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Day 1: This Christmas: Rejoice in the Greatest Gift

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Day 1: This Christmas: Rejoice in the Greatest Gift

You don’t have to wait on a box with a bow to find joy; the Father already placed the best gift in a manger. In a world chasing more stuff, the angels point us to a Savior who brings peace and good will to all people. Let your heart re-center—less hustle and bustle, more wonder and worship. On this Christmas, praise God not just for what He’s done, but for who He is. Lift your voice and rejoice because Jesus came for you.

Luke 2:11–14 — Today, in David’s town, a child has been born for you—the Rescuer, the Anointed One, the Lord. Here’s how you’ll know: you’ll find a baby wrapped up and lying in a feeding trough. Then heaven’s army bursts into praise: “Highest glory belongs to God, and on earth His peace rests on people He lovingly favors.”

Reflection: What expectation or pressure are you willing to lay down this week so you can make room to rejoice in Jesus first?

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This Christmas

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I thanked God for bringing us together and for the men who led boldly in worship, because this season is about more than lights, lists, and long lines. We opened Luke 2:11–14 and remembered that the first Christmas announcement was not about what to buy but who had come: “a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” I asked us to be honest about a world that’s hungry for hope, unity, and understanding—and how easily we’ve traded substance for stress. Many will have a happy Tuesday; others just want it over. But no matter what shows up under a tree, there are gifts available to everyone in Christ that never run out.

First, we have a Savior. All have sinned, all have fallen short, and we cannot argue our way out of being spiritually dead. But God, in grace, shocks the flatlined soul back to life and calls us alive with Christ. You don’t have to pretend you’re fine; you can confess your need and rejoice that salvation is a gift, not a wage.

Second, we have Christ the Lord. “Savior” means He redeems; “Lord” means He reigns. He didn’t arrive with chariots and fanfare, but with authority all the same—God in human flesh, the Anointed One. If He is Lord, He doesn’t just rescue; He directs, protects, and rules over the enemies within and without.

Third, we have peace. Not the thin peace of a quiet room, but the deep peace of a reconciled heart. Shalom and eirene are not mere calm—they’re wholeness and unity created by God’s nearness. Praise invites this peace; the more we acknowledge Him, the more He steadies us in chaos, anxiety, and uncertainty.

So this Christmas, unwrap what can’t be bought: salvation by grace, a Lord who leads, and a peace that keeps your heart and mind. Don’t offer a stale praise for fresh mercies. Lift your voice like those shepherds who heard good news for all people and ran to see for themselves. The same Jesus they met is present now—saving, reigning, and bringing peace.

Key Takeaways
  • 1. Unwrap the gift of a Savior. Salvation is not self-improvement; it is resurrection. We are not bad people who need a few tips—without Christ we are spiritually dead, unable to desire God, much less please Him. Grace doesn’t make us nicer; it makes us alive, and that aliveness produces real change. Receive what you cannot earn and rejoice in what He has already given.
  • 2. Bow to Christ the Lord. Jesus doesn’t merely rescue; He rightly rules. “Christ” names His anointing and mission; “Lord” names His deity and authority over every enemy and every decision. Surrender is not loss but alignment—letting the One who knows the road set the route. Freedom grows where His rule is welcomed.
  • 3. Fresh praise for fresh mercies. God’s kindness toward you is not recycled; it’s new by the minute. Stale gratitude numbs the soul, but present-tense praise awakens wonder and keeps your heart soft to God’s movement today. Don’t treat daily grace as ordinary; answer it with living, specific worship.
  • 4. Let God reroute your steps. When you drift, He doesn’t demand you rewind your whole journey; He meets you where you are and redirects. Like a faithful guide, He recalculates from your current location, not your ideal one. Trust His Word to order your steps, and let humility replace stubborn self-navigation.
  • 5. Peace that reorders the heart. Biblical peace is more than quiet circumstances; it’s the wholeness that flows from reconciliation with God. This peace steadies grief, curbs envy, and outlasts the news cycle because it rests on Jesus’ finished work. Pursue the Person of peace, and the peace of God will guard you.
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Day 5: Christ loved and died for sinners first.

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Day 5: Christ loved and died for sinners first.

Romans teaches that God commended his love toward us while we were yet sinners—Christ died for the undeserving—so the mark of true discipleship is horizontal love springing from that vertical grace; if God loved first, disciples must love others first, even those who have wronged them.

Romans 5:8 (KJV)
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Reflection: Reflect on one person who has wronged you; pray and ask God to show you a specific, small way to bless them this week (a brief message, a helpful errand, or a sincere word of peace) and commit to doing it.

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Day 4: God’s love gives by self-giving sacrifice.

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Day 4: God’s love gives by self-giving sacrifice.

The heart of God’s gift is giving—God loved the world by giving his only begotten Son; that whosoever invitation shows a love that gives before worthiness, calling believers to model the same initiating, sacrificial kindness toward others without waiting for proof of worthiness.

John 3:16 (KJV)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Reflection: Who in your sphere needs to see initiating love today? Pick that person and take one initiating step (send a caring text, offer a practical help, or invite them to pray together) before you sleep tonight.

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Day 3: Old law limited neighbor; Christ expands neighbor scope.

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Day 3: Old law limited neighbor; Christ expands neighbor scope.

Where Leviticus allowed people to narrow who counted as “neighbor,” Christ expands the object of love to everyone—enemies, strangers, the unlovely—so disciples are called to love beyond comfort zones, to turn the other cheek, and to let the Holy Spirit enable love for those who would not naturally receive it.

Leviticus 19:18 (KJV)
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Reflection: Identify one person you would normally exclude as “not your neighbor” (an enemy, stranger, or someone different); this week, choose one specific act of kindness toward them (a short encouraging message, a small favor, or a prayer offered publicly) and carry it out within 48 hours.

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Day 2: Love’s measure: patient, kind, enduring, and selfless.

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Day 2: Love’s measure: patient, kind, enduring, and selfless.

True Christian love is measured not by convenience but by the qualities of 1 Corinthians 13—patience, kindness, humility, forgiveness, perseverance—so the challenge is to stop keeping records of wrongs, to let love cover and trust, and to allow the Holy Spirit to put down self and lift up Christ’s love in daily interactions.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (KJV)
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Reflection: Think of one recent offense you have kept a record of—today, choose one concrete step to release it (write a forgiveness letter you don’t send, pray aloud forgiveness, or make a reconciliation call) and do that step now.

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Day 1: Love one another as Christ has loved you.

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Day 1: Love one another as Christ has loved you.

Jesus gives a fresh, new commandment to love one another in the same way he has loved—an agape love that identifies discipleship; this is not a suggestion about attendance or tithes but the mode by which the world will know who wears the banner of Christ, and it calls the hearer to move out of comfort and into sacrificial relationship.

John 13:34-35 (KJV)
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Reflection: Name one person you find hardest to love; before sundown today, do one concrete, loving act for them (a call, a prayer, a help, or a kind note) to show Christ’s love without waiting for reciprocation.

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What True Love Feels Like

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We lift our hearts in praise and asked God to speak, then we turn to John 13:34–35 where Jesus gives a new command: love one another as I have loved you. I unpack what makes that command “new.” It isn’t new in time—God has always called His people to love—but new in scope, measure, and power. In the Old Testament, “neighbor” could be kept comfortably narrow. Jesus widened it to “one another,” which now includes enemy, stranger, and the difficult person in front of you. The measure also changes: not “as yourself,” but “as I have loved you,” with the 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love—patient, kind, not keeping score, enduring when it costs. And the power changes too. We don’t love like this by willpower; we love by the Holy Spirit living and working in us.

I stress the mirror: love as I have loved you. Not past tense—Jesus is loving us right now. Many of us struggle to love horizontally because we’ve not truly received how deeply we are loved vertically. So I call us to search our “faith file”: when we mess up – God still wakes us; when we steal time God still shows up. God’s nature and God’s gifts define love—John 3:16 and Romans 5:8 show a love that goes first, gives first, dies first, before we even respond.

Then the mark: by this all people will know we are His disciples—by our love for one another. Not by shirts, posts, or decals. If we truly love God, we must love His children; vertical love always presses outward into horizontal love. The cross is our picture of true love: a loving Savior bearing our sin, embracing the undeserving, breaking the cycle of payback with mercy. So I call us to practice this love in hard places—toward those who misunderstand, oppose, or mistreat us—trusting the Spirit to empower what our flesh resists. I end with a simple resolve: if I want to hear “Well done,” then I will love well—because He first loved me.

Key Takeaways
  • 1. True love extends beyond chosen neighbors. Jesus removes the loopholes. “Neighbor” is no longer a circle we draw around people we prefer; it’s whoever God brings across our path—even the hard-to-love. This stretches us out of comfort into Christlikeness. Love becomes a decision to embrace the person in front of you with Christ’s posture.
  • 2. Love requires Spirit-empowered obedience. This command is not humanly manageable; it’s Spirit-enabled. The Holy Spirit reshapes reactions, softens memory’s scorekeeping, and puts Jesus’ patience into our responses. Our part is surrender—inviting His strength where our strength fails.
  • 3. Remember how Jesus loves you. We love from being loved. Sit in the present tense of His love—He is loving you now, not once upon a time. Let His mercy toward your failures become the pattern you extend to others, especially when storms try to narrow your vision.
  • 4. Love marks authentic Christian discipleship. The recognizable badge of following Jesus is not branding but a cruciform love. If we claim vertical love for God, it must show horizontally, especially toward difficult people. Credibility before a watching world grows where sacrificial love is practiced.
  • 5. Love practices costly, patient measures. 1 Corinthians 13 names the shape of love: patient, kind, not proud, not keeping score, enduring under pressure. This isn’t sentiment; it’s sustained, resilient action. When we refuse to rehearse wrongs and choose the good, love becomes a durable witness.
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Day 5: Persevering Through Distractions and Attacks

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Day 5: Persevering Through Distractions and Attacks

As we make progress in God’s work, the enemy often intensifies his efforts to distract, discourage, and confuse us—especially when we are tired or vulnerable. Sometimes, the attacks are not even real yet, just threats or the potential for trouble, but they can still cause us to stop working and lose focus. God calls us to recognize the true source of these distractions, to close the gaps where the enemy might enter, and to keep our eyes on Him. Even when surrounded and weary, we are called to persevere, trust God’s protection, and keep building until the work is done.

1 Peter 5:8-9 (ESV)
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

Reflection: What distractions or threats are tempting you to give up or lose focus? How can you “close the gaps” and stand firm in faith today?

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Day 4: Clearing Out the Old to Build the New

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Day 4: Clearing Out the Old to Build the New

Before the wall could be rebuilt, the people had to clear away the debris and rubbish from the old, broken-down wall. In the same way, we cannot build something new for God’s glory on top of old mess, hurts, or unforgiveness. Clearing out the spiritual “rubbish” in our lives—old wounds, grudges, and habits that no longer serve us—is necessary for God to do a new work in us. Though it can be discouraging and hard work, removing what is expired or harmful makes room for God’s fresh blessings and purposes.

Ephesians 4:31-32 (ESV)
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Reflection: What “old rubbish” in your heart or life do you need to clear out today so that God can build something new in you?

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Dr. MichaelOyedokun II
Preacher/Author

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