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Bible Readings for Friday, December 23rd, 2011

– The Second Day of Christmas *Click on each bible passage to expand the text. Psalm 96 1. Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.

2. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.

3. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

4. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.

5. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

6. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

7. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

8. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.

9. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.

10. Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.

11. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it;

12. let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;

13. they will sing before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth. Zephaniah 3:14-20 14. Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!

15. The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm.

16. On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp.

17. The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

18. “The sorrows for the appointed feasts I will remove from you; they are a burden and a reproach to you.

19. At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you; I will rescue the lame and gather those who have been scattered. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they were put to shame.

20. At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes,” says the Lord. Romans 13:11-14 11. And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. – Psalm 96:10

The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” – Zephaniah 3:17

And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed – Romans 13:11

Those Damned Desires of Sinful Nature

Romans 13 14. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Ahhh, the “desires of sinful nature”, they are enticing and wonderful indeed! In fact, most of our modern world is built upon them!

So while our reading from Romans 13 makes sense to me spiritually, I don’t know that I can make much sense of it practically. That’s one of the great tragedies about our modern world: how does one escape the “desires of sinful nature”? We can’t. They are everywhere we look. Even at the mall, Santa’s chair set-up was right across from the buxom hotties of Victoria’s Secret™, and I’ll just say that Daddy’s eyes were stealing glances over at angel cleavage more often than I’d like to admit while waiting for our turn with Santa.

Is this “debauchery” solely the fault of Victoria’s Secret™? Am I the innocent victim of scandalous advertising, seducing me and causing me the think sinful thoughts? No, I was a willing participant in the sinning. If I were more disciplined, I probably would have been able to not look over…

…who am I kidding, I will NEVER be that disciplined! Ever.

Thank God for Grace

And that’s why we have Grace. That free-gift from God, expressed to the world through the life, death, and resurrection of God’s own son, Yeshua the Anointed. God knows my faults. God is working on me everyday to someday have victory over my sinful nature, but God also knows that I am a man, and I am a sinner.

But God still loves me, warts and all.

And God still loves you, warts and all.

Tomorrow night, we celebrate the symbolic birth of the reason for it all: the Grace, the love, the hope. For on a starry night in Bethlehem, salvation for all the world came into the world not with fanfare, but with the helplessness and total vulnerability of a newborn baby.

Humanity (in the form of his parents) embraced, protected and loved God then, just as God embraces, protects and loves all of us now. We wrapped baby Yeshua in the warm blankets then, God blankets us in Grace now.

On this 2nd Day of Christmas, I hope and pray that all of us, at some point during these hectic holidays, can find a quiet moment to contemplate the nature of God’s Grace for us. How it is like the free love of Mary and Joseph for Yeshua, like a parent to a helpless child.

For we really are quite helpless in this nasty little society we’ve built around ourselves. And while the strength and resolve of mankind may falter and fail (especially in the face of the angels at Victoria’s Secret™), there is an inexhaustible supply of Grace and strength above, which never fails.

Amen.