Daily Devotional for Saturday, December 9, 2023

One of my favorite words in the Christmas story is in this description of what happened to the shepherds. Look at Luke 2:9, “Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified . . .”(NLT). The shepherd’s story of faith begins with the word for today: SUDDENLY. It’s amazing to think about how suddenly faith can change everything.

We see it in the Christmas story as well as the Easter story. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked in Luke 24:3-6, ‘Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee (NLT).

Before Paul was an apostle, you might remember that he was a persecutor of the church. One day, everything changed for him — suddenly. His testimony is in Acts 22:6, “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me" (NIV). 

You might look at yourself and think that nothing good has ever “suddenly” happened for you. Even your faith came to you slowly as you grew from childhood. It’s just a normal, routine, boring existence for you. Maybe something suddenly bad has happened to you, but not suddenly good. Let me encourage you — there are two powerfully and suddenly wonderful things that have happened and will happen for everyone who puts faith in Jesus.

First, your spirit was suddenly changed. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (NLT). You became a new person the moment you put your faith in Jesus. I know. You look the same on the outside and might even feel much the same on the inside. That does not change the fact that God changed you. You will spend the rest of your life on this earth catching up to the sudden changes that God worked in you the moment you were saved: suddenly, you were rescued; suddenly you were made holy; suddenly you were given a spiritual gift; suddenly you were made a part of God’s family.

Second, your body will be suddenly changed. Look at 1 Corinthians 15:52, “It will all happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For there will be a trumpet blast from the sky, and all the Christians who have died will suddenly become alive, with new bodies that will never, never die; and then we who are still alive shall suddenly have new bodies too (TLB).

As if changing our spirit were not enough, one day God will also change our bodies as well. In the twinkling of an eye, suddenly, he will give you a glorified body that will never die. The sudden faith and hope that God brings to us are not just for some long-ago Christmas or for people who are in the Bible. “Suddenly” is part of your story. This Christmas, live in the appreciation and anticipation of what God has suddenly done for you!Your “Scripture to Meditate On” is Jesus’ warning that when He returns a second time, it will be suddenly — no prior notice or warning. 

Scripture To Meditate On: Mark 13:35-36, “Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the Master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— (36) lest He come suddenly and find you asleep” ESV). 

Prayer To Pray: “Father, although my days and my life may seem routine at times, I know that, in truth, they are not. You are working a miracle of change in my spirit that matches the new creation you have made of me in Christ. And I am living this life looking forward to a miracle of change that I will enjoy forever. I ask that those truths would empower the way I look at my life today. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!”