Sin

The Christmas story seems so peaceful and silent night-ish. A baby is born and laid in a manger. But this was no ordinary birth and no ordinary baby. The old prophet Simeon noted that this child would cause the rise and fall of many.

To introduce this devotional, I wanted to show all the different decisions that make life complex. There are multiple choices for everything from washers and dryers to tires for your car. Since you may not be in the market for a washer or dryer, and your tires are just fine, I decided to see how many brands of jeans there are. I found a site that provided the complete list of jean brands listed in alphabetical order. I stopped counting at one hundred brands. I was only at “C”! I didn’t have it in me to count jean brands starting with “D” all the way to “Z.”

When an angel appears, you can bet that something amazing is going to happen! The amazing certainly took place when the angel Gabriel told Zechariah that he would be having a son. For Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, that dream had died long ago. In fact, because of Zechariah’s unbelief, he was unable to speak a word until his son was born. Then, he broke out in a song of praise about the one who would prepare the way for Jesus.

Most of us are afraid of the dark—the absence of light. That’s where chaos, fear, disillusionment, and anxiety reside. It’s the place where the unknown lives. What is waiting for us…hiding from us…in the darkness? It paralyzes. We can’t move forward in the darkness. But here is the good news—the believers’ light is always shining.

So, what does God do with our sin? I don’t mean to be flippant with that question. I know that my sin separated me from God, and Jesus paid the penalty for my sin on the cross. He took on God’s wrath for sin and satisfied the Father by his amazing work.

A friend called Lori to say she was scared and feeling helpless. She was watching the news, absorbing all that was going on in the world, and was overwhelmed. She saw the craziness and confusion and reached out for encouragement.

Today, we live in a crazy, confused world. Do you agree? A person says a seemingly innocent phrase. Someone else views the phrase as offensive and derogatory, even racist. Social media blows up. The person responsible apologizes profusely and retracts the statement. They are “cancelled” and labeled a pariah.

Satan attacks us in our times of strength and in our times of weakness. He came aggressively after Adam and Eve in the garden during a period of perfect communion with God. He did the same with Jesus in the desert when he was physically vulnerable. Today, let’s compare the garden and desert temptations. I will borrow from the excellent work of William Cook and Chuck Lawless to make these comparisons.

God’s grace is amazing! He gives us what we don’t deserve. He offers the free gift of grace without conditions or strings attached. And it all started with his grace in the garden.