If you’re being humbled by life’s challenges, thank God for this “wilderness” that can cause you to seek and depend on Him. Although we sometimes forget His face, He never forgets ours. —Tom Felten
In what ways have you forgotten God? What will you do today to celebrate who God is and what He has done for you?
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