Max Lucado - Celebrating Christmas with Jesus: An Advent Devotional

CELEBRATING
CHRISTMAS
WITH
JESUS

AN ADVENT DEVOTIONAL

MAX LUCADO

Celebrating Christmas with Jesus
2011 by Max Lucado

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Scripture quotations are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1982, 1992 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover design by ThinkPen Design
Interior design by Kristy L. Morell

ISBN-13: 978-1-4003-1829-2

ISBN-13: 978-1-4003-1828-5 (with display)

Printed in the United States of America

11 12 13 14 15 DP 5 4 3 2 1

www.thomasnelson.com

INTRODUCTION

I t was a night like no other. A night that forever punctuated the timeline of history. A night that introduced hope to humanity.

God became man and came into our worldto live as we do and to know laughter and tears, pain and joy, hurt and compassion. His story is a collection of monumental moments that remind us that Christ cared enough to experience life with us. Some moments show us he loves us enough to change the course of hopeless situationsa lunchbucket of fish and bread that fed thousands, a lepers skin made babysoft. Other moments show us he understands our questions and our crying outthe death of a dear friend, the grief of a parent, the garden of agony.

Christmas is the time to remember that Christ not only came, but he stayed, he lived, he cared. Christmas is more than one remarkable event. It was... the beginning.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DAY 1

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

JOHN 1:14, 1718

I t all happened in a moment, a most remarkable moment that was like none other. For through that segment of time a spectacular thing occurred. God became a man. While the creatures of earth walked unaware, Divinity arrived. Heaven opened herself and placed her most precious one in a human womb.

God as a fetus. Holiness sleeping in a womb. The creator of life being created. God was given eyebrows, elbows, two kidneys, and a spleen. He stretched against the walls and floated in the amniotic fluids of his mother.

God had come near. No silk. No ivory. No hype. To think of Jesus in such a light is well, it seems almost irreverent, doesnt it? It is much easier to keep the humanity out of the incarnation.

But dont do it. For heavens sake, dont. Let him be as human as he intended to be. Let him into the mire and muck of our world. For only if we let him in can he pull us out.

FROM: GOD CAME NEAR

DAY 2

JESUS BAPTISM AND
THE WITNESS OF JOHN

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me. I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.

And John bore witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.

JOHN 1:2934

J ohn the Baptist saw a dove and believed. James Whittaker saw a sea gull and believed. James Whittaker was a member of the hand-picked crew that flew the B-17 Flying Fortress captained by Eddie Rickenbacker. Anybody who remembers October of 1942 remembers the day Rickenbacker and his crew were reported lost at sea.

Somewhere over the Pacific, out of radio range, the plane ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean. The nine men spent the next months floating in three rafts. They battled the heat, the storms, and the water. Sharks, some ten feet long, would ram their nine-foot boats. After only eight days their rations were eaten or destroyed by saltwater. It would take a miracle to survive.

One morning after their daily devotions, Rickenbacker leaned his head back against the raft and pulled his hat over his eyes. A bird landed on his head. He peered out from under his hat. Every eye was on him. He instinctively knew it was a sea gull.

Rickenbacker caught it, and the crew ate it. The birds intestines were used for bait to catch fish... and the crew survived to tell the story. A story about a stranded crew with no hope or help in sight. A story about prayers offered and prayers answered. A story of salvation. But the greatest event of that day was not the rescue of a crew but the rescue of a soul.

James Whittaker was an unbeliever. The plane crash didnt change his unbelief. The days facing death didnt cause him to reconsider his destiny. In fact, Mrs. Whittaker said her husband grew irritated with John Bartak, a crew member who continually read his Bible privately and aloud.

But his protests didnt stop Bartak from reading. Nor did Whittakers resistance stop the Word from penetrating his soul. Unknown to Whittaker, the soil of his heart was being plowed. For it was one morning after a Bible reading that the sea gull landed on Captain Rickenbackers head. And at that moment Jim became a believer....

Isnt that just like God? Who would have gone to such extremes to save a soul? Amazing the lengths to which he will go to get our attention.

FROM: A GENTLE THUNDER

DAY 3

JESUS TURNS WATER
INTO WINE

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, They have no wine.

Jesus said to her, Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.

His mother said to the servants, Whatever He says to you, do it.

Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.

Jesus said to them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast. And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!