by Leigh Ann Dilley on December 22, 2023
Anytime we meet God, it compels a response. It's a pivotal moment. No one remains quite the same. The birth of Jesus is no different, especially after 400 years of silence between God and Man. This was the focus of week three of our Emmanuel Devotional. Let us consider our responses to the Lord of lords.
First, there might be awe and wonder. The Bible tells us God spoke creation into being. Since 1995, scientists have discovered over 3,000 galaxies. It's extraordinary to think about all God has created, including the creation of every person. Even every breath we breathe comes from God! If that does not generate enough awe and wonder, consider God made a way for all who believe to come to Him by leaving the comforts of heaven and coming to us first. Every one of God's promises have been fulfilled. Every one of them! That merits a response of praise, awe, and wonder.
Then there is our response of faith. "Faith is a gift from the Lord that enables us to believe and trust in him." The author states when we respond in faith, we acknowledge all that is true of God, who God is, and who He says we are. Ask Him for the grace to walk in this truth. "The starting point of greater faith is always greater reliance on the giver of faith." The truth of God's word and keeping our eyes on Jesus is how we grow the faith muscle.
Awareness of waywardness bids a response, a change in direction. It's called repentance. Repentance requires both a turning toward Jesus and a changed life, turning away from sin. Repentance is a transformed heart that declares that God is God, and we are not. We turn from believing otherwise. "Through the baby in the manger, God took care to meet us in our waywardness and deliver us."
At some point, we come to a response of thanksgiving; if, for nothing else, for the hope we set on Jesus. He supplies all our needs. He relieves our anxieties and gives us peace. True peace with God is the good news of the gospel, and the byproduct is trusting God through prayer. When our hope is secure in Jesus, we can give thanks in any season — the good and the bad — because when we are rooted in the truth of God's words, our thanksgiving increases.
The love of Christmas and of the cross are celebrations of God's love for us. God authored this love so we could know and experience His love and the love for others. Jesus commanded His disciples to love by imitation and implication. Imitation means to love as Jesus loved us. By implication, it means that the world would know God by seeing how we respond to loving others. Love is not a response we muster up on our own, but rather an outworking of what grows within us when we follow in the steps of Jesus. We can take this kind of love throughout the world.
The final response this week was our response of worship. Like it or not, we were created to praise God for His goodness and faithfulness. Christmas is not about stuff. Stuff will never satisfy. If there is something in your life that means more to you than Jesus, bring it to the manger this Christmas and surrender your greatest treasure there. Whatever it is will never compare to your relationship with Jesus. And remember, it's only because of Jesus that we are made worthy to worship Him in the first place.
