Christmas Foretold

We are preparing our hearts for Christmas in this devotion with Heather Hart.

Bible Verse for Today

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14

Devotion for Today

Preparing Our Hearts for Christmas

The whispers of it started back in Genesis. God was sending a Messiah. Someone who could save the people of the world; redeem them.

Christmas was coming. No one really knew how or when, but the prophesies were clear that a Messiah was promised. He would come from Bethlehem, from the tribe of Judah, and He would save God’s people.

The Jews knew the Christ was coming, none of them doubted. The prophets had been silent nearly four hundred years, but they held on to their hope. Christmas was coming.

With each passing year, their hopes grew. Surely God would send their mighty rescuer soon. Like Moses delivered them from the hand of the Pharaoh, the Christ would help them overthrow the Roman Empire. Their time was coming. Christmas was coming.

And Christmas did come. He was born in a manger while the world slept. One thing was clear, this nobody from Nazareth wasn’t the mighty prince they were expecting. Had they forgotten that Moses was a nobody, too? Maybe. Perhaps it was just that their expectations didn’t line up with God’s plan.

How often do we find ourselves there? Missing the joy of the holiday season because we are stressing over details that don’t really matter? Do you ever find Christmas getting lost in all the hustle and bustle? I do.

God’s chosen people, who were waiting expectantly for the Messiah, missed His birth because they were to set in their ways. I don’t want that to be me this Christmas. Christmas is coming, whether we are ready or not, and this year, I want to get excited about Jesus.

I want this Christmas to be more than a season, more than another burden on my already full schedule; I want to stand in awe at God’s promise of a Savior. I want to be filled with wonder at the person of Christ—God became man to dwell among us.

This Christmas I want to have an overwhelmed soul, not an overwhelming itinerary. I want to have room in my Christmas for Jesus to move; to sit in His presence and praise His name. God sent us Jesus, and that’s something worth celebrating.

This Christmas I want to have an overwhelmed soul, not an overwhelming itinerary. Share on X