“King Herod heard Jesus was born, and was disturbed” Matt.2:3
Lord Jesus, whether our Christmas gatherings have been sweet and easy, chaotic in the best sense, or a bit sad + special—we acknowledge you to be the “God from whom all blessings flow.” The greatest blessing meets our greatest need—salvation.
You didn’t come because we needed a personal valet, party concierge, or on-call masseur. We needed/need a Savior who is full of grace and truth, and that narrows the field to one—to you. The fullness of your grace and truth addresses the fullness of our sin and brokenness. In fact, you over-meet every need we have.
It’s hard and messy down here—as evidenced by events right after your birth. When you were one day-old a “5-star inn” didn’t open up for your family with hot tubs, post-natal care, and an around-the-clock chef. Before long, you were whisked to Egypt to escape Herod’s evil plan to eliminate you—you, the source of all life and the one destined to destroy all evil.
With your birth, death began working backwards. With your death and resurrection, the firstfruits of the new heaven and new earth emerged. Demons tremble knowing their days are numbered. Storms, disease, oppression, injustice, captivities, war, enmity, being harmed and harming, sin and death ALL got a “pink notice” and expiration date. Hallelujah! Knowing his days are short, the devil is now filled with fury (Rev.12:12).
Jesus, keep us wise to the devil’s schemes (2Cor.2:11) and 100 times more hopeful than fearful. We don’t have live afraid, but we dare not live naïve. The devil hates everything precious to you. He despises everything that reveals your truth, goodness, and beauty. We shouldn’t be shocked and we must not primarily blame people for our misery or look to them for our “salvation.”
The #1 thing the devil hates is our love for you in response to your great love for us (2Cor.11:3). SO, may today and ALL of 2026 be marked by a return to our first love for you, and a journey into much greater love for you. Everything else will take care of itself. So Very Amen.
