SACRED HOLIDAYS: A DEVOTIONAL LEADING UP TO CHRISTMASExemplo

DAY TWO 

Can you believe Christmas time is actually here? This year will be different because you chose to show up here. I’m so proud of you. My hope is that this devotional will help you see God for all that He is, and that your new experience with him will change the way you love Him, yourself, and others.  

I wish that you were sitting across from me in this booth that I'm writing in today. I'm sipping steaming French press coffee and iced tea (I’m a caffeine addict) with my laptop up, planner laid open, and Bible spread out. If you were here though, I would shut those things down, and I would look you in the eyes so you could see the sincerity in my words: I love you, and I'm so very excited you are here. I've been praying for you long before you opened this Advent plan. I’ve asked God to let this devotional be a clear way for you to hear from Him. 

Read John 1:4-5, 9.

One of my favorite things about Christmas is the lights. They feel magical. The great thing about using Advent candles throughout your house is to help shift your attention back to Christ when it’s going in a million other directions. For me during Christmastime, the first things I do when I wake up are plug in my tree and light my Advent candles (actually, I turn on the battery candles because I have three young kiddos and fire isn't a good idea, ha!). Those candles remind me of the One my heart should focus on. Throughout the day, I pass those candles so often and I’m reminded of the One who came into the darkness to give us light and save us from our sin. This practice is not a one-moment game changer, but a small-moment-by-small-moment attention shifter. Those five candles help me remember how desperately I need the light of Christ in my life. I need God to be light because life, even when it's good, still feels dark sometimes.

How does life feel dark for you? How do you feel in the dark?

> Light your first Advent candle (You should have 4 remaining).

My friend, God is light. It is His coming, His light to your darkness, that you are celebrating this Christmas! Each week as you light another candle and fix your heart on choosing more of Jesus and less of the chaos, your world will brighten. Life may not get easier, and that's fine; easier isn't our aim. Knowing Him is our aim. Focusing on His light is our aim.

And when we focus on His light and move toward it, we are called out of our darkness.

Read 1 Peter 2:9 and take note of the four things God says you are.

Do you know why He chose you, calls you royal, sees you as holy, and wants you all for His own? 

Look again at 1 Peter 2:9, and note what it says at the end.

You are all of these things because God wants you to “declare His praise because He called you out of darkness and into His wonderful light.” God has brought you into the light so you could declare it to the world around you, offering that hope to others. Just as you were called out of darkness and into his light, you can invite others into that light, too.