Father, thank You for the wake-up call, Your love for me is amazing! I am so undeserving but You love me anyway… I pray that I can love You back today. May my life reflect that love to You and to everyone that crosses my path. Amen.
Lord, of all things Christmas has been on my mind. I know we are only a couple of months out from the day we celebrate Your birth but… Now I’m not thinking about gifts, or decorations, or music or anything like that but what’s been occupying my mind is the fact that we don’t give You the praise You rightly deserve.
My birthday was last month and I received cards and well wishes from lots of people. I was given several nice gifts and more than one special meal. People expressed their love for me in many ways. I had a very nice birthday. But…what if on my birthday, I had been for the most part ignored? What if people had referred to me but not really spoken to me or wanted to spend time with me? What if gifts had been given but not to me but only to each other, with very little thought of me whatsoever? What if lavish meals had been prepared and extravagant parties had been thrown but I had been left off the guest list? Woohoo, Happy Birthday to me! Right? WRONG! That would have been absolutely, positively awful! The worst birthday ever!
But isn’t that what we do every year to You? I realize that many of us strive to give You the love You so rightly deserve, acknowledging Your birth but also Your life and the sacrifice You made for us in giving of Yourself for us – taking upon Yourself the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6
Even with those acknowledgments, we fail You. We think of ourselves way more than we think of You. You deserve our love and adoration – our worship – not just at the time of Your birth but with every breath we take. It is all a gift from You.
And now, two months out, we continue to do the same thing. We thought of you some then but is it any better now? Lord, help me to praise You today by living my life for You. May I honor our relationship by loving others as You love me. May I give of myself to those around me as You gave of Yourself to me. Amen…
Feb. 24th, Fri, 5:18 am
