Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this the final day of 2024!!
New Year’s Eve is a very important day as we approach and cross the finish/start line every year, isn’t’ it? And the older we get I wonder if this final day of the year gains more significance. Oh yes, when we awake tomorrow morning, we’ll still be very much the same people we are at this moment, but we’ll be on a new journey, each of us writing our life story in a new year, 2025. Of course, the truth is, the new year out ahead of us is inseparably connected to this past year, isn’t it? We live cumulative lives, don’t we, my friends?
So does the prospect of a new year excite you, frighten you, discourage you or leave you simply ambivalent, lethargic, and numb? May I boldly proclaim that your relationship with Jesus Christ, more than anything else, will have the greatest impact on your 2025 life journey! Therefore, I invite you to join me in the adventure God has for us as we attempt to ‘walk with Jesus’ in this new year. I invite your questions, your comments, your suggestions to make this journey the best it can be for all of us!
Very briefly, may I offer you these reflective thoughts on this final day of 2024? Have you considered that the Christmas story is the bridge between the Old & New Testaments of the Bible? By consensus all humanity has agreed for centuries that human history be divided BC / AD and that the earthly visit of God, in the person of Jesus, is the very central, most significant event for our human race story!
Over the past three weeks or so I’ve offered you one key Christmas question each day. My intention was to provide to you a path which you could offer to other people who might not understand the significance of Christmas to our world history and the human race. Eventually that first Christmas story was over and for most people mentioned in the Christmas story life returned to the turbulent normalcy that life was in the Roman Empire at that time.
Dr. Luke describes it this way: “When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the LORD, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child Jesus grew and became strong; He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.“ (Luke 2:39,40) I love that last sentence for it tells me Mary took care to love and nourish her baby well; while Joseph took care to raise Jesus to be a fine, hardworking young boy.
Furthermore, it’s clear that through the influence of both Joseph and Mary, as well as other people in Nazareth, but especially the work of the Holy Spirit of God, boy Jesus grew in godly wisdom, and He lived in the outpouring of God’s protection, kindness, and grace upon Him and the family in which He was raised to manhood.
As we’ve seen in our Christmas study, after Joseph and Mary finished their consecration of Jesus in the Temple and their encounter with Simeon and Anna, (Luke 2:22-38) they evidently returned to Bethlehem and attempted to begin life there, for it was in Bethlehem the Magi found Joseph, Mary and young Jesus several months later. (Matt. 2:1-12) Joseph’s midnight flight from Bethlehem to escape King Herod’s slaughtering soldiers, brought them to live in Egypt for several months, until King Herod died. (Matt. 2:13-18) It was finally after King Herod’s death, that Joseph and his little family were assured, by an angel from God, that it was safe for them to return to live in Israel and they chose Nazareth to be their hometown, and Jesus grew up there until He began His earthly ministry. (Matt. 2:19-23; Luke 2:51,52)
Thank you, my friends, for joining me on this “Walking with Jesus” journey this year of 2024. May I offer all of us these key questions to ponder as we close ’24 and step across into ’25?
* What was the most significant event in your life story in 2024? Why was it so significant and how has it affected you?
* What was the most significant event this year in your country and what effect has that had on your country and you?
* In our turbulent world, what event was most significant and how has that event affected our transition into this new year?
* Finally: How different are you today SPIRITUALLY than you were one year ago, New Years Eve 2023 and what has most contributed to your spiritual change? How does your spiritual change position you for the journey ahead of you in 2025?
Now, may I offer you this last song for ’24?
And I’ll see you tomorrow as we begin the new year of 2025 together, as we ‘walk with Jesus’.
Today’s Scripture: Luke 2:39,40, 51,52.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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