Easter at Immanuel
Come and experience the hope, joy, and new life found in Jesus!
Everyone is welcome—bring a friend!
Day 21 Advent Devotional | December 24th
Published December 23, 2022
John 1:14
And God does not stop speaking with Jesus’ earthly coming. The good news of the gospel is not just that God has spoken His word to mankind, but that God keeps on speaking through Jesus by His Spirit in the world. That first Christmas was a beginning not an end. And God’s speaking voice is not merely an ideal for a mass of men, but it is a relationship for the individual. When we celebrate Christmas we are not just remembering a day long ago that happened, we are celebrating the revolution of the heart that continues on every moment of every day we live and move and find our being in Jesus.
On this Christmas Eve, we do not just remember a manger in Bethlehem, we give witness the ever-living logos of God. God is still speaking into the world through Jesus. But just as importantly, God is still speaking through Jesus into your heart. Our Christmases are full of light and noise and glitter and gifts. These are not bad things in of themselves, but if they drown out the speaking voice of God that is Christ’s Spirit in us, then we have missed an opportunity to participate in the logos of God. There is a time for singing at Christmas, but there is much more a time for listening and responding. What is God’s speaking voice saying to you today?
Prayer: Father, you are always speaking. Quiet my soul to hear your voice. Give me ears to hear that I might draw closer to you. There are so many voices, including my own, which are clamoring for the attention of my heart. I want to you to have the microphone. Speak life and truth in me I pray.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.When John writes that the WORD became flesh, he uses the Greek term logos. Jesus is the logos, the word of God who has become flesh. Logos is a term that is not merely defined by a word. In Greek, it also means “thought” or “idea” When thinking of this word logos, one writer calls Jesus the speaking voice of God. When John says the word became flesh and dwelt among us, He is not only referring to Jesus’ human interaction with this world. He is also referring to Jesus on a cosmological scale. In Jesus, God speaks His living word into being forever. Incarnation!
And God does not stop speaking with Jesus’ earthly coming. The good news of the gospel is not just that God has spoken His word to mankind, but that God keeps on speaking through Jesus by His Spirit in the world. That first Christmas was a beginning not an end. And God’s speaking voice is not merely an ideal for a mass of men, but it is a relationship for the individual. When we celebrate Christmas we are not just remembering a day long ago that happened, we are celebrating the revolution of the heart that continues on every moment of every day we live and move and find our being in Jesus.
On this Christmas Eve, we do not just remember a manger in Bethlehem, we give witness the ever-living logos of God. God is still speaking into the world through Jesus. But just as importantly, God is still speaking through Jesus into your heart. Our Christmases are full of light and noise and glitter and gifts. These are not bad things in of themselves, but if they drown out the speaking voice of God that is Christ’s Spirit in us, then we have missed an opportunity to participate in the logos of God. There is a time for singing at Christmas, but there is much more a time for listening and responding. What is God’s speaking voice saying to you today?
Prayer: Father, you are always speaking. Quiet my soul to hear your voice. Give me ears to hear that I might draw closer to you. There are so many voices, including my own, which are clamoring for the attention of my heart. I want to you to have the microphone. Speak life and truth in me I pray.