Emptied Out
Read: Philippians 2:5-11 [He] emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant. (v. 7) Paul loved the Philippian church. But he had heard that the sin of pride had become a problem for them. It often is for all of us. Pride tears holes in our Christlikeness and fractures congregational unity because pride is […]
The Dragon
Read: Revelation 12:1-6 And the dragon stood before the woman. (v. 4) If you read today’s passage on this Christmas Day, then you know we are a long way from “Silent Night.” John on the island of Patmos shows us what the birth of Christ looked like from a heavenly perspective, and it’s pretty terrifying. […]
Why Jesus Came
Read: 1 Timothy 1:12-17 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. (v. 15) The letters to Timothy and Titus are called “The Pastoral Epistles” because Paul wrote to these young men in their roles as pastors in Ephesus and the island of Crete. Timothy and Titus represented the second generation of preachers, and […]
Fullness
Read: Ephesians 1:3-10 . . . as a plan for the fullness of time. (v. 10) When Paul in Ephesians 1 climaxes his words about all the spiritual blessings we receive through Christ Jesus, he says that it is all possible because God made known the mystery of salvation in “the fullness of time.” We […]
All Things
Read: Colossians 1:15-20 . . . and in him all things hold together. (v. 17) After having looked at the early parts of the four Gospels, we will now look at other New Testament passages that remind us of what we are celebrating at Christmas. Today we come to an eye-popping passage from the apostle […]
Tabernacling
Read: John 1:14-18 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (v. 14) Earlier this month we used the analogy of the Bible as a keyboard. When one note is played, it forms chords with other parts of Scripture. The word usually translated as “dwelt” in John 1:14 creates not just a chord, but […]
Unrecognized
Read: John 1:6-13 . . . yet the world did not know him. (v. 10) John’s prologue is lofty poetry—it’s lyric. Curiously, however, John interrupts his own poetry in verse 6 to call a time-out. He needs to make clear that this Word of God he is singing about is not John the Baptist. That […]
Shines
Read: John 1:1-5 The light shines in the darkness. (v. 5) We saw earlier how Mark introduced us to “The beginning of the gospel.” Today John takes us back to the ultimate beginning by opening with the identical words from Genesis: “In the beginning.” Although John doesn’t contain any narrative about Jesus’ birth, he gives […]
Consolation
Read: Luke 2:22-40 Simeon . . . was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. (v. 25) This is our eleventh and final day of reflections from Luke. We have spent more time here than in the other three Gospels because Luke has so much more to tell us about the months surrounding […]