Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Being the children of God

Monday, December 25, 2000

John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made;
without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life,
and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness,
but the darkness has not understood it.

It is no longer Advent; the day of Christ's mass has come. We no longer rise and fall in darkness; the light has come to change our world and change us.

Changed we are. We have been freed from the impossible responsibility of being creators out of nothing, to become children of a living Creator. We come from somewhere, from somebody, and we joyfully celebrate His returning. We have been filled up with every good gift, and gradually we have discovered that the best gift we can receive is to give what we have been given...away.

Such a strange awakening, to see so much of what once seemed natural turned head over heels. Receiving becomes giving, parents become children, death begins life, man encounters God in the quietest, humblest corner of the world, and we glorify a baby.

This will be a quiet day. The streets will be nearly empty until evening. The sun, brilliant in the frozen blue sky, rises and soon will set. We give our gifts, open our presents, celebrate and party...rejoice, relax, pray, rest. Jesus has come. The town crier is content: "11:59, and all is well!"

So we take our places, then, on the great mandala, as it moves through our brief moment of time. And we glimpse eternity, we can taste it nearly, in the red and green freshness of Christmas morning.

Lord, in all things we give you thanks. Thank you for never giving up, never letting go, always loving us. We praise you forever and ever. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. We thank you.

Devotions Archive

Being the children of God

Monday, December 25, 2000