Today’s Devotional is offered by Robert Garrett

It is Christmas Eve: The Night Before Christmas.
Oxford Baptist Church will once again offer our community the opportunity for worship at 5:30 in the evening. I am grateful that our faith community takes time in the midst of the holiday madness to sit together and worship “…the one who has been born king…” (Matthew 2:2, NIV). It calls us all to take the opportunity to join the Magi who diligently sought out the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. “…they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” (v.11)

Whether you and your loved ones can be physically at church or not, I trust that you will pause and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. It begs us to ask ourselves, “Who is my Lord? Who sits on the throne of my heart? Have I presented my treasures to Him who rules the world?

I fear that it is far too easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of gift buying and exchanging, the partying, and all that makes Christmas “the happiest time of the year.” When I look back on my childhood, I have fond memories of going to bed, “while visions of sugarplums danced in my head.” A Hop along Cassidy cowboy hat and six-shooter were all my six-year-old self could focus on. There is certainly nothing wrong with those Christmas traditions our families hold dear. It is essential, though, that we are all reminded that the true meaning of Christmas is centered on the Christ of the cradle who became the Christ of the cross. Let us come, adore HIM and give King Jesus the throne of our life.

Today’s Devotional is offered by Alex Drake. 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
– John 3:16

To enter into the Gift of love, think about the Love of a great parent:
We Love without end. We sacrifice, we teach lessons by letting our children struggle to find the solution. We endure heartache to help them grow. We feel joy with their elation. We want them to enjoy life, safely learn the ropes, and feel that they lived a fulfilled & meaningful life (in all areas).

So, what exactly is Love? As I write this devotional, I have tried to find the time during this hectic time of year to pause and think and figure out what Love means to me. Even though its meaning can be very different for each of us as individuals, I suspect we share many of Love’s underlying themes.

For me, Love is Family. Love is going to sleep every night beside our loved ones and waking up each morning to find them still there.
Love is looking into the eyes of our spouse and knowing we still Love them just as much or more than the day we first met.
Love is our children. Love is watching them play and sing in bubble baths. It’s that lump in your throat we all get when we watch them walk away into school with their backpacks on and we realize they are growing up way too fast.
Love is working hard each day so we can rush home to be with them for those final few minutes before bed.
Love is loving a child that cannot always outwardly show signs that they Love you back even though we all know they do just the same.
It is a pet who is always happy to see us when we walk through the door.
Love is always being there for each other to help no matter what in times of need or life’s difficult trials.
Love is allowing us to struggle to deepen our faith. It means believing in something that we cannot see or fully understand. Love is leading by example, the way God would want us to.

As I think about all of these aspects of Love, I also fully realize that the only reason we have the privilege to experience these things is through God’s ultimate Love for each of us. God too feels this same type of Love for us, times infinity. He knows where we are coming from before we do. It’s hard to understand the Love He has for the billions of humans he calls His children. It would be easier for us to understand if He had only a few children like each of us, but billions?!?!
He showed us His Love for us with the perfect sacrifice…His Son. That Love for us is so great that He sent His only Son to Earth to teach us about Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love (but the greatest is Love). He wants us also to have a joyful life on earth filled with Love. He wants to instill the tools necessary for each of us to make our way back to Him. He wants us not to perish but to have eternal life. Therefore, through His everlasting Love for us, He has prepared a room for each of us in His home as part of His family. All we have to do is believe & accept Him. We simply Love Him and through our lives show all others the immense & unwavering Love that He has for us.
For me, that is the Gift of Love.

Amen.

Today’s Devotional is offered by Chris Redmon. 

“Joy is more than a feeling.”

Yes, but what is it?

“Joy” is one of those words used so often in this season that we rarely, if ever, stop to ask what it means. We know that joy is something more than positive emotion since not even Jesus walked around happy all the time (Luke 22:42; John 12:27). We know that joy is something God desires for the world and for our lives. But if put on the spot, I doubt many of us would be able to articulate what Christian joy is really all about. I certainly couldn’t. My sense of panic, when asked to write a short piece on the theme of joy, sent me running to the New Testament.

Joy, Paul wrote, is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22), the result of a life that has traveled with Jesus through suffering and death. For Paul, joy is never wishful thinking or naïve optimism. It comes to those who, like Jesus, have watched their very worst fears come true—separation, abandonment, failure, humiliation, and pain; in a word, the cross—and discovered that God was stronger still.

In the Gospels, joy is not the privilege of the rich and successful; it belongs to those who live at rock bottom. It is the discovery, again and again, that goodness and love are unstoppable despite every voice that tries to tell us the contrary. It is the blessing that awaits the poor, hungry, distraught, and excluded when Christ comes to set the world right (Luke 6:20-23).

Joy is our hard, slow creep into the life of God. It is our becoming like God as we learn to conform to the rhythms of death and resurrection. Which is to say, joy hurts. If we are not “happy” in this season, it does not that mean we have done something wrong. Joy is not an accumulation of happy moments, but the shape and direction of our entire lives as we learn to live more and more like Jesus.

When we sing of “joy to the world” this season, that, I hope, is what we mean. Joy is who we are and who, with God’s help, we will become.

Today’s Devotional is offered by Rob Blackwood.

Joy has been on my mind a lot lately. A few weeks ago, my alma mater (The Florida Gators, of course) finally beat our arch rival in football for the first time since 2012. This is a joy that I’m still carrying with me today. Yesterday was my sister’s birthday and for the sake of my well-being and potential future joy should she ever comes across this, I’ll say that she turned 25. It too was a joyous day.

With that in mind, I invite you to take a second here to pause and think: what is your all-time favorite birthday memory or when were you truly at your most joyful? Was it a particular gift you got, a party that was thrown, someone special that was there to celebrate with you? Was it just the opportunity to see another year?

While the source of that joy may be different for all of us, I invite you to cling to it and embrace it for the treasure that it is; that feeling of pleasure and happiness is often the greatest gift we could individually receive. And of course, if you are still trying to figure out that most memorable gift which will bring great joy, Christmas is less than 100 hours away so probably better act now, even if you want Amazon Prime to have it arrive in time.

But all jokes aside, the greatest gift humanity has ever received also makes a direct connection to joy. The gift that we will celebrate in a few days, the birth of our Savior, produces so great a joy that it not only extends to you, or to your family, or to all of Oxford Baptist Church, but to the ENTIRE WORLD!

At this point in the season, we all have heard Joy to the World more than a few times, but in this moment, take a step back and consider what the beginning of the song is saying:
Joy to the world, the Lord is come, Let earth receive her King.

This time of year, we sing this song so often that it’s easy to lose the weight of its words which remind us of what a great gift joy is through Christ. And if you tried to measure the joy the most magnificent gift humanity has ever received actually produces, well, it’s understandable why the theme of joy is so prevalent in the songs we sing during this season. Joy abounds, thanks to the abundant love of Christ.

As we transition from our Advent season to the days Christmas, I pray this year you would know Christ’s joy in a way that those you encounter would say it is palpable and would want to know its source. The greatest gifts create the greatest joys, as such, it is easy to see why the birth of Christ has produced joy for the whole world, across all of time.

Today’s Devotional is offered by Pat Cox.
“Not now.”
“Later”
“Soon”

All of us old enough to read have memories of hearing these words spoken by our parents—both mother and father—during our growing up years.

I’ve just finished reprising my most important role as a little theatre actor by playing in the stage version of that Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street. Because this is not an action feature nor a musical the story is not familiar to most children. But for two months of rehearsals and five live shows, I got to be Santa Claus or Kris Kringle. Playing this dual role for three years is always touching for me. The opportunity to speak to so many children who readily seek a hug or a kiss from or to Santa is my reward along with seeing their sparkling eyes. Their faces are filled with immeasurable wonder and excitement.

Those of us who know the storyline are familiar with Susan Walker, the little girl who didn’t believe in Santa because her mother had forbidden her to believe. Santa realizes what Susan needs is an “infusion of imagination.”

In Act 1, Scene 5, Susan bargains with Santa for her Christmas gift as she asks for a house and a father to live in it with both she and her mother. Susan catches Santa by surprise when she says either you are Santa or just a kind man with a white beard. And Santa counters Susan by replying to her request “If everyone got what he or she wanted right away, life wouldn’t be half as much fun.” That’s not a line any child would want to hear. Or many adults either. Susan, however, in the end, did get her wish.

Eight hundred years before the birth of Christ the prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “But to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6) Eight hundred years is a long time to wait. But wait they did.

Even now we wait. We know the script, We know the story, We know the characters. And most importantly of all, we know the Author. And he has provided a happy ending for us and all who choose to accept the gift found in a manger in Bethlehem so long ago.
The great Joy in this story is that we too have a house, a home, with a Father to live in it with us. An earthly house… and then a heavenly home.

Today’s Devotional is offered by Julie Earnhardt. 

I am a kindergarten teacher, so of course, I love snow!
Not just a dusting…I love the big fat flakes that completely cover the ground and don’t leave anyone wondering whether school will be in session for the next several days.
But snow in Oxford, North Carolina in December? We do not have time to fit that in before Christmas. We have gifts to buy, decorating to be done, festivities planned, services to prepare for, and advent activities to attend. Besides, snow of any significance this time of the year is so rare and unexpected that we should be in the clear.

Then. It. Happened.

A beautiful, deep blanket of snow. The kind that shuts down an entire small southern town. Roads are closed, the power is flickering, and the church services are definitely canceled!!! As beautiful as the twinkling Christmas lights are peaking through the ice-covered trees, a sense of “not now” keeps ringing in my head. Not now…it’s too early! There’s too much to do right now. Can’t this snow just hold off until Christmas Eve, or even better, after Christmas in January? Advent is the season to prepare. We can’t prepare if we are stuck at home!

Eventually, it hit me. It’s not our timing, but God’s.
He provided the perfect, unexpected time for us to prepare.
Time to prepare our hearts.
Time to prepare our minds.
Time to prepare ourselves.
And do you really think Mary and Joseph thought God picked the perfect time for them to have a baby?

Psalms 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God!” Do we honestly take the time to be still? Do we take the time to feel God throughout this season? Do we stop and trust God’s timing? Often we get so wrapped up in creating the perfect Christmas that we actually miss much of the joy God intended for us to experience along the way.

Advent is a time of expectant waiting. Waiting is not something that many of us do well. We have been told the Christmas story many times that most of us know the amazing gift God is about to deliver. But at the same time, we needed God to force us into a period of slowing down to savor the season. Real joy can be ours if we take the time to experience all that is around us. The quiet can often provide the perfect opportunity to absorb the sights and sounds we often overlook. It gives us a chance to take in the real, raw emotions we often mask during busyness. Just as that quiet stable provided unexpected joy so many, many years ago, that same unexpected quiet can provide us the same joy today if we open our hearts and allow it. When we realize it’s not about adding one more thing to our already packed schedules but experiencing the best thing this season-which is time and space for Jesus, our hearts can receive the real joy of Christmas.
I pray that you can appreciate the anticipation of God’s timing this Christmas and experience the real joy this season has to offer!

Prayer:
God be with me this season and always. Help me to be still and quiet, but most importantly help me to pause and reflect on your perfect timing. Help me know that joy can easily be found in the simple, small moments if I trust all that you have planned and prepared for me. Amen!

Today’s Devotional is offered by Yancey Washington.

“The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers…”

These lines might seem like an odd opening to a devotion that is supposed to be about Joy, and while they certainly could have been written today, the words are, in fact, a portion of a sonnet by English poet William Wordsworth. He wrote the lines about 1802, approximately 216 years ago, when the Industrial Revolution in England was in full swing, and people were manufacturing all types of goods and materials faster than ever before, and in doing so, were spending a lot more time inside.

In our current day and age, Christmas is an enhanced time of “getting and spending,” and seemingly more so every year. The tangible gifts that we give each other can certainly bring joy. It is particularly fun to watch children at Christmas. However, in comparison to what many children receive today, I think of my father telling me about his grandmother who was born in 1886 and grew up in Person County and Oxford. She felt lucky if she received an orange, some nuts, and a small China doll. Was her joy any less in an era of different standards?

As adults and Christians, we know that the gifts we give each other are but tokens and symbols for the ultimate gift that God gave humankind in sending his son Jesus to live among us, to grow and to teach. The revolutionary nature of Jesus’ teaching, in the beatitudes and throughout the New Testament, is a gift that should and does inspire joy. We are no longer bound to be slaves to ritualistic laws of the past as were the Israelites of old. We need only love the Lord and our neighbors – not easy in application – but cause for great joy, nonetheless. Additionally, and moreover is the joy that comes in understanding that through God’s son who was sent to the world, we and all on earth have a path to everlasting life. God’s love provides joy that endures and lasts long after “getting and spending” have lost their luster.

Merry Christmas to all!

 

Today’s Devotional is offered by Natalie Aho

Have you ever thought about the health of your soul?

We know about emotional care and how to practice good mental health. We know how to get into better physical shape as well as good food practices and how to have good dental health. We can even exercise our brain and sharpen our intellect. We can research better social skills and practice good manners. There are marriage health and parenting health and caregiver health. But to what extent do you think about soul care?

I think there’s something different about our soul versus our talk about the Spirit. The Spirit can be mystical. It’s outside of me. I think about it like the way Christ described the receiving of the Spirit and what we read in Scripture about the Holy Spirit. But my soul? Well, that’s the essence of me, isn’t it?

Lately, I’ve been learning more about how I can influence the health of my soul to allow myself to have a deeper experience of joy. I believe our souls get damaged, hurt and hardened, so we must find ways to care for it. We need to refresh our soul, renew it, clean it so we can be better recipients of God’s goodness in the world.

To that end, this Advent season I’m even more in tune with the need for soul care than I ever realized. When I think about joy (and also hope, peace, and love), I think it’s essential to cultivate a healthy soul because I can’t experience the power of joy without a well-nurtured soul.

Therefore, I have begun to look for things that corrode my soul: anxiety, worry, fear, anger towards others, the desire to control what is going to happen. Just like when I eat too many fatty foods and need to work twice as hard on the treadmill to burn off those calories if my joy is damaged, I need to do something to counter it. I need to practice good soul care.

So, I wonder if this soul care begins with gratitude? And then, maybe, asking for forgiveness (especially from those who know me best)? And then, finally, providing forgiveness (especially to those I know the least)? I need to look at others with more love than they deserve. I can hold my tongue and create a space for peace. I can allow myself to go last. And I can serve. And serve, again…and then again. And I can give, again, and then again.

Our journey of life is a journey of soul care. Today I pray wherever you are on your journey that you can begin to attend to your soul in intentional ways, so you may experience most deeply and assuredly, regardless of your current circumstances, the joy of Christ’s love that nothing can take away.

This Advent, may we look to practice better soul care to allow joy to break through like never before.

(If you’d like to explore more about soul care, start here: www.beasoulninja.com and here:
Soul Salsa by Leonard Sweet )

Today’s Devotional is offered by Cindy Joy

“Surely the Lord is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. 
The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.”
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the holy one of Zion among you.” ~ Isaiah 12:2-6

In these opening verses of Isaiah 2, we find what has been called a ‘hymn of trust.’ Verses 1-2 represent a song of deliverance that celebrates the singer’s deliverance from great distress. God has now become his salvation. The next four verses are a song of thanksgiving as Israel makes known among the nations the wondrous deeds of Yahweh.

This past summer our high school youth and several parents had the wonderful opportunity to work in a small, poverty-stricken neighborhood in Jacksonville, Florida that was heavily damaged by Hurricane Irma. Each day we encountered children, teenagers, and adults roaming the streets asking for food, looking for help, and wanting someone to listen to their stories. Already dealing with many problems, the aftermath of the hurricane brought more stress and difficulty to their lives.

One of our main projects was to do much-needed repairs on the home of a very humble gentleman named Wayne Collins. Shy at first and very leery of these people who had come all the way from North Carolina to help him, Wayne very quickly endeared himself to all of us! As a man of very limited means, living alone in his small damaged home in a neighborhood filled with poverty, drugs, and people needing so much, he had every reason to be consumed by his problems and challenges.

Instead, this amazing gentleman chose to see the positive and good things around him. As he often said, “it could be worse and is for others.” It was so obvious that his heart was blessed and full of joy because it radiated in all he did and said. Mr. Collins was there every day sharing encouragement and words of wisdom for all of us.

In Nehemiah 8:10 we read, “do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Life is a journey where paths lead us to the top of the mountain and through the deep valleys. It is through the Holy Spirit that we find the strength, wisdom, and guidance to walk to the difficult paths of life. We also find that God puts people on that path to share the journey with us. And it is here that we experience the indescribable joy of the Lord as our strength.
Thank you, God, for your ability to remove fear and frailty from our lives and restore our joy and celebration. Help us to be a light and share that joy with others. Shout aloud and sing for joy! Amen.

Today’s Devotional is offered by Dave Williams

“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry…”
– Matthew 6:23

This week, our devotionals have dealt with The Gift of Peace. My Bible’s concordance lists more than 100 references to peace, peaceable, peaceful, and peacemaker. It would seem that peace is an especially important spiritual subject. Personally, I have come to consider peace existing in one of two categories: external peace such as world peace, and internal peace such as peace of mind. This devotional is solely about that inner peace.

Peace of mind can be elusive. As an example, I present to you exhibit A (me). For much of my life, I’ve had much less peace than I desired. I have periodically dealt with high levels of anxiety (effectively a state of constant non-peace). Somehow, no matter what, worry, fear, and anxiety seemed always to be lurking nearby. Now, having some exposure to chronic stress producers can be helpful. Stressors cause us to plan, work, save, be careful, and avoid danger. But, excessive amounts of these negative forces can and do make life much less joyful and peaceful than it could and should be.

It was not until I was an adult that I came to fully realize that my worry, fear and anxiety levels were excessive. After arriving at this realization, I resolved to do what I could to improve my life by reducing my very real, yet irrational fears. I sought advice and professional help, studied relevant literature, meditated on a regular basis, tried to dwell on positive rather than negative thoughts. I also joined a support group, exercised more, ate better and tried to get sufficient rest. In short, I did what I could to change my thought processes and physical factors in ways that might improve my life. I was seeking a more joyful and peaceful existence. It worked. Though it took work to experience the reality of internal peace, my worry, fear and anxiety levels are closer to normal than they were years ago. I am grateful for the improvement.

As we conclude this week of considering peace, I wish you and yours the Gift of Peace, especially if you, like me, have to work at it.