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Today’s Truth
If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is given back to you.
Luke 6:38
Friend to Friend
The world would like us to believe that the success of Christmas depends upon how much we spend, how many presents we give, or how many presents we receive. Christmas is about giving, but price tags do not determine the success of our giving. Giving is not dependent on the condition of our checkbook. Giving is dependent on the condition of our heart. I am so glad! Like you, we have to plan carefully what we buy and how much we spend on each gift. As a result, we have discovered some creative ways to give gifts from the heart, meaningful gifts that cost very little.
A homemade gift
In 1 Corinthians 4:12 Paul teaches that we should “work hard
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Today’s Truth
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
Friend to Friend
With Christmas just around the corner, it’s easy to get so busy with the cooking, decorating and shopping that we forget why we’re doing all this in the first place. Sometimes, the very people we love get lost in the hustle and bustle of packed schedules, holiday parties, and Christmas musicals.
Several years ago I wrote a Christmas version of 1 Corinthians 13 to help me keep my focus on what Paul deemed most important of all…love. As part of our family tradition, I pull it out and post it somewhere in our home as a reminder of what’s really important during the holiday season. And since you are now part of the family, I’m pulling it out for
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Today’s Truth
Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.
2 Corinthians 9:11
Friend to Friend
He sorted through the mail, pressed the latest bill onto the table, and looked at me with compassion in his eyes. He knew full well that our medical debt stirred up huge amounts of anxiety within me.
“We’ll get through this.” He assured.
I wasn’t so sure.
What happened to us? How did we get here? And how would we ever get through it?
The truth is, we had encountered one crisis after another through no fault of our own. And, the truth was, we had become inconsistent stewards and hit-and-miss tithers. All because of fear. But when is fear ever a good motivator for a Christian?
We decided that we needed to live like God’s promises were true, or we need
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Today’s Truth
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
Luke 2:19
Friend to Friend
The story of Christmas is familiar. Many of us can recite verses and sing choruses that recap the holy day without so much as a second thought. It is said that familiarity breeds contempt – so I wonder.
I wonder and I search my heart.
When I sit and search long enough to listen to God’s still small voice, I grapple with the familiar and I groan for the fresh… and I wonder. Have I shopped, cleaned, and baked away the season without bending a knee to worship the Savior? Have I decorated my home, but failed to focus my heart?
The story of Christmas is the ultimate story of life, of hope, of freedom. The beautiful and mysterious intersection
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Today’s Truth
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
Friend to Friend
As a high school junior, I decided it was time to take Homemaking 101. I can still see Mrs. Johnson’s face as she naively gazed at her new students. Bless her unsuspecting heart! She had no idea the challenge I brought to that class or to her career as a teacher. For weeks, I muddled through each lesson with a respectable, but less than stellar performance, until we hit the section on sewing. It would prove to be her undoing where I was concerned.
Being the veteran teacher that she was, Mrs. Johnson took a deep breath and doggedly plunged ahead in determination, vowing she could teach anyone to sew – even me. I decided to make a
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Today’s Truth
Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil
Ephesians 5:15-16
Friend to Friend
As Christian believers, we are called to live set-apart lives. To be holy as God is holy (Leviticus 19:2, 1 Thessalonians 4:7). To be in the world, but not of the world. God is the source of all holiness, and in order to live set-apart lives – to be sanctified – we must spend time with Him and allow His Holy Spirit to lead us.
God loves us too much to leave us as we are. He wants much more for us than that! God’s plan is to make us more like Himself… to sanctify us. He is Yahweh M’Kaddst, the Lord our Sanctifier.
Let’s take this street level. I don’t know what your days look like, but mine are
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Today’s Truth
If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is given back to you.
Luke 6:38
Friend to Friend
Have you discovered the truth that we simply cannot “out-give” God? The more we give, the more we receive. And that truth does not just apply to financial giving. It is really all about the attitude behind the gift. Do you remember the Christmas gifts you received last year? How about the Christmas gifts you gave? What about the gift you gave Jesus? Yesterday we talked about several meaningful gifts you can give. Here are a few more for you to consider.
A gift of care Galatians 6:2 (RSV) “Bear one another’s burdens.”
Christmas is a time of empty hopes and fierce loneliness for many people. In fact, the holidays can be nothing more than a season riddled with pain.
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Today’s Truth
“Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’”
Matthew 2:1b-2
Friend to Friend
An African boy listened carefully as his missionary teacher explained why Christians give presents to each other on Christmas day.
“The gift is an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our friendship for each other,” she said.
When Christmas day came, the boy brought to the teacher a seashell of lustrous beauty.
“Where did you ever find such a beautiful shell?” the teacher asked as she gently fingered the gift.
The youth told her that there was only one spot where such extraordinary shells could be found. When he named the place, a certain bay several miles away, the teacher was left speechless.
“Why…why, it’s gorgeous…wonderful, but you shouldn’t have gone all that way to get a gift for
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Today’s Truth
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through … Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:3
Friend to Friend
My son Hunter had been having pain in his left elbow. He mentioned it to my husband and I casually, but didn’t make a big deal about it initially. He’s a teenager, so we thought it might just be growing pains. Months later, when the pain continued to increase, he brought it up to us again.
Off to the doctor we went, not knowing what to think about the mysterious, lingering pain. After a brief physical evaluation, the doctor ordered that x-rays be taken. Soon after, he peeked his head back in the exam room and gave me the “come with me” finger-wag.
Eew. Okay.
I followed him out to the light board that illuminated Hunter’s new bone pictures. Dr. Joe
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Today’s Truth
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.
John 3:16
Friend to Friend
It was Christmas Eve and the family was preparing to attend the church service. Everyone was going, everyone except Dad. He was an honest man, a good man, but he simply could neither understand nor accept the seemingly complex story of the baby in a manger born to save the world. It was just too far- fetched for the human mind to conceive.
How could God allow His Son to give up Heaven for Earth?
Why would Jesus want to die for any man?
The questions lingered and, not wanting to be a hypocrite, the man chose to stay home rather than sit in a church pew one time a year with an unbelieving heart.
As his family went out into the
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