The Birth of Jesus

 Prayer Practice

Breath Prayer – Take 2-3 minutes today to pray a simple breath prayer. Get somewhere quiet and relaxing. Breathe in deeply, and then breathe out fully. As you breathe in, ask God to fill you with His presence, grace, love, peace, etc. Consider using the list of spiritual fruit in Galatians 5:22-23. As you breathe out, offer to God the things you need Him to take from you – sin, doubt, shame, anxiety, fear, etc. Pray this way for just a few minutes, trusting God to work, and then begin reading today’s Scripture.

DAILY READING

Luke 2

REFLECTION

Affected

 by Kelsey Bacon

This is now the third week in a row that I have written about the birth of Jesus. Go ahead, you can look back over the last two weeks of Daily Worship and find that for three Thursdays in a row, the title of our reading has been "The Birth of Jesus." Or you can just believe me. At first, when I got this assignment once again, I was annoyed. I was getting tired of this Christmas story, one that I'd already heard and read and heard spoken of several times over the Christmas season. And now, as we're diving into Luke as a church, here we are again, back at the birth of Jesus.

But isn't it funny how God takes things and makes them new? How God brings new light and life to old things? As I read and reread these verses, Jesus opened my eyes to see the passage in a way I hadn't before.

As I read this chapter, I began to make a list of all the people that Jesus affected before he was even a teenager. This one chapter highlights the first twelve years of his life, leaving out most of it, but still in those twelve years he affects so many people around him.

Jesus affects Mary and Joseph, his earthly parents. He affects the shepherds the night he was born, who are changed. He affects Simeon, who has waited his whole life to meet his savior. He affects Anna, who sees the truth of who he is. He affects the rabbis at the temple, whom he astounds with his knowledge and love of God. And he again affects Mary, his mother who treasures all these moments up in her heart, knowing that this son she loves is not truly hers.

Within the first twelve years of his life on earth, Jesus has already impacted so many people, and these are just the ones that we hear about. Imagine how many more people were astounded by him? How many more people were taken aback by him? How many more encounters did he have that made Mary treasure the precious little time she had with her son?

The way Jesus affects people, even as a child, is striking, and it affected me today as I read this passage, thinking that I would get nothing out of it because I had read it so many times. So I encourage you today to let Jesus affect you, to be open to what he as for you, because you never know how he will deliver his blessings.