The Story of Christmas, Day 9: Sunday, December 4 – Psalm 118:25-29 Blessed Is He!

On the ninth day of Christmas, my Bible said to me...Jesus came to bless others in the name of the Lord, and so should we. 

Today's Reading: Psalm 118:25-29

25 Save us, we pray, O Lord!

    O Lord, we pray, give us success!

26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

    We bless you from the house of the Lord.

27 The Lord is God,

    and he has made his light to shine upon us.

Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,

    up to the horns of the altar!

28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;

    you are my God; I will extol you.

29 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

    for his steadfast love endures forever!

Devotional Thoughts

Many years after Psalm 118 was composed, it was quoted and shouted loudly by a crowd in Jerusalem. A man was riding down the steep hill from the Mount of Olives through Gethsemane, through the valley, and up toward the city gates. In fulfillment of many prophecies, he was presenting himself to Jerusalem as the Messiah, their king, the Promised One. His disciples gave great praise, shouting Hosanna, and then quoting this statement. "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." 

This man was the baby of Christmas all grown up, fulfilling his destiny, doing what he had come to do. He came in the name of the Lord to bless the world by offering himself as the king. When he was rejected as king, he then offered himself as what he knew he ultimately would have to be - the festal sacrifice, the one who would die for the sins of the world. 

Jesus came in the name of the Lord to accomplish the purposes of the Father to redeem people. Every single thing he did during his years here on earth was for that purpose. He was never selfish, never double-minded, but devoted to that one cause. 

I cannot die to save anyone - I am not righteous and so cannot pay the sin price for another. Only Jesus could do that. But I can give myself to Jesus and live as a blessing to others. I can devote myself fully to the name of the Lord and give myself fully to his purposes. I can serve the interests of the kingdom of God instead of the things of the world. 

We must ask ourselves every day who interests we are serving. Jesus came in the Father's name to do the Father's work and to bring blessings to all. We come in Christ's name to work and serve others for him. May our lives be consumed by the things of Christ not the temporal distractions of this world. 

Father, thank you for Jesus Christ who came in your name to bless us all eternally. May my life be an eternal investment in others as Christ's was. 

Think and Pray

Jesus came in the Father's name to bless the world by his work. 

Is your life being lived for Christ and for the blessing of others, or are you living for selfish and worldly things? 

Carol of the Day

He assumed this mortal body,

Frail and feeble, doomed to die,

That the race from dust created,

Might not perish utterly,

Which the dreadful Law had sentenced

In the depths of hell to lie,

Evermore and evermore.

O how blest that wondrous birthday,

When the Maid the curse retrieved,

Brought to birth mankind's salvation

By the Holy Ghost conceived,

And the Babe, the world's Redeemer

In her loving arms received,

Evermore and evermore.