Grace and peace to you, and welcome to Trusting God at all times, a daily devotion. I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor of Peakland United Methodist Church here in Lynchburg Virginia.
During this season of Advent, Peakland people are reading this book written by Rev. Adam Hamilton: Prepare the Way for the Lord, an advent study focusing on John the Baptist. .
For this week’s reading and in worship last Sunday, we focused the ministry of John the Baptist, miracle son of Zechariah the priest and Elizabeth, his wife. Scripture doesn’t tell us much of anything about Johns’ life after he is born. We meet John again when he is an adult in chapter 3 of Luke’s Gospel.
Luke chapter 3, verses 2-3:
The word of God came to John, son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
When John is baptizing, he’s offering a physical cleaning of the body to represent the cleaning of our souls from sin.
The people come to John, repenting and sorry for their sins, and John baptizes them and tells them to bear fruits worthy of repentance. To live their lives in a way that shows they really are sorry for their sins and really do want to live in a way that God desires.
People ask him, “What does that mean, what should we do?”
John tells them, “Whoever has two coats, must share with anyone who has none
Whoever has excess food must share with those who have none.”
To the tax collectors and soldiers, John tells them to do their jobs honorably.
John’s words are good words for us as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ and to have him born again in our souls today. Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Live lives that are meaningful and draw us closer to God.
When Paul writes his letter to the Galatians, he describes the fruits of the Spirit.
Galatians 5 verses 22 and 23: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
What should we do today to prepare for Christ? Anything and everything that promotes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That’s how we live loves worthy of the grace and love that our One Trinity God pours out on us.
This past Sunday, Peakland welcomed five helping agencies to our church. The good people of Peakland had collected cans and boxes of food, knitted items, gift cards to box stores, stockings full of items for children and infants, We made Christmas ornaments, ate homemade cookies, drank hot chocolate and sang Xmas songs.
It was the perfect way for the church to prepare for Christ-generosity to those in need, fellowship with each other. Our fellowship hall was full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and gentleness. The hot chocolate and cookies were really good, so we may not have had a lot of self-control.
Today and everyday look for ways you can bear the fruits of the Spirit. Let love, joy, peace, and patience be evident in your life. Let Kindness, generosity, faithfulness and generosity and self-control be a way of life for you.
Thanks be to God. t
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