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"While he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.'"
(Matthew 1:20)
This week, I am writing each devotion with a focus on the Christmas narrative. Last week, we looked at the angel Gabriel's message to Mary to not fear. This week, we will turn our focus to Joseph in Matthew 1:18-25, where an angel told him the same message, to not fear.
First, I want to say what a blessed time God gave us at our first "Christmas @ Great Hills" event, December 10-12. We had over 200 people from our church who volunteered and served. God truly blessed us, and we had a wonderful time. So many guests came and enjoyed it. We had 950 people register to ride the Christmas Story Express train ride, and only 117 of these were associated with our church. God allowed us to meet and serve so many in our community. One mom said how much she appreciated our church doing this because it helped her children understand the true meaning of Christmas. Another mom told me how it was so good for a church in Austin to have something like this that was spiritual, not just entertaining. Mark your calendars for next year as we will offer this ministry to our community again. I am excited to do it again! I got to share the gospel 12 times in 3 nights! Woohoo!
There is much fear in our world today, just like on that first Christmas morning when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. There was plenty of tension and hostility between the Jews and Rome. In AD 74, Rome would take over Israel with the last holdout being in Masada, where over 960 Jews committed suicide instead of surrendering to the Romans. You see this hostility throughout the New Testament. But there was another kind of angst surrounding the birth of Jesus, because Mary, though unwed, had gotten pregnant. Everyone knew what that meant... or did they? I just love it when God confounds everyone and does miracles!
The prominent fear today is obviously the COVID-19 coronavirus that has taken just under 800,000 American lives and 5.3 million lives worldwide. One in one hundred elderly Americans have died from COVID-19. The new COVID variant, Omicron, is a global problem. Other fear-inducing facts include: Cities in the USA are having record numbers of homicides. The tornadoes that ripped through the Midwest and Southeast claimed around 100 lives. One of the tornadoes in Kentucky was on the ground for 200 miles. Russia has almost 200,000 troops on the border of Ukraine. ( Sources.) There are many things happening in our world that could paralyze us with fear.
Actor Denzel Washington said, "This is spiritual warfare, so I'm not looking at it from an earthly perspective. If you don't have a spiritual anchor, you'll be easily blown by the wind and you'll be led to depression." ( Source.)
There is much fear in our world, from personal fears that individuals struggle with, economic fears, global pandemic fears, fear of what other powerful nations are doing, etc.
But God. He commands us over and over in Scripture, like He did through an angel to Joseph, that we must not be afraid. Why? God is with us. |
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