Tim’s Daily Bread Devotional 12.20.21

By December 20, 2021Daily Bread

Good morning!

I hope this day finds you and your family well. I invite you to take a few moments with me to read and reflect upon today’s scripture selection — and to carry these thoughts with you into your day.

Today’s Scripture: Deuteronomy 7:7-9 Common English Bible (CEB)

 It was not because you were greater than all other people that the Lord loved you and chose you. In fact, you were the smallest of peoples! No, it is because the Lord loved you and because he kept the solemn pledge he swore to your ancestors that the Lord brought you out with a strong hand and saved you from the house of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh, Egypt’s king. Know now then that the Lord your God is the only true God! He is the faithful God, who keeps the covenant and proves loyal to everyone who loves him and keeps his commands—even to the thousandth generation!

 

Tim’s Devotional Reflection for Today

Our reading for today is just one place out of many where memory of the past feeds confidence and trust in the present and the future.  It is a reminder of all that God has done in the past and therefore a reminder of the faithfulness of God.

Remembering is central to our faith and our worship.  One of the things we do in worship is to remember what God has done.  In the service of Holy Communion we remember:

“On the night in which he gave himself up for us, the Lord Jesus took bread…”

“…in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us…”

As the Psalmist puts it, “For the Lord is good; God’s steadfast love endures forever, and God’s faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 104:5)

I invite you to meditate on the words of this hymn today as you remember:

 

  1. Once in royal David’s city
    stood a lowly cattle shed,
    where a mother laid her baby
    in a manger for his bed;
    Mary, loving mother mild,
    Jesus Christ, her little child.
  2. He came down to earth from heaven
    who is God and Lord of all,
    and his shelter was a stable,
    and his cradle was a stall.
    With the poor, the scorned, the lowly
    lived on earth our Savior holy.
  3. Jesus is our childhood’s pattern;
    day by day, like us he grew;
    he was little, weak, and helpless,
    tears and smiles like us he knew;
    and he feeleth for our sadness,
    and he shareth in our gladness.
  4. And our eyes at last shall see him,
    through his own redeeming love;
    for that child so dear and gentle
    is our Lord in heaven above;
    and he leads his children on
    to the place where he is gone.

Thank you for sharing this early moment of your day with me, with God, and with the words and reflections I hope you will carry with you throughout the coming day and night.

Grace and Peace,


Dr. Tim Bruster
Senior Pastor