The Upper Room Daily Devotional | 25 December 2021 | Saturday Message
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Christmas Day
Ken Claar (Idaho, USA)
KEY VERSE: Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. – 2 Corinthians 9:7 (NIV)
TODAY’S READING
Luke 2:4-7
The Upper Room Daily Devotional | 25 December 2021 Message
I sometimes feel sorry for the poor Bethlehem innkeeper in all our modern Christmas stories and plays. He is usually depicted as a mean man who somehow should have been able to manufacture a room for Joseph and the pregnant Mary. Instead, he sent them out into the cruel dark night. But the innkeeper had no space. He may have already had people sleeping in the halls and on the kitchen floor because of the huge crowds that had come for the census.
So, perhaps we can see the innkeeper in a different light. He offered what he had. He could have just told them to go away, but he figured out what he had left that might help and let them use his barn. I’m sure Mary and Joseph were very glad to get out of the elements and to have a sheltered birthing place.
When a ministry needs a large amount of money for a mission, or a friend needs many hands to help, we can’t give them everything they need or do all the work by ourselves. But we can pray, and, as the innkeeper did, give what we have. When we give our best in God’s name, it is good for us to remember what God gave — his Son.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Loving God, you have given us our talents and our lives; help us to use them for your purposes today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Regardless of the circumstance, I can always do my part to serve God.
PRAYER FOCUS
Hotel workers
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