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bigmike

DAILY DEVOTION
With the Dawn of Redeeming Grace
Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
2 Corinthians 8:7-9
One of the first Christmas songs most of us learned as children was “Silent Night.” Since it was introduced in 1818, having been hurriedly composed for accompaniment by a guitar because the church organ was broken, the simple song quickly spread and for more than two hundreds years now has been sung around the world. In fact, it is recognized as the most often recorded Christmas song, with more than 137,000 different versions known to exist. The words are familiar to us, but they contain powerful truth that must be remembered. The third verse says:
Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth!
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth!
The grace of God has never been more fully and clearly displayed than it was in the arrival of Jesus into the world. Jesus came to the world that He had created, speaking it into existence. Yet though His arrival marked the dawn of God's plan for our redemption, many people did not recognize or accept Jesus. The apostle John wrote, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” (John 1:10-12).
Grace has come into the world, and it is up to those of us who have received it to spread the message to those who have not yet received it.
God's redeeming grace is the heart of the Christmas story, and it is the heart of our message to the world.
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