Made for This
Do you realize that you were purposefully, lovingly, and carefully designed by God?
King David said it like this:
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
Psalm 139:13-14 ESV
Your eyes, brain, heart, muscles, organs, nerves, fingernails, eyelashes, and smile.
Not only are you wonderfully complex, but you were also planned before life as we know it existed by your Heavenly Father.
Even as you read these words, your body is doing some incredible things—without your conscious consent. Your fingers are scrolling, your eyes are capturing, your brain is processing …
All the while, your heart is pumping blood, your lungs are managing breath, your eyelids are blinking away dryness, your glands are producing saliva, your blood cells are multiplying by the second, your brain is directing your body while simultaneously storing memory—and so much more.
David also points out in other portions of Psalm 139 that God knows everything about us, His presence is inescapable, and He thinks about us so much that such thoughts cannot be numbered.
The point? You are uniquely and intentionally created by God to love Him and the people around you—to know Him, and make Him known.
So, be encouraged. You were made for this.
Day 24 of the reading of the gospel of Luke
Merry Christmas Eve
Luke 24
“Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: and as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words, and returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, ...
The Fulfillment of Promises Made Long Ago
“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord.”
To modern ears, this verse is a familiar, warm, and comforting centerpiece of the Christmas story. But to those who first heard these words from the angel on the night Jesus was born, every word was electric, buzzing with fulfilled expectations.
A Savior.
Born in Bethlehem, the town of David.
The Messiah.
The Lord.
For centuries, Israel had lived with a promise. The prophet Isaiah had declared, “To us a child is born, to us a son is given… and He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Jeremiah had spoken of a righteous branch from David’s line, a King who would reign wisely and bring justice (Jeremiah 23:5). Micah, too, had foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, David’s town (Micah 5:2).
So when the angel announced this birth to shepherds under the night sky, it wasn’t just...