Daily Devotional For Saturday, December 7, 2024

The Christmas word for today is one of the most obvious of all. The word is GIFT. The Christmas gift of God is so often talked about, it made me want to make an acrostic of the word. G.I.F.T. – God Is Forever There. God Is Faithfully There. God Is Finally There. God Is For… Thee. Let’s look instead at God’s great gift exchange. The truth is a lot of the gifts that you get on December 25, you exchange on December 26th or later that week. We take back a toaster and get a frying pan. Or we exchange a cordless drill for a circular saw. You exchange the gift to get the thing you really wanted.

God’s gift exchange is completely different. He takes what we’ve never wanted and exchanges it for what we’ve always hoped for in life. Let me remind you of just two ways that He does this:

1. When we give God our worry, God gives us His peace. Look at Isaiah 26:3, "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!” (NLT). Look at 1 Peter 5:7, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you” (NLT). When you give your worries to God, you are recognizing two life-changing truths. 
• First, God is in control. Why do we worry? We try to do what only God can do. We try to control the uncontrollable, explain the unexplainable, get the ungettable, stop the unstoppable, do the undoable, fix the unfixable, and bear the unbearable. Peace begins with knowing God can control what we cannot. 
• The second truth to recognize is that God cares. The One who controls it all cares for you. God cares about your worries. Even if they seem silly or small, God cares. Philippians 4:6-7 tells us exactly how this exchange happens. “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. (7) Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (NLT).
2. When we give God our grief, God gives us His joy. If you love, you will face grief. In our imperfect world, you will sometimes lose the people or things that you love. It may be at Christmas time that we most think about that loss and grief. The Christmas season tends to turn up the volume on whatever you are facing. If you have a new baby, you feel the celebration. If you’re missing someone being with you this Christmas, you feel the grief.

Some of us think we don’t even want to talk about the grief. We think that maybe the best thing to do is to go through Christmas and pretend it’s not there. But the grief is real, and it’s much better to face the hurt. Grief is an emotion — the natural and right response to loss. You might think that if you wait long enough, the grief will just go away. Instead, the truth is that by giving it to God, He will begin to bring healing. Give God your grief this Christmas. He already knows what you’re feeling.

When you give God your grief, you would think that He would give you comfort in return. He certainly does comfort us in our grief. Jesus said this in Matthew 5:4, “God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (NLT). He gives us comfort, but then He gives us something surprisingly greater. Jesus said to His disciples as He was talking to them about the grief they would face following His death in John 16:20, “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy” (NLT). The same truth is echoed in the familiar words of Psalm 30:5, “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning” (NLT).

God will meet you in your place of grief, and He will gradually give you the gift of joy. Joy does not come immediately — it comes through a God-given process. You cannot produce or make or manufacture joy. Why? It is a Fruit of the Spirit. Look at Galatians 5:22-23, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (NLT).

Tragedies aren't replaced by joy — they turn to joy. God brings joy to our lives, not by substitution, but by transformation. Substitution is trying to find something different to make you feel better. Joy is beginning to see that even in grief, God gives a hope that is greater than any circumstance — even greater than death. This is the glory of God’s great gift exchange.

Questions To Consider & Actions To Take

1. If you have children or grandchildren with you right now, remind them that Christmas is supposed to be a joyful holiday. Ask them why they think some people are sad, depressed and grieving over the holiday? Ask them next if they personally know anyone like that? Come up with ideas your family could do to bring them some happiness this Christmas. Share why you think so many people are sad this time of the year.
2. If joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, then why do you think so many people who claim to be Christians seem not to have joy?
3. If you have children or grandchildren with you right now, remind them that Christmas is a time we give gifts and receive gifts. Ask them what is a gift they have received in the past that has meant a lot to them and why? Ask them why Jesus Christ is the best Christmas gift ever? Why do you think this is true?
4. Talk about a time as a family that your whole family was sad. How did Jesus eventually transform your sadness into the gift of joy?

Scripture To Meditate On: Proverbs 17:22, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (NLT). 

Prayer to Pray: “Father, here is my worry. I’d like to exchange it for Your peace. I ask for a peace in my heart that is beyond understanding. And here is my grief. I can’t handle it on my own. I know that You see my tears and care for me in my hurt. I ask that You would gradually give the miracle of a new joy in my life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!”

I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly