This is “good news of great joy” indeed. This is our hope! Hope that’s strong enough to build our lives upon and gentle enough to make us weep. I am reminded that in the same way Jesus came for mankind then, He comes to us now. In our brokenness, sin and defeat, Jesus comes in and gives us Himself. All we do is let Him be Himself with us. These 14 verses in Luke are the reason for our celebration this Christmas season and always! Just think about His humility, and how scandalous this is – He comes down among us, in our brokenness, and makes us whole. What grace! Colossians goes on to break this down a little more…what hits me when I read this is Jesus’ preeminence. Everything begins and ends with Jesus: Creation, the Church, reconciliation, and our entire lives. Praying that we receive Jesus in a new way this Christmas season.

After reading this devotion, I was reminded of the miracle of God becoming unexpectedly real to His people. So real, in fact, that lowly humans like us could physically relate to Him. This one concept should blow our minds every day we wake up. Something this amazing should never lose its meaning!

The part of Zechariah 9:9 that says, “having salvation is he, humble and riding on a donkey,” is what stands out to me. Being humble and having salvation may seem like a contradiction to this world. This proves that only God can have both of these traits. Imagine what the people in Zechariah’s time would think after hearing such a prophecy. Would they have been filled with hope, or laugh in disbelief? We as Christians should thank God Almighty for becoming so unbelievably real!

Although Jesus has ascended from this Earth, He is closer than ever before. Like He has become real to us as Christians, we need to make Jesus real to those who don’t yet know Him. We are called to resemble Christ in how we speak, live and treat others around us. Jesus Christ is real, what an incredible message!

This devotion talks a lot about the word “expectant”. When I was thinking about what that means in my life, I realized that I expect a lot out of myself and other people. When things don’t turn out like I expect, I get very anxious and a lot of times, lose hope. That’s the same way many of the Israelites felt. They longed for God to show back up and for Israel to no longer be isolated. Malachi didn’t know how or when God was going to do it, but he knew God would keep His promise. That promise became true when Jesus was born!

Verse 2 says “but for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings“. That verse stood out to me because if you respect God and trust Him, you will be overjoyed with His love! This devotion has taught me that things may not always turn out like we expect, but God has a bigger plan in mind and a purpose for everything!