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Advent Devotional Week 4 – Day 5

By December 23, 2022Daily Devotional

ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness

GOD IS JUST God always does what is right, and He is the final standard of what is right. Scripture attests to God’s righteousness and justice:

    • “All his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4).
    • “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25).
    • “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart” (Psalm 19:8).
    • “I the Lord speak the truth, I declare what is right” (Isaiah 45:19).

Paul says that when God sent Christ as a sacrifice to bear the punishment for sin, it “was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:25–26). When Christ died to pay the penalty for our sins it showed that God was both righteous and just, because he paid the wages of sin (Romans 6:23) and forgave his people.

CONFESSION: Confess your sins to God and receive his continued mercy.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

THANKSGIVING: Giving thanks to God for his specific blessings in our lives.

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100

SUPPLICATION: Bringing our requests to God.

  • Bring your personal prayer requests to God.
  • Pray for our Christmas Eve service. We may have many guests and many people who do not normally attend church. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak through the message and the songs. Pray that those far from God would turn to Him.

SCRIPTURE READING:
John 1:1-18 – Christian Standard Bible
Prologue

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.

14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”) 16 Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness, 17 for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning…14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NIV)

I have an exercise for you to do today. I want you to reread verses 1 and 14, but this time, insert Jesus’ name in place of “the Word.” Sit still for a minute—let this truth set in. This is the mystery and history of Jesus, the Son of God, seamlessly tied together. The incarnation is the single most important event in history, and it happened in the most ordinary way, some 2,000 years ago in real time and space.

It’s simple enough for a child to grasp yet so complex that the greatest scholars can only scratch the surface of its glory. Praise God for his involvement in your life and the lives of your family and friends.

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