The day we have anticipated has arrived! It is not only a time to think on this child who came to save the world but also preparation for the arrival of a new year. A chance to start over. New beginnings.
I have said before that the baby in the manager means more to me than the birth of Christ. When I think about the swaddling cloth wrapped around him in the manger I also think of the cloth that He was wrapped in lying in the darkness of a tomb thirty-three and a half years after His birth.
That is when we really know the importance of the star, the swaddling clothes, the manger, the shepherds, the wise men…He was born to die. Born to die that we might live eternally.
He would leave the “swaddling clothes” of death behind as He walked from the tomb of death, alive! That to me is the completion of the Christmas Story. Without the tomb the birth would just be a birth. Wouldn’t that be the end of the story? And yet…
Because he defeated death our belief in Him assures us that we will to. It is the completion of the greatest event in history. It is His birth, death and life again. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Eternal life is only available through Him.
Thought For Today:
May You have a blessed and very Merry Christmas! May you find the beauty of Christmas and the joy of knowing the Savior!
Scripture For Today:
Luke 2:12
12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. (NKJV)
John 20: 6-8
6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. (NKJV)
Prayer For Today:
Hello Father! We kneel before You with a humbled spirit. There is such beauty in the birth, life, death and resurrection. You magnificently made provision for we in a lost world to come to You, pure as the first snow. Thank You for Your love, that You hear us when we pray and You answer us. Forgive us of our sins. In Jesus’ name.Amen.