Advent Reading ~ Day 6~ In His Word December 6,2020
We are on the end of the first week and the beginning of
another! Look how close we are getting to Christmas and the New Years. Hope is
alive! Hope for Christmas, Hope for life in general and Hope for sharing the
story of Jesus with those around us. We need to take every chance to get the
word out that Jesus is Lord.
God has opportunity
in this time, in fact you could say it is for such a time as this! As we read
through Luke, we will find the section in chapter 2 that tells us of Simeon and
the blessing he had to hold the Messiah just as God had promised him years
before. He was told he would see the Messiah before he died. What a joy he must
have felt when he saw Joseph and Mary bring their son to the Temple as
tradition was to basically dedicate the child to God. I admit I laugh a bit
because they dedicated God, to God… think on that one for a moment. I hope I
gave you a smile.
At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He
was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and
rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he
would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. That day the Spirit led him
to the Temple. So, when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the
Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and
praised God, saying, “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you
have promised. I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all
people.” Luke 2:25-31
This year too many people are getting too uptight and stressed
out over the ‘new rules’ we must follow, and I just want to take the time to
tell you all to lighten up and just do the stuff we have to do. God will not
only honor us for doing the right thing and be proud of us, but I totally
believe we will be blessed in our going in and blessed in our going out as we
obey His Word and obey those in authority over us each day. When we fuss or
rebel all we are doing is causing people not to see Jesus in us. When we obey
the authority of God, we will trust Him to direct us in the right place.
Now we know He wants us to continue to gather together, but that does not mean we have to go into a church building.
Maybe we can gather with 6-10 people in a small group and glean from the Word and one another just as easily. We can worship in our homes with our family and our normal circle of friends or coworkers.
But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went
home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward
Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving
thanks to his God. Daniel 6:10
We do need to think like Daniel. He worshiped the Lord in
the privacy of his home, or room. He did not stop worshiping God or trusting Him
with his life just because it was forbidden. Though we do not want to go out of
our way stand out and be rebellious we do want to honor our King of Kings. Not
just this month, but all the time. We need to keep our eyes on Christ and
remember what He went through was way worse then anything we have to suffer. So,
let’s stop being babies and start being a witness in how we live our lives
today! Let us rejoice in God our Savior!
Simeon waited a long time to find the Savior, the Messiah,
our Lord, we can wait a few weeks to Christmas, a few months to find a cure…
let’s spend our time encouraging one another to rejoice and spend any extra
time we have celebrating Jesus with one another how ever we can get together
this year. In Jesus’ Name.