Christmas: December 3

Old Testament Lesson

1 Kings 19: 9-18

Today, we see God speak to Elijah. Elijah had run away, afraid, and today, God speaks to him. God doesn’t speak in the mighty wind or fire, but instead in a still small voice. The only thing about a still small voice is that it is easy to miss. We want God to shout at us. We want God to hit us over the head. Sometimes He will. But a lot of the time, He will not. We have to listen for His whisper. That means we must quiet ourselves. We must be still with Him. We must stop our racing minds and forget about what is next on our schedule and focus on Him. Focus on Him. Take time to listen. When you pray, do you stop talking at all? Do you stop and listen? Remember, prayer is a two way conversation. God will speak to us, but we must listen. If we don’t listen, we won’t hear what He is saying.

God also tells Elijah that he is not the only one that is faithful. In fact, God has 7000 that are faithful that Elijah doesn’t even know about. You are not the last Christian in the world. It may seem like that at times, but God has stuff going on that your mind can’t even realize. One of my professors used to say, “Never think that you’re God’s last hope.” God is bigger than you and me, and His plans are bigger than you me. The great thing is that He wants to use you and me in these plans.

New Testament Lesson

Ephesians 4: 17-32

The people in the text had hardened their hearts to God and once they were hard, they could not feel the truest joy, which comes from God. So, instead, they seek it other places. But, they lost their sensitive hearts and they could not feel joy at all. So, they tried other things to feel what they had lost. They indulged in sin, hoping to remember what it was like to feel alive, but they could not. Their hearts were too hard. Until our hearts are sensitive to God, soft to His touch, we will not be alive. We will not feel anything at all. We will be cold. We will be empty. We may try to receive joy through work, sex, money, lust, hobbies, or whatever feels your time. But, until are hearts are sensitive to God, we will not know true joy or true life.

Paul says we must get rid of the old life; those that steal must steal no longer. As Christians are to be made knew. I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but if we are Christians and we are not different than we used to be, or are not different than the world, what does that say about us. We are a called to be different. We must put aside the ways of the past, the things that we “used” to do, and see God. We must live in the newness of His grace.

Gospel Lesson

John 6: 15-27

Once again the crowd follows Jesus not because of the spiritual, but because of the physical. They had been fed, and when they could not find him the next day, they went looking for him. But, He calls them on it. He tells them to seek after that which is eternal, not that which is perishable. How much time do we spend seeking the things of God? How much time we spend seeking the things of this world? Where are our priorities? We will not know the mind of God until we seek it. We will not know the full extent of God’s love for us until we seek it. We will not know the command and mission from God until we seek it. You can’t swim until you get in the deep. We have to wade out deep with God to know God fully. We can’t stay in the shallow the entire time and think that we are swimming. For us to know God, we have to really seek Him. Wanting to is not enough. We must really do it: spend time in the Word, spend time in prayer, spend time with God’s children. Why do we seek Him today, or do we even seek Him at all?