"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." Psalm 100:4
Perhaps you are wondering why I would use the verse above to open the devotional- after all, we tend to associate this verse with the Thanksgiving holiday and we are getting ready to celebrate Christmas. For the Christian each day should be a day to give God thanksgiving and praise, but especially now as we are in the Christmas season. What better time to thank the Lord for the wonderful gift of His Son who came into the world to save us from our sins.
It is so easy to get caught up in all the trappings that we associate with Christmas that we forget why we are celebrating. It is so easy to get anxious about all the demands and details that go along with the preparation for our celebration. It is so easy to let the pressures of finding the "right" gift, having the finances to pay for it, and time limitations to get it all done before it's too late, make us frustrated. As we are paying attention to the "externals" that we call Christmas we can miss the true reason for our celebration.
We need to stop all our running around and take time to offer up thanksgiving and praise for the true reason behind Christmas. We need to thank the Lord for His gift. We need to thank Him for not leaving us in our sins but providing a way of escape. We need to thank Him for paying the greatest price ever paid to redeem us. We need to praise Him for His wonderful grace, for eternal life, for devising a plan to save us and for fulfilling that plan. In short, we need to praise Him for the true meaning of Christmas and the great gift of love that He gave to the world that first Christmas night.
Have a great day. Don't let the true meaning or your praise get lost among the trappings of what we consider Christmas.
For further reading:
John 3:16,17
Romans 5:8
Matthew 1:21
It is so easy to get caught up in all the trappings that we associate with Christmas that we forget why we are celebrating. It is so easy to get anxious about all the demands and details that go along with the preparation for our celebration. It is so easy to let the pressures of finding the "right" gift, having the finances to pay for it, and time limitations to get it all done before it's too late, make us frustrated. As we are paying attention to the "externals" that we call Christmas we can miss the true reason for our celebration.
We need to stop all our running around and take time to offer up thanksgiving and praise for the true reason behind Christmas. We need to thank the Lord for His gift. We need to thank Him for not leaving us in our sins but providing a way of escape. We need to thank Him for paying the greatest price ever paid to redeem us. We need to praise Him for His wonderful grace, for eternal life, for devising a plan to save us and for fulfilling that plan. In short, we need to praise Him for the true meaning of Christmas and the great gift of love that He gave to the world that first Christmas night.
Have a great day. Don't let the true meaning or your praise get lost among the trappings of what we consider Christmas.
For further reading:
John 3:16,17
Romans 5:8
Matthew 1:21
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