Daily Fountain Devotional Saturday, January 1, 2022

Daily Fountain Devotional Saturday, January 1, 2022. (Naming and Circumcision of Christ)

TOPIC: HIS NAME IS JESUS

TEXT: LUKE 2:15 – 21

Bible Reading: LUKE 2:15 – 21

¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

²¹On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Introduction

Happy New Year! God has graciously and purposefully brought us thus far – He is good and faithful indeed. We thank Him also for Jesus’ birth, which is the arrival of peace on earth. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, while his parents were trying to fulfill their civic duty to the government of the day, symbolizes something special. It is special in the sense that Jesus came as the face of salvation in human form. In order to carry along the humans for whom He came, the Angel of the Lord came upon some shepherds who were keeping watch over their flock by night and announced to them that God had conquered fear.

With the strong belief and acceptance of this good news, these shepherds who were supposed to be looking after their flocks left everything they ought to be doing to step out of their comfort zone, simply as an act of conquering fear bearing in mind that the information from the angel was far too more important than every other thing. Their statement of faith in the good news is found in their confirmation of the angel’s shared information. Note that these shepherds became the first evangelists who went about sharing what they heard and saw about the newly born Jesus. Jesus’ mother, Mary, on the other hand, like most mothers, kept faith with what transpired between her and the angel of the Lord concerning Jesus’ name, which came before His birth.

Prayer: Dear Lord, we believe you can take care of our cares. Help us to build stronger faith in you this year in Jesus’ name.