Devotion for Sunday, December 24, 2023

“In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:25-27).

In the Lord, there is safety.  This world is not safe.  What the Lord is creating is a people who are true to His word, faithful, and trustworthy.  The contrast between what will be and what is, is hard to fathom.  We have become so used to duplicity, unfaithfulness, and self-seeking that we often think it the normal way of things.  See the difference and ask what kind of world you desire to live in.  Choose the way of the Lord and work toward living as life shall be lived in the holy city.

Lord, I understand this is not works righteousness.  I cannot earn the right to be with You in heaven.  Yet by Your gift of faith, You will create in me Your likeness to be fit for heaven.  Help me to shift my attitude so that I live into the life that is being described here.  Guide my heart and mind to become all these things from the inside out.  Crucify what is wicked so that Your likeness can be resurrected in me.

Lord Jesus, there is much work that needs to be done.  First, by Your grace, please write my name in Your book.  Then, help me to spend all the years You give me preparing for what is to come.  Guide me in Your goodness so that I may learn how to be faithful.  Lead me by Your example to know how to work diligently in every circumstance.  Through all that comes, help me to complete the journey of faith that You have set before me.  Amen.