On Christmas Eve, we celebrate and anticipate the birth of Jesus.
A thousand years before Christ was born, the Israelite elders approached the prophet Samuel and asked him to appoint them a king. They saw a king as the solution to all of their problems as a nation.
But God knew a king wouldn’t solve the deeply entrenched and longstanding issues their nation was facing. Poverty, violence and oppression — these things and more plagued Israel, just as they plague our world today. God knew that if he was going to bring real and lasting change, he’d need to do something radical, something unexpected, something that would uproot the sin that caused so much suffering and grow into a global movement.
That something was Jesus.
This Christmas, we’ve been celebrating the lasting change God brought to us through Jesus. He weeds out and redeems the sin in our own lives and invites us to join him in creating lasting change in the lives of others.
Those of you who have been journeying with us through our Christmas Devotional know that change that lasts often starts small, but it rarely stays that way. Change that lasts takes time. It grows deep roots, then spreads to impact others. Jesus understood this far better than the rest of us, and this holiday season, we celebrate him as Immanuel, God with us.
If you haven’t yet, we invite you to join us in our study of lasting change throughout scripture. Download the Change That Lasts Christmas Devotional and invite God to show you what lasting change he wants to do in and through you.
Merry Christmas!
Rachel Clair serves as a Content Writer at World Relief. With a background in creative writing and children’s ministry, she is passionate about helping people of all ages think creatively and love God with their hearts, souls and minds.