Press the arrow to listen to Chris Tomlin’s newest Christmas song.
Scripture On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Matthew 2:11
Observation
How could strangers new to town draw such a crowd of gawkers? Wisemen walking through Bethlehem were like orange robed Buddhist monks trying to blend into a Kansas town Main Street. The king of the land and the head office priests all wanted to have a peek at the baby. And of course the shepherds had already been and left. Mary and Joseph were so new that their number wasn’t yet listed in the phonebook. No one knew who they were or that they were even there.
But Jesus was there and that made all the difference.
Jesus is attractive. It started when he was a baby. He would later say of his death, that nailing him high on a cross would only draw more people to him. I get this picture in my head a heavy object in the centre of a blanket that makes everything else slide to the middle. When Jesus was present a crowd gathered.
Application
I want Jesus present. Activity and programs can sometimes cover up the embarrassing reality that Jesus is not with us. The star is gone, but we think the show must go on. But when Jesus is with us things come together and everyone comes. It may be simple but the theology works. I’ve been pondering on this sentence in the last two days: Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now. It comes from Matthew 6:34 in The Message. If we would only ask what God is doing and then become involved in it we would be like shepherds and wiremen who were there to watch the most amazing event in human history. Simeon and Anna asked it too and got to be in on the front row. But no one else asked that question, so they were home in bed. I want to ask that question so I’m present for the miracle of Christ present when it happens.
Prayer Father, what are you doing right now? Where is it happening? Help me to be in it. Amen.
Then listen to the song before reading today’s devotion.
Scripture I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 2 Corinthians 11:2-4
Observation
The first rule for being a best man is to never have an affair with future wife of your best friend. That blunt advice works not only for a wedding but also for a church. Christ is the groom and the church is the bride. Where does that leave the pastor? He is, what John the Baptist called himself, a “friend of the bridegroom.” The minister’s job is to connect the bride and the groom and to get out of the way.
For a man, female attention is flattering. I saw it happen in Starbucks last week, where a man in his seventies lapped up the attention of a young woman 50 years under his age. If it happens in romance, it can happen in ministry. The local church is called to worship, give, serve, submit, follow and more all for Christ. But when that is focused for even a moment on a leader it can feel invigorating. It may be as harmless as a thank you at the door that should be pointed toward the Lord but is pocketed by the preacher.
If the bride is immature, she can settle for the attention of a pastor rather than the affection of the Lord. The Corinthian christians were as immature as giggly girls at a junior high dance. Personalities meant more to them than Jesus. They took pride in their pastors rather than in the Lord. They felt important because their leaders seemed important. Immature “super-apostles” loved it and flirted with Jesus’ wife. Paul was aware and kept pointing their attention back to Jesus.
Application
I want Paul’s resolve in me. He cared for the bride but he never touched her. His job was to give her back to Jesus, ready for the big day, Paul saw himself as more than a best man of Jesus. He led as if he were the father of the bride. He raised his daughter, paid all the bills, and gave her away to another man. I’m thankful in life that I’ve had times that I have felt powerless. It helps me to keep detached when I lead. No one belongs to me. Everything is Christ’s. Success is giving everything back to him better than I found it.
Prayer Father, today I ask for indifference in me while I make a difference for you. Amen.
I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. 2 Corinthians 7:3
Observation
One of the reasons us Christians are squeezed together in the church is to explore all that it means for us to be Christ’s family. If we make the most of community life we can discover that church family will mean more to us than our parents or immediate family.
That’s not to be unkind to our own kinfolk. It’s just saying what Jesus said. The family were within earshot when Jesus spoke.
Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:47-50
Few experience family through the church. They touch the edges of it. They shake the hands of strangers after the singing is finished. They hug a bible for comfort on their lap during a small group. They nibble spaghetti of a sagging paper plate at the church pot luck. They they are in the wading pool of relationships. Few have plunged into the deep end of family.
Just as we modern Christians have processed the lavish communion meal into thimble goblets and postage stamp bread, so we’ve dehydrated the family of God. We need a new generation who will walk heart-first into every predictable activity and fill it with meaning. It is a choice to open an inner sitting room of our heart where only blood relatives have entered and let God’s people in there. It is a holy courage not to let any event be perfunctory but family.
Application
I’m thankful that for 25 years of living away from my family that I came to love brothers and sisters in Christ’s family as my own. They became our grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles. That experience has ruined me for life. I can’t attend church for long without turning it into my own family reunion. I want to be part of a body where everyone does that too.
Prayer
Father, teach us to be family again. Amen.
ScriptureI have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. 2 Corinthians 7:3
Observation One of the reasons us Christians are squeezed together into church is to explore all that it means for us to be Christ’s family. If we make the most of community life we can discover that church family will mean more to us than our parents or immediate family.
That’s not to be unkind to our own kinfolk. It’s just saying what Jesus said. The family were within earshot when Jesus spoke.
Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:47-50
Few experience family through the church. They touch the frame but they are not in the family picture. They shake the hands of strangers after the singing is finished. They hug a Bible for comfort on their lap during a small group. They nibble spaghetti of a sagging paper plate at the church pot luck. They they are in the wading pool of relationships. Few have plunged into the deep end of family.
Just as we modern Christians have processed the lavish communion meal into thimble goblets and bird feed bread, so we’ve dehydrated the family of God. We need a new generation who will walk heart-first into every predictable activity and fill it with meaning. It is a choice to open an inner sitting room of our heart where only blood relatives have entered and let God’s people in there. It is a holy courage not to let any event be perfunctory but family.
Application I’m thankful that for 25 years of living thousands of miles from my family that I came to love brothers and sisters in Christ’s family as my own. They became our grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles. That experience has ruined me for life. I can’t attend church for long without turning it into my own family reunion. I want to be part of a body where everyone does that too.
Prayer   Father, teach us to be family again. Amen.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6
Observation
What is the purpose of my life? That is the ultimate question of living. But where is the answer to be found?
To see Christ is to see our purpose for living. Jesus is man fully alive who alone of the whole human race can show us what it means to be fully human. In Jesus there more than a man with a purpose, he is Christ so he is THE purpose. That is why he calls us to follow him. Jesus is the only human who knows where he is going because he is God.
We will find our purpose for living when we see Christ’s face. That sounds out of reach, doesn’t it? We might as well be asked to see the dark side of the moon. How can we on earth see Christ’s face without dying? Paul says it is simple. He could say for certain because he had seen Christ’s face, brighter than the noon sun. The brilliant face of Christ is to be seen in our hearts.
The blazing glory of the resurrected Christ is glowing inside of us. That is why it is so important for us daily to spend unhurried and uninterrupted time with Christ. The resurrection needs to move from an ancient tomb to Christ alive who speaks to us today. The ascension needs to be more than a Renaissance painting, but the vivid sense of Christ piercing the darkness of evil around us. The throne of God needs to be more than a future hope, but a fresh experience of hearing Jesus Christ pray for us by name before our Father. Jesus is not remote, he is near if we will take time to seek him.
Application
There is more of Christ available for me than I take advantage of. Right now I’m watching a sunrise. Our home has a seventh story, 36 foot glass wall facing east that makes sunrise unavoidable. How many sunrises I have missed in other homes. But not in this one. I see them all. As C.S. Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
Prayer
Father, I refuse to believe that the vision Paul or John had of the glory of Christ is out of my reach. It is yours to give. I want to see your glory in the face of Christ. I am not seeking some mystical experience, but one connected with real life. I want to see Christ in the faces of those around me, in the words of the Bible, in songs of worship and in the thousands of events in this day where the finger of God moves and just because you are thinking of me. I want to see Christ so that I may know where I am going. Amen.
Press the arrow to listen to Hillsong United sing “Lord of Lords” as you read today’s devotion about the face of Christ.
Scripture
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6
Observation
What is the purpose of my life? That is the ultimate question of living. But where is the answer to be found?
To see Christ’s face is to find our purpose for living. Jesus is man fully alive who alone of the whole human race can show us what it means to be fully human. In Jesus there more than a man with a purpose, he is Christ so he is THE purpose. That is why he calls us to follow him. Jesus is the only human who knows where he is going because he is God.
Seeing Christ’s face seems out of reach, doesn’t it? We might as well be asked to see the dark side of the moon. How can we on earth see Christ’s face without death? Paul says it is simple. The brilliant face of Christ is to be seen in our hearts. Paul could speak from experience. He had seen Christ’s face brighter than the noon sun.
The blazing glory of the resurrected Christ is glowing inside of we who know him. That is why it is so important for us daily to spend unhurried and uninterrupted time with Christ. The resurrection needs to move from an ancient tomb to Christ alive who speaks to us today. The ascension needs to be more than a Renaissance painting, but the vivid sense of Christ piercing the darkness of evil around us. The throne of God needs to be more than a future hope, but a fresh experience of hearing Jesus Christ pray for us by name before our Father. Jesus is not remote, he is near if we will take time to seek him.
Application
There is more of Christ available for me than I take advantage of. Right now I’m watching a sunrise. Our home has a seventh story, 36 foot glass wall facing east that makes sunrise unavoidable. How many sunrises I have missed in other homes. But not in this one. I see them all. As C.S. Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
Prayer
Father, I refuse to believe that the vision Paul or John had of the glory of Christ is out of my reach. It is yours to give. I want to see your glory in the face of Christ. I am not seeking some mystical experience, but one connected with real life. I want to see Christ in the faces of those around me, in the words of the Bible, in songs of worship and in the thousands of events in this day where the finger of God moves and just because you are thinking of me. I want to see Christ so that I may know where I am going. Amen.
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:1-6
Observation
What did Job get for asking too much of God?
The little scab-picker was gutsy. Job believed not only that he would be able to speak to God face to face, but also that God would explain himself to a man on his sick bed.
Job did get his appointment with God, but it wasn’t what he imagined. Instead of him asking God questions, the Lord questioned Job.
Like the rest of us, Job blamed God to make himself feel better. What drives that demand is the notion that there is some standard even higher than God himself that somehow the Almighty must answer to. And of course, we imagine that us humans have the right to take God to the complaint desk.
What Job got for asking too much of God was a graduate course in the sovereignty of God. The Lord is in control and he doesn’t have to answer to anyone. The Lord has plans greater than our imagination and he does not have to explain himself. Yet what motivates his silence is love.
Application
What are we supposed to do when God doesn’t explain himself to us? We certainly can’t become fatalistic, that whatever will be will be. No, we don’t resign ourselves to fate, we have a Father. The best response to God’s silence is silence of our own. Instead of trying to stop God dismantling what we treasure, we ought instead to ponder his ways and give him time. He does not explain himself, but love is at work. Our Father does make all things beautiful in their time.
Prayer
Father, I’m done trying to figure you out. If I want your power at work in my life then I must let you be out of my control. You don’t have to explain anything to me. I will just follow and be amazed at what can happen when you do as you would like. Amen.
Scripture
Then Job replied to the LORD :
“I know that you can do all things;
no plan of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:1-6
Observation
Job was a scab-picker and he had a bone to pick with God. He was gutsy. Job believed not only that he would be able to speak to God face to face, but also that God would explain himself to a man on his sick bed.
What did Job get for asking too much of God?
Job did get his appointment with God, but it wasn’t what he imagined. Instead of him asking God questions, the Lord questioned Job.
Like the rest of us, Job blamed God to make himself feel better. What drives that demand is the notion that there is some standard even higher than God himself that somehow the Almighty must answer to. And of course, we imagine that us humans have the right to take God to the complaint desk.
What Job got for asking too much of God was a graduate course in the sovereignty of God. The Lord is in control and he doesn’t have to answer to anyone. The Lord has plans greater than our imagination and he does not have to explain himself. Yet what motivates his silence is love.
Application
What are we supposed to do when God doesn’t explain himself to us? We certainly can’t become fatalistic, that whatever will be will be. No, we don’t resign ourselves to fate, we have a Father. The best response to God’s silence is silence of our own. Instead of trying to stop God dismantling what we treasure, we ought instead to ponder his ways and give him time. He does not explain himself, but love is at work. Our Father does make all things beautiful in their time.
Prayer
Father, I’m done trying to figure you out. If I want you to be bigger than my problems then I must let you be out of my control. You don’t have to explain anything to me. I will just follow and be amazed at what can happen when you do as you would like. Amen.
Scripture If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience’ sake—the other man’s conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another’s conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? 1 Corinthians 10:27-30
Observation
Convictions are little rules we apply to ourselves that do more good for us than for God. There may be some wild part of our personality that we need to bring under God’s control and so our conscience applies a principle toward something better. Three cheers for convictions. They can get us out of everything from nail biting to binge drinking.
But convictions can be irritating to others. Some folks are irritated that we don’t have enough of them and others are put out that we even have just one. If we’re not careful, what others can experience from us is not the soft hand of grace but the back hand of the law.
I love how Paul applied his convictions. For him, the hot topic was buying meat with a smiling picture of Zeus on the wrapper. He didn’t want to eat drumsticks snatched off of Hercules altar, so he boycotted temple food. But there were bumper guards for his convictions. He didn’t dig through the garbage at a friend’s barbecue to find out where his T-Bone steak came from. Nor did he push away a hearty bowl of Saturn Stew served up at the neighborhood block party. He had convictions, but he always obeyed first the law of love.
What Paul advocated may sound at first inconsistent, but Paul was perfectly consistent with the law of love.
Application
We need to have convictions “for” good as much as we have convictions “against” wrong. We can be so right that we are absolutely wrong if we ignore the law of love.
Prayer Father, I pray that you will give me convictions but show me how to round the edges of them without cutting corners so that others experience not rejection by me but love for you. Amen.
Scripture There is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life. 1 Corinthians 8:6
Observation
I look out my fourteen foot long sliding glass door to a widescreen sky. Swirls of white clouds, each miles long, are brushed against a light blue background as broad as the planet. God paints fine details with a very big brush. All that I see was made through one man, Jesus Christ. Creation formed through one being is a lot to take in, but every daisy, bumblebee, kangaroo, orca, redwood, lava flow and lightning bolt came through his fingers. The planet ricochets with life today because God the Father made the world through Jesus.
I see all creation with my eyes for one reason: so that I may understand what Jesus is doing in my life. When I’m told that through Jesus Christ I have been “given life” this is not just a bit of colour to my face. The power of Jesus Christ in me is as grand as the Pacific Ocean, the Amazon rainforest, the Himalayas, the Antarctic ice shelves and every fish, sloth, yak and penguin on them. Through Jesus I am more than alive, I really live. The world has been created through him and in him I am being recreated. If the words spoken in Genesis 1 reverberate in echos of teaming colour, energy and vitality, then how much more does the word of God spoken through Jesus Christ change me?!
Only in Jesus can I come to the edges of what it means to be fully human. Only in Christ am I fully alive. I had dinner with a frat house student after his first semester. Christianity, he told me, was so constricting, but now off campus he was living it up. I told him that my choice to follow Jesus began an adventure for me that has taken me further than I could have ever imagined. Just as it was for the first disciples, those who follow Jesus don’t die where they were born and along the way they really live. Everyone else is tethered and slowly being bored to death.
Application
This life-surge from Jesus happens only if I accept the power of his title as my Lord. This means he has the authority to control everything, especially me. To him I give permission to have his way.
Prayer Jesus, you are my Lord. I reaffirm today that you have the right to do whatever you like in me. Just speak your recreating word in me so that my life today is a Genesis 1 experience. Let my life come alive as you speak your creative words in me. I expect my life today to be as alive as the great outdoors. Jesus let me really live! Amen.
I'm Phil McCallum, a husband, father and most of all one of the people Jesus loves. I'm privileged to serve Evergreen Community Church in Bothell, Washington as Senior Pastor where people love enough to believe "it's all about relationships." In 1982 I made a vow to read God's word daily and apply it to life. Each day I write out my reflections. Some days I post those on my blog. It's a little personal but it's my hope it will stir you to go deeper still. Learn how I do my devotions. These are my thoughts and not necessarily those of the ministry I serve. By the way check out the computer study Bible Glo. I highly recommend it.
