Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of Charles Schultz’s character, Linus, telling his friend, Charlie Brown, and the world, about the essence of Christmas … A Charlie Brown Christmas. And THEN USE THIS LINK to hear my favorite Christmas song, sung by Mark Lowry, Mary, Did You Know, which declares who was really born in that manger Luke wrote about so long ago.
Highlight Passage: Luke 2:11 [NKJV] …
11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
… The angels declare to the shepherds near Bethlehem, the coming of Messiah.
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Highlight Context – Luke 2: 8-14 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s proclamation of the incarnation.
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Reference Passage #1 - Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Prophesied 700+ years before He came in that manger to save you and me.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Davis C McCasland, helped me (and his readers) to recognize and realize the essence of the Advent season by writing about the animated TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas. He wrote: Fifty years ago A Charlie Brown Christmas was first broadcast on American television. Some network executives thought it would be ignored, while others worried that quoting the Bible would offend viewers. Some wanted its creator, Charles Schulz, to omit the Christmas story, but Schulz insisted it stay in. The program was an immediate success and has been rebroadcast every year since 1965.
If you’ve seen the endearing TV presentation, Charlie Brown is searching for the essence of the Christmas season and he comes, in frustration, to his friends who laugh at him. But his insecure little friend, Linus, all of a sudden full of confidence, walks to the stage and gives the monologue Luke wrote in Luke 2 [linked above] about the coming of the Messiah. And Linus then walks over to Charlie Brown and announces, ”That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”
And oh how I wish I had grasped the essence of Linus’ truth in 1965, when I was in college, struggling to find spiritual strength in my life. If I had turned to the One born in a manger and seen what Mark Lowry sings to Mary, in the song linked above, I could have saved myself 18 years of agnostic struggle. … Because, it was not until 1983 when, like Charlie Brown, I came to see and recognize that it was my Savior, … MY LORD, … who was born in that manger in Bethlehem, … prophesied by Isaiah over 700+ years before He came to us (see prophesies above).
But now I know the truth of the Luke 2 declaration of the angels; and I could sing to Mary as does Mark Lowry so poignantly, and to everyone … that the little babe, born in a Manger and shown first to those outcast shepherds, was GOD WITH US, … IMMANUEL, … come in a manger to save the world.
So, … as we go through the Advent Season, my fellow Christians, rejoice with the shepherds and as Linus was able to do for Charlie Brown, … to look past all the commercial glitz and see that little child, born in a cave in Bethlehem, … come to save you and me … and to die for our sins.
And as Linus declared to Charlie … That’s what Christmas is all about!!!
My Prayer Today: Oh, dear Lord, … You were that Babe in a manger; and I’m overwhelmed that You would be born to die for me. … 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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