ADVENT 2025
DECEMBER 2
Today is the 2nd day of our virtual Advent Devotional and we are going to look at our second Christlike character trait: Servanthood. By the world’s definition, happiness and success are when you can sit back and have everyone serve you. But Jesus showed us a different way: “45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45). He taught us that true joy and victory in the kingdom of God comes from developing a heart that wants to serve others, even if you are the one in charge.
The Gospel of John chapter 10 tells us that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, while He was eating the Passover meal with His disciples, He: “4 *got up from supper, and *laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. 5 Then He *poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded…12 So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John 13:4-5, 12-16). Jesus was not giving us a lesson in proper foot hygiene. He was teaching us that serving one another is the true path to blessedness!
Too many people today suffer from low self-esteem, isolation, loneliness, and a general emptiness from a lack of purpose. That is because God made us all in His image, so whether we realize it or not, we have an embedded programming to serve Him and one another. When we repent and believe in Jesus, His indwelling Holy Spirit transforms that programming into a natural and just desire that, when acted upon, brings us great joy and purpose. This time of year, it is so easy to think about and make lists of “what we want.” Instead, let us develop a character of Servanthood by praying about what others want and need! And when we actively serve one another, we will both bring glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and we will also experience the great Joy of Christmas!
DECEMBER 1
This Christmas, I thought it would be wonderful for us to share a Church wide Advent Devotional together. I’ve read an interesting one a couple of years ago, that I want to share with you again called “A 25-Day Countdown to a Character-Filled Christmas” by Megan Ann Scheibner. Megan is a homeschool mom of eight children and wife of Steve Scheibner, who was supposed to be the pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston, MA on September 11, 2001. Over the next 25 days we are only going to use the topics of this book, not the specific material, as a springboard for a virtual Advent Calendar that we will post every day leading up to Christmas morning.
So, the first Christlike character I want us to consider this Christmas is: Commitment. We live in a world dominated by subscription services and commercialism, where it seems that no one ever demands we commit to anything long term. But Jesus Christ demands our commitment! In Matthew chapter 10, He boldly declared: “38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:38).
Jesus not only demands commitment, He is also characterized by commitment! A little later in Matthew chapter 16, after Peter proclaimed that “16…“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”” (Matthew 16:16), Jesus declared His commitment to go to the cross to pay for man’s sins as a sacrificial atonement. “21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. 22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”” (Matthew 16:21-23; cf. Hebrews 12:2)
Beloved, every Christian’s journey begins with a commitment to repent of their sins and follow Jesus, believing that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who takes away the sin of the world with His sacrificial death and resurrection. I want us all this Christmas to adopt the Christlike Character Trait of Commitment and commit ourselves today to preparing our hearts and our character for the coming of our King!
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