Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please take the time to take in video of Mark Lowry singing one of my favorite Christian songs about Christmas, Mary, Did You Know, … asking if Mary, the mother of our Lord, recognized that her Son, wrapped in swaddling cloths was the great “I AM”
Highlight Passage #1 Philippians 2: 6-7 [NKJV] … Christ will come again as our High Priest to fulfill His final mission …
6 [Our LORD] … Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
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Highlight Context - Philippians 2: 5-11 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK … God set aside His glorious “wrappings” and the majesty of His position in His incarnation as a human babe in a manger
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Reference Passage #1 - Isaiah 9: 6 [NKJV] …
6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Reference Passage #2 - Luke 2: 7 [NKJV] …
7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Joe Stowell, tells of how is wife, Martie, who, each Christmas, would tell all those around the tree to carefully unwrap each gift, saving the wrappings so that they could be used to wrap the gifts for the next year. But I’m afraid our family is not quite so fastidious about the wrappings, the kids especially just wanting to know what’s inside the wrappings [see attached photo]; and the wrappings, in short order find themselves in piles on the floor around the tree.
Well, when the most glorious gift ever given to mankind came into this world, the wrappings were a surprise to those who experienced Christ as a babe in a manger, … as a young boy in the Temple, … and as an itinerant Rabbi, Who actually was THE MESSIAH, teaching in the hills of Galilee in His days on earth.
No, likely because of the prophesy of Isaiah (see Isaiah 9: 6, copied above), the people expected to see THE MESSIAH in the wrappings of a glorious King, coming in power to overthrow the oppressors of the Jews, the Romans. But as is described later, after His birth, death, and resurrection, by the Apostle Paul [see the link to Philippians 2: 5-11, especially copied verses 6-7], our Lord set aside His glory and any majesty, and as the Physician Luke described it [see Luke 2: 7]; and He was born into the life of two common-place Jews, Mary and Joseph, and laid Him as a newborn in a manger in swaddling cloths. Such common wrappings for such a glorious gift delivered by God, the Father, to all of mankind for their deliverance.
Perhaps this year as your family is sitting around the tree at Christmas and the presents are so beautifully wrapped, before we tear open those wrappings, we can call our attention to the wrappings … to remember just how glorious was the gift our Savior was to us, … The Gift Who came to us in such common wrappings.
My Prayer for Today … Lord, … Oh that You, our Messiah, would come in such a common way so that we could identify with the God of the universe. … Praise Your Holy Name!! Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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