A Christmas Devotional

About following God’s directions…

Matthew 1:22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" which means, "God with us." 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (NIV)

In the middle of shopping, wrapping, parties, and celebrations you can forget about having "God with us." What is so dramatic about the Christmas story is how God did become "with us" as a human being. Before Jesus’ birth, God was remote from mankind. God was in heaven and interacted with man but not as a human being. God was unseen, remote, and for the most part silent. When Jesus came into the world, God was interacting with all of us on a human to human level. God chose Joseph to be a human model to be Jesus’ father. In this verse, we can see not only how Joseph was righteous in his heart, Joseph was also willing and able to do exactly what God wanted done. We don’t know much about Joseph from the scripture accounts, but what we do know is more than enough to tell us about Joseph’s character and willingness to lead his life as God directed. We also know Joseph was a man who loved Mary. Let all of us strive to be like Joseph before our Savior and always strive to follow His direction in our life.

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Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION�. NIV�. Copyright � 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (RSV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Copyright � 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.


Entire contents copyright � by Rev. Patrick Kelly, All rights reserved.
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Shepherd's Care Ministries author and webmaster, Rev. Patrick Kelly, is affiliated through ministerial ordination with Church of God Ministries, Anderson IN 46018