THE REFRESHING NATURE OF LOVE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

Philemon 7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Where would we be without the incredible, refreshing nature of love? It would be a life filled with nothing but darkness and despair, right?

I have lived almost 64 years now and I’ve never met a person yet who didn’t long to feel loved by someone else and if that love can be sustained, it’s an added blessing. I believe this goes all the way back to when we emerge from the womb, leaving the enclosed safety within to emerge into an environment that is completely alien to us, an environment where a baby encounters light and the immediate love and nurturing of others immediately. This includes being held and cared for from birth until that day we enter adulthood and maybe have children of our own to love but even then, we still experience the love of our parents until that day when either they or we come to the place where life in this world ends.

Thankfully, we have more sources of love than our parents when we grow older. Many are fortunate to marry and share life and love with a husband or wife. We also develop friendships either through work or social interactions, friendships where love becomes central to the relationship. And we also find love within our church families, especially in small group environments where Christian believers can connect on a very personal level, sharing joys and sorrows with one another.

As we turn to our scripture verse from Paul’s letter to Philemon, the Colossian slave owner who has a special relationship with the Apostle who referred to him as a “dear friend and fellow worker”. In the preceding verses, Paul had commended Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus for the love they had for all God’s “holy people” in Colossae (v. 5), a referral to the Christians there. We know further that Philemon was hosting church meetings in his home (v. 2). This dedication to loving fellow believers and actively promoting the cause of Christ and the Gospel had impressed Paul, leading to these words found in verse 7:

Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

Note here how Paul wasn’t praising Philemon for being a great leader in the church, citing metrics on how successful he was for growing the church and helping bring large numbers of Colossians to salvation. Rather, Paul centered his admiration on the matter of love and how Philemon expressed to the “Lord’s people”. This love, that brought Paul “great joy and encouragement”, had “refreshed the hearts” of the Colossian believers, fulfilling something that, as mentioned prior, every person craves.

Indeed, love refreshes Christians like the Colossians more than 2,000 years ago as well as us today because of its amazing nature and what it brings to all who receive it. Consider these verses from the scriptures that remind us of some of the benefits love brings to the one being loved:

1. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14

As soon as a person places their belief in Jesus and becomes a Christian, the Holy Spirit is placed within them, the Spirit who serves to lead and guide the believer to be like Christ in the way they live. This changed behavior through the direction of the Holy Spirit produces fruit, referred to as the fruit of the Spirit, and that fruit includes qualities Paul calls for as he wrote to the Colossian believers.

Specifically, we find the Apostle encouraging his brothers and sisters in Christ to “clothe” themselves “with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness but note what he says about love. He testifies that it “binds” all the other virtues “together in perfect unity”. In other words, we can’t properly exercise the other fruits of the Spirit if love isn’t exercised above them.

Love needs to be active before we can show others gentleness, compassion, and kindness.

Love needs to be present so we can humble ourselves and place the needs of others before our own.

Love allows us to be tolerant and be patient with others.

and...

Love will always transcend hatred and resentment, allowing us to forgive others when the world says we shouldn’t.

With all this in hand, consider this about love and why we need never doubt its astounding power.

2. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8

God’s Word is truth and it’s full of absolute statements like this one. If our Lord tells us that love never fails than it doesn’t. Ever.

We may fail to exercise love but when love is extended and used as God intends, it will not fall short. This is good news for us when we consider how it binds all the other virtuous fruits of the Spirit together in perfect unity. For if love never fails, neither will the other Christian behaviors we’re called to exhibit.

3. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8

The gist of these words from Peter are that love can lead us to forgive or “cover over” sins that may have been committed against us. To see how this happens, we need only look to the cross where Jesus willingly allowed Himself to be sacrificed to cover our “multitude of sins” and at the core of why He did so was love, His love for us and the love of God, His Father and ours, who made it all possible.

4. For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Look at the core of the Gospel and you find the matter of love, a love that led our Creator to not allow us to perish, rather saving us through His Son Jesus, the substitutionary sacrifice that brought pardon and atonement to anyone who would believe in Him. And this pardon and atonement brings with it a promise that all who are in Christ Jesus will “have eternal life” becoming co-heirs of the very Kingdom of God with Him (Romans 8:17).

With this, all Christians are victorious, their eternal hope secure, all because of the refreshing nature of love. This removes any need to worry or be afraid in life, even when death might loom, because the promise of everlasting life is sure.

And this leads to the final verse in today’s message:

5. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4:18

Because of the redeeming work of Jesus on Calvary’s cross, His perfect love that brings salvation to all who believes in Him “casts out fear” and dispels any concerns we might have in life. Our future, living in glory with Him and God forever is secure and no one can take it away. And no matter what life might bring our way, we can live with the bold confidence that the best is yet to come.

Friends, when we look at the center of Christian life, we will always find love at its core because love is what is at the heart of the One who made us and the One who saved us.

Be refreshed by that truth.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

PRAYING FOR WHAT IS AND WHAT IS TO COME

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all His holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.

Philemon 4-6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As far as we know in the scriptures, the Apostle Paul had never visited Colossae. This is what makes his letter to the Colossians so unique because when we read his other epistles, he is writing with first-hand experience of having been in the midst of the churches and their respective Christian believers. Conversely, he writes to the Colossians based on what he had heard about them and the work they were doing.

This is important to note as we continue to look at this short letter that Paul writes to Philemon, the shortest of all the epistles. For as we look at our passage today, we find Paul telling the Colossian slave owner as well as two others Christian believers and Gospel participants, Apphia and Archippus, how he has heard about the love they had for all God’s “holy people” and their “faith in the Lord Jesus”. Paul makes it clear that he is thankful for both as he remembered them in his prayers.

For us, this is the first takeaway for us from today’s message and these words from Philemon. For as we pray each and every day, we need to ensure we include an element of thanksgiving and praise for the good we see in others as they are presently serving the Lord in their lives.

In the case of Paul, he testifies he is praying with thanksgiving over his brothers in Christ, Philemon and Archippus, as well as his sister in Christ, Apphia, not because they have donated large sums of money to the church or did some amazing, miraculous act that would have been a headline in the Gospel work of the Colossian church. No, Paul’s expression of prayerful gratitude was based on two things that any Christian believer can commit themselves to display every day: love and faith. One doesn’t need to be wealthy by worldly means to be rich spiritually. That’s the point we gain from God’s word here.

Now, while this was Paul’s grateful prayer for the present state of affairs with his two Christian brothers and sister in Colossae, we also find him forward looking. For he further writes this regarding his prayers:

I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.

The hope Paul expresses here is for the future, a future where the wonderful Gospel work of Philemon, Archippus, and Apphia would continue in the same love and faith they were presently showing. Note that this hope wasn’t for potential self glorification of all involved. Rather, Paul prayed that his partnership with them and the Colossian church might continue in faith so to establish a deepened “understanding of every good thing” they would collectively “share for the sake of Christ” aka the Gospel.

This is always the future hope for the church, right?

For the ongoing work of the Gospel is one of the primary things we should always be praying over until that day when Jesus returns. We should be praying not only for the work of the Christian church universal but also our personal engagement in that work as well as a constant quest to find new Christians to partner with for the sake of Christ Jesus.

When we read his letters, we learn that Paul was a man of prayer. He consistently lifted up all Christians he had worked with as well as those he had never met and as we see in today’s passage, he prayer with thanksgiving for what was being done for Christ and also for the future Great Commission work that would be accomplished in His name.

Let’s all use his prayer framework in the way that we lift up the church and its believers today and throughout this new year.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

SHARING PROPER GRACE, PEACE, AND LOVE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother.

To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker—also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philemon 1-3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

When the world would say a person has every right to condemn another, the Lord will always oppose such overtures.

Why?

Because it isn’t the right of anyone to judge for that exclusive right belongs to the Lord and Him alone.

No one has the latitude to trump the Lord when it comes to anything because only He is sovereign over all things. All are subordinate to Him and only He is perfectly righteous and just, able to administer proper and fair decisions flawlessly in regard to human behavior. This includes the matter of grace which He lavishes on us liberally, the end result being that we rarely get what we really deserve in regard to the transgressions we have committed, particularly when we show remorse and repentance for our actions.

Why go into this matter of judgment versus grace?

Because it is the central theme of this next series of messages as we look at Paul’s letter to a Colossian slave owner named Philemon, a letter he composed while imprisoned in Rome.

You see, a slave belonging to Philemon, Onesimus, had fled to Rome, no doubt to try and just blend in and escape the captivity he was under. We don’t know how he ended up with Paul but the important thing is that he did and while with the Apostle, Onesimus committed his life to Jesus.

With the intent of reuniting Philemon and Onesimus without a resulting punishment was Paul’s main reason for penning this letter and we’ll be getting into this in depth over the next week or so.

We open up this series with Paul’s greeting, a greeting that follows a standard format he liked to use.

First, we find him identifying himself to his reader.

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother.

Note here how Paul only describes himself as a “prisoner of Christ Jesus”, the indication that he was currently incarcerated at the time he wrote. It’s interesting to me that Paul doesn’t say a prisoner of the Romans here, rather making sure his readers knew that he was first held captive by Jesus, the King and Savior that he faithfully served. Any removal of freedom by the Romans was a direct result of Paul’s service for the cause of Christ and His Gospel. It was the sole reason he was in chains.

Next, we find Paul clearly delineating who he was writing to.

To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker—also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home.

Before I get to Philemon, the primary target of Paul’s letter as mentioned, let me tackle the other two parties mentioned.

We only find Apphia’s name in this letter to Philemon but she’s obviously a Christian believer as Paul refers to her as a “sister”. As for Archippus, he shows up in just one other place, predictably in the closing to Paul’s letter to the Colossians. In chapter 4, verse 17, Paul writes:

Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.”

This affirms Paul calling Archippus his “fellow soldier” for the cause of the Gospel in Colossae.

Now to the relationship with Philemon. It’s believed Paul met him during his third missionary journey when he was in Ephesus, Philemon having traveled to Ephesus at that time. It was then that Philemon accepted Jesus as Savior, becoming a “dear friend” and “fellow worker” for the cause of the Gospel. We read where Philemon even hosted church meetings in his home. The close camaraderie between Paul and Philemon in Christ Jesus plays an important role in what’s to come later in this letter.

After the “To” and “From” sections of this letter, we find Paul extending a special wish for his readers. He writes:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

These words could easily just be glossed over but they shouldn’t be because they carry an important point of truth we need to constantly remember.

You see, none of us can grant grace or peace to someone on our own merit because none of us have the ability to properly, and even more so, perfectly impart either. In the end translation, true grace and peace only comes to us from “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” and then we, in turn, get to be conduits of their grace and peace in our dealings with others.

And I would throw the matter of love in there with them.

Paul isn’t sending his grace and peace. Rather, he sends grace and peace from the only legitimate source of both and he does so out of the love he holds for them.

As we move through this new calendar year, let all learn from this opening greeting from Paul’s letter to Philemon and wish everyone we address - whether in person, on the phone, or in writing whether through email or handwritten correspondence – the amazing grace and peace of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, doing so out of our their love that we also get to share.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

CELEBRATE THE LORD WHO MAKES THINGS NEW

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In Christ, Mark

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Welcome to 2024! The past year, 2023, is in our rear view mirror and has entered into what is known as history. Things have happened globally, nationally, within the communities we live, and personally over the past 365 days but they are now behind us. No one or nothing can change what has been but that doesn’t mean that things can’t change in what is still to be.

I can say this with full confidence because we serve a Lord through which all things are possible, a Lord who can make the seemingly improbable probable, the Lord who makes things new and freely gives new mercies every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).

As we enter this new year, unknowing of what lies ahead, we can do so with confidence, faith, and trust in understanding that the Lord is with us every step of the way. And in fact, He knows our futures before they even come to be. Such is the amazing power, wisdom, and character found in Him.

This truth should drive our attitudes today to a place of celebration, a celebration not grounded in worldly traditions based on a ball dropping or late night partying or shooting off fireworks to brilliantly illuminate the night sky but rather a genuine heartfelt admiration of the Lord we serve. And to remind is how He constantly makes things new in His creation, both now and in the future, we find wonderful passages within His Holy Word. Here’s one to ponder on this New Year’s Day:

This is what the Lord says—He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:19

The Israelite people have endured a long, difficult, oppressive captivity in Egypt. They appeared to have no future beyond doing the will of the Pharaoh each and every day until they experienced the intervention of the God Most High who delivered them and made all things new.

As Moses led the people away from the pursuing army of the Egyptian leader, they came upon a sea that was impassable by mere human means. But then God, through His power, made a way through the mighty waters so the Israelites could pass through on dry land to safety. He then imposed His judgment on Pharaoh and his fighting men, releasing the suspended sea to crash down on the advancing chariots and horses, extinguishing the threat to the Israelite people as quickly as a wick is snuffed out.

With His people now safe, the Lord then made a way for the Israelites to journey across the wilderness as He led them to the Promised Land where He would make things new for them forever. Indeed, Israel still abides in the land God granted them well over 2,000 years ago.

What had happened to the Israelites in Egypt was in the past. All the difficulty and adversity they experienced was behind them, just as 2023 is behind us now along with any hardship or troubles we may have endured.

So let us receive the words of our Lord within the same context that they were delivered to the Israelites. Let us open our eyes to the possibilities that abound in our Lord doing new things in our world, in our nation, within our communities, and within our own lives.

For He will lead us through the wilderness of 2024. All we need to do is trust Him.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

FINDING THE KING - THE MAGI

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Matthew 2:9-11

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

A common theme in the scriptures is the matter of journeying to find something.

Mary traveled twice, first to find her relative Elizabeth after receiving news from the angel Gabriel that she too had miraculously become pregnant despite being well past child bearing years. The second trip was to Bethlehem with Joseph while in her ninth month of pregnancy with her baby ready to be born any day. Both Joseph and Mary were going to find the place of registry in response to the order of Caesar Augustus for a census to be taken across the Roman Empire.

After Jesus was born, we found the shepherds in the fields, tending to their flocks by night and receiving the incredible angels heralding the good news of great joy that the long awaited Messiah had come and could be find lying in a manger in Bethlehem. Immediately after receiving the announcement, the shepherds decided to go into town and there they found the newborn King and His parents.

Then, around two years later, a group of Magi saw an unusual star to the west of them, a star that they believed was a sign of the important birth of the King of the Jews, a birth they were aware of through Jewish prophecies. And so they set out and went to the star which was over the holy city of Jerusalem where they learned the child they sought was about five miles south in the town of Bethlehem. With that news in hand, the Magi went onto the town of David with the hope of finding the King they sought. Here’s that account from Matthew’s Gospel:

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Matthew 2:9-11

As we look at this passage, I believe the Lord is communicating three things to us as we get ready to approach the new year, 2024.

First, when anyone seeks the Lord in faith, He leads them to Him through His light.

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

The Magi were obviously highly anticipating the birth of the King of the Jews and God knew their hearts as He does everyone who places their belief and trust in Him.

And so God first made the bright star shine over Jerusalem to lead the Magi to the place where they would learn of the exact location of His Son, the One who had come to not only be the King of all kings but the Savior of the world as well. He then used the star, His glorious light, to guide the Magi straight to where Jesus was. A light blazing in the night sky led the Magi to the One who was the Light of the world.

In 2024, no matter how dark things may seem in your life, seek the Lord and He will lead you to Himself through His holy light that always overcomes the darkness (John 1:5).

The second thing we can learn from the Magi is that when we seek and find Jesus, we need to rejoice, bow down, and worship Him.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him.

Note that the day when the Magi saw Jesus face to face wasn’t any special designated day of worship on the Jewish calendar. It was just another ordinary day but it was a day suitable to worship and adore the King Jesus.

As we get enter into 2024, I pray that we will make time, not just on Sundays, but each and every day, to just pause in the midst of our busyness and carve out time to simply be present with Jesus, pouring out our admiration in worship and praise unto His precious and holy name, the only name by which any person can be saved.

Finally, when the Magi had worshiped the King Jesus, they gave Him their finest treasures.

Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

In Jesus, God has given anyone who believes in Him the greatest gifts ever, the gift of salvation and eternal life. None of us can ever repay our Lord for what He has graciously provided but we can give what we can and that goes for our time, talent, and treasure.

We may not be as affluent as the Magi and be able to bring highly valuable gold, perfumes, or oils to Jesus the King but we all can financially as we can while giving up our time to serve Him and others as He has called us to do, using the talents that He has blessed us with.

As we get set to move into 2024, now would be a great time to assess how well you have given your gifts to Jesus in the past year, and if change needs to happen, commit yourself to do so starting in January. Whether you do ministry work independently, within the church, or better yet, a combination of both, do what you can to honor our King and Savior Jesus while making a kingdom difference here on earth wherever He might lead you through His amazing Light and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

SEEKING THE KING - THE MAGI

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.”

When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’”

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.”

Matthew 2:1-8

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever stopped for a moment and considered how millions upon millions of people are in the same moment but having completely different experiences?

I think we sometimes get so caught up in our own selves that we live in a vacuum without taking into account that we are just one of scores of people on this planet who are going through life in the midst of their particular surroundings and circumstances which vary, not just from nation to nation but community to community.

We’re reminded of this as we continue looking at the Christmas story and the events that unfolded well after Jesus was born. While we don’t know Jesus’ exact age at the time the Magi sought Him, we can estimate he was two years old or under as the murderous King Herod commanded that every boy two or younger be massacred in Bethlehem after the Magi failed to return and report to him of Jesus’ exact location. Such a treacherous, evil act was nothing short of psychotic genocide to try and eliminate the boy Herod saw as a threat to his power.

Rewinding, we are looking at the run up to this and the Magi seeking to honor the One who was to be born the King of the Jews.

These Magi, touted as being a trio even though the scriptures don’t affirm this, traveled from the east to Jerusalem. We don’t know much about them except that they were from a people group known as the Magians. It’s widely believed that they lived somewhere in the vicinity of Persia because of the knowledge they had of the Jewish prophecies that had foretold the coming of a great King who would rule over Israel. This knowledge is thought to have come from the dispersed Israelites who were taken into a seventy year exile in Babylon which was later conquered by the Persians.

It’s obvious that the Magi were God believers and it’s felt worshiped light as a symbol of God’s presence and work. And so when an unusually bright star appeared to the west of them, one that had never been in the night sky before, the Magi felt impelled to seek it out, feeling it would lead them to the newborn King of Israel.

Now, unlike most men these days who stubbornly refuse to ask directions when they travel, the Magi decided to stop in Jerusalem and ask about the whereabouts of the “One who has been born the King of the Jews”. The scriptures tell us that the word of their inquiries made it to the Roman King over Judea who was named Herod at that time.

Disturbed by what he and the entire city had heard, Herod summoned “all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law”, those who would have been experts in the Jewish scriptures and prophecies. He asked them “where the Messiah was to be born” and they responded with words spoken by God through the prophet Micah saying:

“In Bethlehem in Judea for this is what the prophet has written:”

“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’” Micah 5:2

Armed with the information, we read where “Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared” before dispatching them “to Bethlehem” with the following order:

“Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.”

Now, as we covered earlier, Herod had no intent to worship Jesus. Rather, he wanted him dead but as the events unfold, that plot is foiled by a God who wouldn’t let it happen. While it was Jesus’ destiny to die for the people He came to save, that time was not now.

As all this was happening, keep in mind that Joseph, Mary, and their little boy Jesus were going about their life in Bethlehem, completely unaware of what was transpiring in Jerusalem. God was moving and working in both places but in different ways but soon the lives of the Magi along with Jesus and his parents would intersect in a special engagement, one we will look at in tomorrow’s final message of 2023.

In the meantime, let’s be wary of all our brothers and sisters in the world each and every day, praying over them and whatever circumstances they may be dealing with, circumstances that will most often be very different from our own.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

NAMING THE KING

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, He was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Luke 2:21

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There was a time when a pregnant woman didn’t know whether their child would be born a boy or girl.

I know, it’s hard to believe these days, right?

Back in the day, the moment of truth would come at delivery and as the child emerged, the doctor or nurse would make the statement, “It’s a (insert the gender). Typically, the parents had already selected two names, one for a boy and one for a girl, and would select the appropriate one depending on the gender of their newborn baby.

Nowadays, technological advances have allowed ultrasound scans to be performed, scans that are able to show the gender of the child developing in the womb. These scans also allow pictures to be taken which are usually posted on social media with a publicized gender reveal which usually is accompanied by the name the baby will be given at birth. Everyone knows whether the baby is a boy or girl and his or her name before the child is ever born.

Going back to biblical times, we find that things were even more different then. Pregnant Jewish women wouldn’t know the sex of their child until it was born but if the baby was a boy, the naming wouldn’t happen until eight days after birth when all newborn boys were to be circumcised in accordance with the Jewish law, honoring the covenant God had made with Abraham (Genesis 17:12).  

Typically, there wasn’t much drama regarding this naming. The boy would be expected to be named after his father but as we saw earlier in the case of Zechariah and Elizabeth, their son was named John, the name God had commanded them to use through the angel Gabriel. In their case, the couple knew the baby would be a boy before he was born.

Similarly, we know that Joseph and Mary both knew that she would give birth to a boy, a Son who the angel Gabriel stated was the long awaited Messiah and Lord of all lords, the very Son of God, the King they were to name Jesus.

And so it was on the eighth day after Mary gave birth to her Son. The scriptures tell us that they took their baby to be circumcised and it was then that they named Him Jesus, “the name the angel had given Him before he was conceived”.

Since then, Christians have worshiped and adored the One who was born to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21), the man given the name that is over every other name, the man named Jesus. As we enter into a new year, let us lift up His name to everyone with the hope they might find their salvation through Him, the only One who can bring a person to God the Father (John 14:6).

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.