abandoned to Christ.

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” ~Luke 1:46-55 (ESV) Mary's Magnificat reminds us of how great, mighty and merciful our God is (vv. 49-50). And in spite of His greatness, Jesus chose to leave His throne where He was perfectly loved, obeyed and honored, a...

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! May the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be multiplied to your spirits. And may all of you have the greatest joy known to mankind—knowing Christ and being known by Him through saving faith.  "She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for HE WILL SAVE His people from their sins...For the wages of sin is death, but the FREE GIFT OF GOD is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord...THANKS BE TO GOD for His inexpressible gift!" ~Matthew 1:21, Romans 6:2, 2 Corinthians 9:15 (ESV)

The prevalent thoughts and images about the "spirit" of Christmas usually involves: Santa Claus, worldly peace, sweets, merriment, feasting, lavish gift giving and receiving, the hustle and bustle of shopping and enjoying elaborate entertainment events to celebrate the birth of Jesus—the First Coming of Christ, the only begotten Son of God. But none of these things are found in any of the Old Testament prophecies or in the New Testament accounts of the great and glorious day that our Creator entered into His own creation as a humble babe. Please don't misunderstand, I'm not saying we ought not enjoy celebrating Christmas. My family does. What I am saying is, the focus and purpose of our joyful celebrations should be the same as God's focus and purpose: to bring the Good News of eternal salvation by giving us Christ as a propitiation for our sins. The true spirit of Christmas and the reason for the season according to God is: eternal salvation . ...

"I've learned so much from my mistakes, I think I'll make more" is a popular phrase that has appeared on many memes, tweets, timelines and even things like magnets, pins, and other items we can purchase. This seemingly harmless saying is actually very harmful. Most of us have read it someplace, and often, our initial response is to laugh, feel better about the genuine mistakes we've made and sadly, even the purposeful sins we've committed against our holy, kind, and gracious Father God. This is where it gets dangerous. Do we all make mistakes? Absolutely! To err is human, right? Unfortunately, to sin is human too. And we all do it more than we'd like to admit...unless of course, a flighty little phrase like this one comes along and feeds our flesh the lies it desires—we can excuse our sins without repentance—and without a Savior. We continually come up with new ways to make ourselves and others feel better about our sins rather than do what God...