Was your holiday "JUST PERFECT" this past week? Read below about perfect things and how even fear can perhaps be a part of God's perfect plans. May your new year be just perfect as you follow Christ.
Blessings,
Jan
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Today's Devotional:
"JUST PERFECT"
by
Jan Andersen
We’ve just gone through another Christmas holiday. How did that go for you? For some it was a joyous occasion, with lots of good food and great gatherings of friends and family, singing carols, opening presents and so forth. They feel they had a picture perfect celebration. Others dreaded this season, either because of bad memories of past tensions, difficulties dealing with people they would rather not be around, or missing those loved ones who have passed away. They may have even been heard to say, “Well, this is JUST PERFECT!” with a sarcastic tone. For most of us it has been somewhere in-between absolutely perfect and simply horrible.
Sometimes our expectations are bigger than reality, especially when it comes to holidays. We certainly aren’t alone in larger than life expectations. The Jewish people expected the Messiah to come as a godly king, someone who would conquer the Roman enemy and restore Israel to prominence. There certainly are prophecies that led them to believe that. But there are other scriptures that tell of a peaceful and loving God, one who wouldn’t even break a bruised reed. In hindsight we can see how all the prophecies are true, some having already been fulfilled, and others are yet to be. It all works together in just perfect harmony with scripture in the end.
This greatly anticipated Messiah, instead of coming as a fearless and conquering king, ended up with his family fleeing to Egypt out of fear for His life. Herod was killing all children under the age of 2, figuring Jesus would be eliminated before He became a problem. Then when Herod died and his son took over, Jesus and his parents fled in fear to Nazareth. Fear isn’t something we usually think of as a positive thing, yet God used it for his ultimate plan that was just perfect in the long run.
Do you have any fears? We probably all do to some extent. Some of those fears are small things in the overall picture of life, like a fear of spiders. Other fears are huge, like gut-wrenching terror if our life is imminently threatened. Sometimes those fears reverberate as flash-backs in PTSD whenever reminders of that original trauma come up, and the whole agonizing experience is relived over and over again. Some say if we trust in God enough we will never be afraid. But let us again consider that even fear can be used by God for something greater. The knowledge of that in itself can help us work through our fears. Some fears can even save us from future tragedies, like the fear of being robbed can help us remember to lock our doors to keep intruders out and so forth. If we lived in a perfect world, there would be nothing to fear. But we have a God who is just perfect as a protector for us to trust. Even if our earthly life is filled with fearful things, remaining faithful makes the ultimate outcome just perfect!
God sent his Son, Jesus, to earth as an infant. He showed his great love for us by dying on the cross in our place and rising again to life. All who believe are forgiven and will have eternal life with Him in heaven. Jesus is just perfect… perfect love! And perfect love drives out fear:
God is love… God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another… if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is made perfect in us… And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world… There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear… We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:8-19 (select verses/phrases) ESV
Dear loving Father, thank you for sending your "just perfect" Love down to earth in the form of baby Jesus. May we share that love with all we meet! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Song:
PERFECT LOVE
Darlene Zschech
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Perfect love is the perfect gift from above!
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Prayers are lifted up daily for you by the Devotional Writers and the Monthly Writing Staff of Women's Focus Ministries
Blog writers:
Sandy Billingham, Karen Bennett,
Brother Thomas Ukwute, Jody Ward,
Bre Miller, Lynda Kinnard, Amie Spruiell,
Debbie Rodriguez, Carol Steficek,
Jan Andersen and Corinne Mustafa
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