For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11
Christmas is coming.
And that means in the light of catastrophic economic headlines, a lot of people are wondering how they are going to make their dollars stretch to celebrate Christmas in a proper way.
Now, there are two schools of thought when it comes to celebrating Christmas.
In front of me, I have the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog. It tells me I can buy my wife a $1.44 million submarine, or she can get a private concert for the two of us with Russia's Kirov Orchestra.
Silly? Maybe. But somebody just might buy a "his and hers" gift such as commissioning portraits done in Bosco® Chocolate Syrup by artist Vik Muniz. Is it possible you are in the market for the $73,000 cell phone that is decorated with 7.2 carats of white and pink diamonds?
But I said there were two schools of thought. The first is that of the world that deals with the accumulation of things. The second is that of our heavenly Father.
He wants us to forget about the catalogs and look into the manger of Bethlehem. He wants us to see His Son and know He was born to fulfill the laws we have broken, resist the temptations to which we have succumbed, to defeat the death we deserved.
He wants us to look at His Son who is the greatest gift of love and grace this world will ever know. Jesus is His gift to you - the gift that should be loved, worshiped, appreciated, and applauded.
If we see Jesus as our Savior, we will know that every other package under our Christmas tree is just a little bit of tinsel and trimming.
Christmas is coming. And before any of us gets too worried about finances, I just thought I'd share this reminder from the Lord: a bad economy doesn't mean a poor Christmas.
THE PRAYER: Dear heavenly Father, I may not have a lot of money this Christmas, but I do have a Savior. For Your Son who was born to save me, may I be appreciative. May I, as His witness, share with those around me the joy that comes in knowing Him as Lord. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible Readings: 2 Chronicles 33-34 Acts 23:16-35
To Download Devotion MP3 to your computer, right click here and select "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" or "Download Linked File As"