Hope and Faith
Merry Christmas from Steve & Barb! A selection of verses to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Image generated by ChatGPT (OpenAI) using the DALL·E model.
There are many reasons to celebrate this day commemorating the birth of Jesus:
Jesus was God’s gift to humanity for their salvation from sin through His sacrifice on the Cross, showing the depth of His love for us.
Reflecting on this wonderful gift brings us joy, as His resurrection promises believers eternal life with Him!
We feel the peace of Christ and share it with others in an atmosphere of joy, kindness, and unity.
We have the chance to actively demonstrate Christ’s love to family, friends, and even complete strangers.
We also have the opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus with the world, living out our faith!
We can contemplate the fact that God came to live with humanity, sharing in both the highs and lows of our lives, and that today we can still feel His presence.
We participate in the spirit of Christ’s birth through giving by making offerings, exchanging presents, serving others, and being encouraging to all we meet.
Above all, Christmas is a season that emphasizes hope and faith. It reminds us that God always keeps His promises as reflected in the many prophesies that foretold of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our trust in God — faith — is rooted in that fulfilled promise, and at this time of year we can remind ourselves to always keep our faith, even when the future seems uncertain.
Christ brings us hope with the assurance that we are never alone and that brighter days (perhaps not in this earthy life) are ahead. With our brothers and sisters in Christ, we should encourage each other to maintain the spirit of hope and faith, support each other in our life journeys, and celebrate the profound message that Christmas conveys.
I’ll close this short Christmas devotional with a sampling of scriptural references emphasizing this seasonal message of hope and faith:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” 1 Peter 1:3 NIV
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”Romans 15:4 NIV
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”Hebrews 11:1 NIV
“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5 NIV
“In his name the nations will put their hope.” Matthew 12:21 NIV
“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.” Psalms 62:5 NIV
“All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” 1 John 3:3 NIV
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—” Ephesians 2:8 NIV
“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Romans 10:17 NIV
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 NIV
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
To the more than 800 individuals who receive our daily devotionals, we pray that you are filled with the wonder Mary felt when she was chosen by God to give birth to Jesus (Luke 1:30-33), the obedience to God displayed by Joseph when he took the pregnant Mary to be his wife (Matthew 1:24), the joy of the angels as they celebrated the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:13-14 NIV), the eagerness of the shepherds to travel to Bethlehem to see the Christ child (Luke 2:15 NIV), the determination of the magi to worship the Son of God (Matthew 2:9-11 NIV), and the peace of the Christ child. May Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless you now and forever. AMEN.