A Humble Beginning
Ever feel insignificant? I think the less interaction we have with others in our community, at work, and at church the less we feel a connection. Connection with others is one of the main ways people move from insignificant to significant in their perspective about themselves.

I come from a humble background. Having spent about half my years growing up in a mobile home, we were not a family with many things. I am not disparaging mobile homes nor the families that live in them, but I’m stating that this was my humble beginning.

Jesus had a humble beginning. It started when Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem for a census because Caesar Augustus demanded it. At first glance, it appears that Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem because it was demanded. But this was God’s plan. Yes, there are rulers in this world, and in our day we have a President. But the United States President is not in control of my life nor is he in control of yours.

God controls our lives. God controls all history. By Emperor Augustus' decree did Joseph and Mary find themselves traveling to Bethlehem so that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem where prophecy had foretold his birth would take place.

Remember that no matter who you were born to or where you come from, you are significant. Also, realize that dwelling in God’s will and following Jesus often requires us to move out of our comfort zones. Both Mary and Joseph had to make the trek to Bethlehem and found the birth of their son occurring in a manger.

Triple D: You are significant and to follow in God’s will we most often have to embrace a long and at times painfully humbling journey. Had your journey this past year been humbling? In what way?

God Fulfills His Promises


I don’t know about your home, but Christmas started a little slow for our home. So many of our Christmas traditions have had to be adjusted, and the stress…well even just a week before Christmas and all are baking isn’t finished. But things have started to turn around now because one family member just caught the spirit.

She was baking and put on the Christmas movie, Elf. Laughing soon ensued and the environment in the house began to change. I am reminded that Christmas is all about promises kept. God had promised that from the line of David a descendant would come that would change the world.

For many of us, broken promises are the impetus behind our anxiety which often leads to stress eating. When family members or friends break their promise to us, it is painful. When we are in pain, many of us turn to food. At times we blame God for the problems in our lives, we feel that God has failed in keeping his promises to us. Even in this time of the pandemic, many of us feel that the government has failed to protect us, and even now is failing to support us while they force businesses and places of work to close.

Promises are broken by family, friends, leaders, and our government, but God keeps his promises. He kept his promise in sending Jesus and in Christ we have life. We must trust that God will do what he says he will in his time.

Triple D: Let’s expect God to do what he says he will. That is exactly what he did that first Christmas morning. He saves us and brings us safely into his presence even in the midst of Covid 19. Let’s rest in him and expect good things from God this Christmas and on into 2021.

The Darkness Lifted


Jesus lifts the darkness. In many ways, Christmas is the lifting of darkness on humanity. He lifts the darkness individually and corporately.


Jesus burst forth on to the earthly plane and offered life to all of creation. His life brought light to everyone and he changed our existence.  We experience only part of his reign in this present age. We do not experience its’ completeness.

Why? Because we live in a fallen world we are unable to experience the fullness of Jesus’ reign.
I personally feel that during my lifetime there has never been a period of greater darkness in our nation than exist today under the threat of the Covid 19 pandemic. The darkness of depression, loneliness, despair, and death have definitely been a part of many lives.

This is why our daily time with God is so essential today. We need the light of Christ to shine forth especially through tough times of which this is one of the toughest.

Many of us feel much like this blind man. We feel inferior, broken and even handicapped. We may look fine on the outside but inside…we are a mess. For me my mess fuels my desire for food and food is what calms our anxiety and the cycle goes on and on and on. And this negative cycle in my life and in the lives of so many is unhealthy, unproductive, and detrimental not only to my physical health but also to my spiritual and emotional well-being.

Triple D: How does your time with God look each day? How could you better establish this time so as to allow the light of Christ to drive out the darkness both within and around you?

You Are Somebody…
 
Isn’t it simply amazing that this young teen was able to put into words such a beautiful yet profound worship song. If we look closely at the phrasing, some may want to assert that by stating that “all generations will call me blessed” she was getting a little full of herself. I think quite the contrary and the reason I bring it up is that many times overweight individuals have a mistaken concept of humility.

For many of us who have been pushed into staying at home whether because we are in the “at risk” population for Covid or in an area of the country where there are current “shelter in place” orders, can begin to feel alone, insignificant, and forgotten. In this atmosphere, food just seems to call out my name. Overeating is the way that many of us comfort ourselves when we are anxious and worried.

One of the reasons people overeat and misuse food is that they allow themselves to be treated like doormats and mistakenly think that this is godly. When I was taken advantage of and not respected, I would often turn to food for comfort because taking it in always left me feeling worthless and without value. This is not humility. Humility is not be mistaken with being a door mat. Being humble is not denying God’s blessings upon us and ignoring other peoples complements, but instead humility is really about acknowledging God’s blessing. We should accept the gifts he has given us and use his blessings to bring about his glory.

Whether we are locked down or not, let’s realize that you are somebody. Just this realization can relieve enough stress in our life can move us forward. Remember, God has taken notice of you. He knows your name. And he loves you just as much as he loved Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Triple D: What does it mean to you that God knows your name?

Be Comforted

1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”
says your God.
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
Tell her that her sad days are gone
and her sins are pardoned.
Yes, the LORD has punished her twice over
for all her sins.”
3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,
“Clear the way through the wilderness
for the LORD!
Make a straight highway through the wasteland
for our God!
4 Fill in the valleys,
and level the mountains and hills.
Straighten the curves,
and smooth out the rough places.
5 Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
The LORD has spoken!”
Isaiah 40:1-5

I’m not sure there is any more important message that any of us could receive this Christmas than, “Be comforted.” Christmas is that time of year when many of us are struggling with past years pains. Whether grief, loneliness, or depression, Christmas is that time of year that many struggle, while others have the best time with family and friends.

But this year with the turmoil of both the pandemic and the election, life has been less normal than any other year in our lives. Most of us have been touched by the Pandemic because we all know someone who has lost a family member or suffered seriously at the hands of this deadly virus.

The whole Christmas season is not only about remembering the first coming of Christ to Bethlehem but also focuses on the coming of Christ in the future. We are to look back upon Christ’ Bethlehem birth in celebration and looking forward in eager anticipation to the coming of Christ’s kingdom when he returns for his people.

Our passage today is a passage that is marked by the word “comfort” twice in the first verse. Christmas is a season that brings us comfort. The comfort of knowing that Jesus was going to come and did in fact come to Bethlehem, and that he will return again to usher in the new age. In a very real way, he comes into the lives of people today and brings comfort. For those of us who have been bruised, battered and unhealthy this past year, Jesus comes. He came and burst into my existence initially as a child, but he still comes today bursting in to our existence with healing in his hands and changing human lives.

He came first in his birth at Bethlehem and he will come again in all his glory to usher in a new age.

Triple D: Invite Jesus into your existence and let him change your life. And during this Christmas season allow the Lord to bring you comfort.