DAY 1 –
DECEMBER 5
TITLE: “AND
THE WORD WAS GOD”
WEEKLY
SCRIPTURE READING: John 1:1-5
DAILY
SCRIPTURE READING: John 1:1-2
KEY VERSE: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1
The deity of
Jesus Christ has been discussed and debated through the centuries. John clearly
responds to the issue in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. It is clear
that he is stressing the deity of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote to the Colossians, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity
lives in bodily form.” Colossians 2:9.
C.S. Lewis, the brilliant and once skeptical Cambridge
University professor who was eventually won over by the evidence for Jesus,
made a strong observation about the deity of Jesus Christ. He said, “I am trying
here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say
about him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t
accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man
who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a
great moral teacher…You must make your choice. Either this man was, and
is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him
up for a fool…or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.” Take a few moments to reflect these words:
Fairest Lord
Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and
man the Son,
Thee will I
cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my
soul’s glory, joy and crown.
Fair are the
meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the
blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer,
Jesus is purer,
Who makes the
woeful heart to sing.
Fair is the
sunshine, fairer still the moonlight,
And all the
twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines
brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.
All fairest
beauty, heavenly and earthly,
Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;
None can be
nearer, fairer or dearer,
Than Thou, my
Savior, art to me.
Beautiful Savior!
Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and
Son of Man!
Glory and honor,
praise, adoration,
Now and forever more be Thine. (17th
Century)
DAY 2 –
DECEMBER 6
TITLE: “THROUGH
HIM ALL THINGS WERE MADE”
WEEKLY
SCRIPTURE
DAILY
SCRIPTURE
KEY VERSE: “Through him all things were made; without
him nothing was made that has been made.”
John 1:3
I have always
enjoyed looking at birds. Throughout my life, we have had parakeets, doves and
canaries in our home. (We currently have one dove and four canaries). A month ago, we had eight canaries, so things
are improving. When I lived in Southern California, I enjoyed going to the
hummingbird exhibit at the zoo. There is something fascinating to me about
those little birds.
In her book, Birdology,
naturalist, Sy Montgomery describes the beauty and
intricacy of an ordinary hummingbird. She points out how hummingbirds are the
lightest birds in the sky. Of their roughly 240 species…the largest…an Andean
"giant," is only eight inches long; the smallest, the Bee hummingbird
of Cuba, is just over two inches long and weighs a
single gram. Delicacy is the trade-off that hummingbirds have made for their
unrivaled powers of flight. Alone among birds, they can hover, fly backward,
even fly upside down. For such small birds, their speed is astonishing. In his
courtship display to impress a female, a male Allen's hummingbird, for
instance, can dive out of the sky at sixty-one miles per hour.
The
hummingbird’s wings beat at a rate that makes them a blur to human eyes, more
than sixty times a second. They are little more than bubbles fringed with
iridescent feathers—air wrapped in light. In most birds, 15 to 25 percent of
the body is given over to flying muscles. In a hummingbird's body, flight
muscles account for 35 percent. An enormous heart constitutes up to 2.5 percent
of its body weight—the largest per body weight of all vertebrates. A person as
active as a hummingbird would need 155,000 calories a day.
The hummingbird
is a creation. The Word is Creator, not the created. Paul wrote, “For by him all things were created: things
in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or
rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” Colossians
1:16. The position and importance of the Word is clear when he write, “Through him all things were made; without
him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:3.
“All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.” (Cecil F. Alexander)
DAY 3 –
DECEMBER 7
TITLE: “LIFE”
WEEKLY
SCRIPTURE
DAILY
SCRIPTURE
KEY VERSE: “In him was life, and that life was the
light of men.” John 1:4
In the gospel
of John, the word “life” occurs 36 times. John is speaking of a life discovered
only in Jesus. I John 5:12 states, “He
who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have
life.” I John 5:12. Jesus came that we might experience life to the
fullest. It is not information that we need; it is life.
In a Peanuts comic strip, there was
conversation between Lucy and Charlie Brown. Lucy said, “Life is like a deck
chair. Some place it so they can see where they are going; some place it so
they can see where they have been; and some place it so they can see where they
are at present.” Charlie Brown’s replied, “I can’t even get mine
unfolded.”
Jesus unfolds
the “chair of life.” When we take Jesus at His word, we stop existing and begin
living. Jesus said, “…I have come that
they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10. As I reflect upon this passage, I am reminded
of a song I used to sing in church years ago. It was written by Philip P. Bliss in 1874. I will share them with you as
a conclusion to this devotional.
“Sing them over again to me, wonderful
words of life,
Let me more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life;
Words of life and beauty teach me faith and duty.
(Refrain) Beautiful words, wonderful words,
wonderful words of life,
Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.
Christ,
the blessèd One, gives to all wonderful words of life;
Sinner, list to the loving call, wonderful words of life;
All so freely given, wooing us to heaven.
(Refrain) Beautiful words, wonderful words,
wonderful words of life,
Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.
Sweetly
echo the Gospel call, wonderful words of life;
Offer pardon and
peace to all, wonderful words of life;
Jesus, only Savior, sanctify us forever.
(Refrain) Beautiful words, wonderful words,
wonderful words of life,
Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.
DAY 4 –
DECEMBER 8
TITLE: “THE
LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS”
WEEKLY
SCRIPTURE
DAILY
SCRIPTURE
KEY
VERSE: “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood
it.” John 1:5
In the creation
story, God moved upon the dark, formless chaos which was before the world began
and said, “Let there be light.” God has sent a light to shine in the darkness
of sin with its separation from God. II Corinthians 4:6 says, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of
darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Jesus is the light
that shines in the darkness.
The word “light”
appears some 21 times in the gospel of John. If a person does not possess that
light, he walks in darkness. The truth is that the darkness is as real as the
light. Darkness is that which is opposed to and is contrary to Christ. Jesus
came to deal with the problem of darkness.
Robert Webber
was a prolific writer on the subject of worship. In one of his books, he tells
the story of when he was traveling on a plane a few years ago from San
Francisco to Los Angeles. He was sitting next to the window, reading a
Christian book. He writes, “The man next
to me, obviously from the Eastern hemisphere, asked, ‘Are you a religious man?’
‘Well, yes,’ I said. ‘I am, too,’ he responded. We began talking about
religion. In the middle of the conversation, I asked, ‘Can you give me a
one-liner that captures the essence of your faith?’ ‘Well, yes,’ he said. ‘We
are all part of the problem, and we are all part of the solution.’ We talked
about his one-liner, a statement I felt was very
helpful. After a while, I said, ‘Would you like a one-liner that captures the
Christian faith?’ ‘Sure,’ he responded. ‘We are all part of the problem, but
there is only one man who is the solution. His name is Jesus.’"
Jesus came to
solve the problem of darkness in the soul. John 8:12 reads, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he
said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in
darkness, but will have the light of life.”
“The whole world was lost in the darkness of
sin;
The light of the world is Jesus.
Like sunshine at noon-day His glory
shone in:
The Light of the World is Jesus.
Come to the Light; ‘tis shining for
thee.
Sweetly the Light has dawned upon me.
Once I was blind, but now I can see.
The Light of the world is Jesus.” (Philip Bliss)
DAY 5 –
DECEMBER 9
TITLE: “LIGHT
OF THE WORLD”
WEEKLY
SCRIPTURE
DAILY
SCRIPTURE READING: John 1:5
KEY
VERSE: “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood
it.” John 1:5
Jesus is the
Light of the World. John 1:9 says, “The
true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” Paul
wrote, “For God, who said, ‘Let light
shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” II Corinthians
4:6. There are several songs that have been written about Jesus, the Light of
the world. Yesterday, I shared part of a hymn that reads, “The Light of the
world is Jesus.” Another song that comes to mind is this one:
“Light of the world -
You stepped down into darkness
Opened my eyes, let me
see”
Beauty that made this
heart adore You,
Hope of a life spent
with You.”
Jesus is the
Light that shines in the darkness. Regardless of how dark the darkness may be, Jesus’ light shines in the darkness. The Message
paraphrases this verse, “The Life-Light
blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.” The good news is that the darkness
cannot extinguish the light. As someone has pointed out, “All the darkness of
the world cannot put out the light of a single candle!” In the midst of the
darkness, the light of Jesus shines brightly.
“Formal weddings
often use a large candlelighter. Many candlelighters are made so that they can be used to both
light the candle as well as put out the candle. Jesus is the Light that cannot
be put out. He may be denied but He still shines. He may be ignored but His Light
still shines. He may be redefined or described in different ways, but His Light
cannot be put out. The cross did not put out the Light of Jesus. The message of
the open tomb is that the Light of Jesus shines on.
John Lennon,
English singer of the Beatles, and songwriter who lived from 1940-1980, once
said an interesting statement. Speaking of his singing group, the Beatles, he
said, “We're more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first; rock
'n' roll or Christianity.” Jesus is the Light that shines on.
“Lord, the light of your love is
shining.
In the midst of the Darkness shining
Jesus, light of the World shines upon
us.
Set us free by the truth you now bring
us.
Shine on me, Shine on me.”
(Graham Kendrick)