God be with you

FOCUS READING

Luke 2:1-7 (The Message)

About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.

While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

DAILY BYTE

The scripture from Luke 1 for this week says that Mary is a ‘favored one’ – which simply means that God graciously gave her a beautiful life. Those words in Greek are only used one other place in the Scriptures. You’ll find it in the book of Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 5 and 6. It says there: ‘He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.’

In other words, we are all favored by God, if we choose to accept his life growing in ours. And when we do that, our whole life is beautiful.
I noticed a strange thing this week, as I studied this scripture. Did you know that in Greek, the same word for becoming pregnant is the word for catching fish? I wasn’t sure what to make of that, really, and had a great debate about it with some friends.

I’m not sure I’ve got it 100 percent right, but I do have an imaginative thought about it to share with you. I wonder if it might not have something to do with the fact that when we allow ourselves to be filled to bursting with Jesus – expecting that God is going to do great things through our lives – that’s when we fully live out our calling as disciples to be fishers of people.

We are called to catch fish – to distract them with our beauty so that they will be drawn not to fall in love with us but to fall in love with the Christ they can see within us.

And so I hope that you have a truly beautiful Christmas – not because of the shiny things you see under the tree or because of how great you think you look in the photos you take, but because of the beauty of something new that is born in you.

And as this is the final day for the production of the BDC, I simply want to say to you for myself and on behalf of the other past writers of this devotional, thank you for the privilege of journeying with you. We pray that your life will continue to be richly blessed, as you grow in love of God and love of others.

Remember always that you are beautiful with God’s beauty. Beautiful inside and out. God be with you.


(It is with heavy hearts that we, at Manning Road Methodist Church, announce that this week’s BDC will be our last. With both Anna and Roger moving on and Gareth’s work commitments unable to allow him to continue this service, the decision was taken to bring it to a close.

HOWEVER, all is not lost!

The daily messages of “Faith For Daily Living” are available on an internet site specifically designed for cellphones. If you are able to access the internet on your cellphone and would like to make use of this service, SMS "MOBI FFDL" to 33978 and a link will be sent directly to your phone that you can add to your bookmarks for daily use.

Alternatively, type http://faithfordailyliving.mobi into your phone’s internet browser and access the site directly.

There is no subscription fee for this service, although there is a once-off charge of R1.50 for the SMS and your cellphone provider will apply its usual rates for accessing the web.

For those who wish to receive it via email daily, go to http://faithfordailyliving.org/Apply.html and enter your email address in the relevant box.

Another excellent resource is the Upper Room Daily Devotional available for mobiles and email and can be sourced from http://devotional.upperroom.org/emaildevotional - follow the relevant instructions.

Thanking you all for sharing this journey with us…

Manning Road Methodist Church)