Devotional by Tim Challies (blogger, author & book reviewer)

No one expected that the Messiah would come how he came. Yes, the people knew that at some point God would send a Savior, but they could hardly have expected that he would be born to unknown parents and that he would enter this world in a barn. They would hardly have expected that their Messiah would be born in the lowest possible circumstances.

Why was it important to God’s purpose that Jesus be born so low? There are many things that God meant to teach us through the life of Jesus, and one of them is that exaltation comes through humiliation. The way to be great in God’s eyes is to be nothing in the eyes of others.

The greatest people are those who stoop the lowest—and no one could possibly stoop lower than Jesus. And that is why Jesus was willing to be born in the way he was born. He came to serve, and there is no service that was too low for him to do. His birth would provide a glimpse of his entire life, and a fitting introduction to the kind of life he would lead.  Read more …..

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Candice is a busy wife to Matt and mom of Noah (5) and Tyler (3 going on 21). Candice also works part-time at our Rosebank Store of Christian Book Discounters. In her spare time Candice writes for her own blog and is a travel consultant.

“Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But the power of prayer is in the One who hears it, and not in the one who says it.”*

It’s been said that the prayers of children are some of the most honest, and truthful prayers around. I’d back that. Children have no filter and while us adults have learnt to filter (or not filter) everything, it seems that children don’t find merit in it at all.  Adults pretend, even when they’re praying.  Maybe actually most of the time when they’re praying.  In groups. By themselves. Whenever…

• Praying can be a pretense to assure the people around you you’re doing well, even if you’re really not.
• Praying can be trying to convince God of something He knows you’re lying about.
• Praying can be a way of trying to prove your worth.
• Praying can be a selfish way to indulge your own desires and bring attention to yourself. Playing the victor or the victim.

It’s an area I struggle in. Praying doesn’t come naturally to me. I struggle to find things to say, I struggle to pray things I know I should want to pray. I feel kinda lame saying things I want to say, even when praying by myself. No-one ever said that prayers need to be long. No-one ever said that prayers need to be formal. No-ever ever said that prayers need to be rehearsed.

I just got schooled in this tonight – by my five year old.

Tonight, as I was unpacking some dishes in the kitchen, I was half listening to my babies and their daddy having their prayer time. Most of the time, their prayers sound the same, which is totally ok -“thank you Jesus for my Lego and that I could play at school today with my friends” or “thank you Jesus for my mom and dad and Noah my big brother” – but tonight, I heard them singing Jesus Loves Me together. As they finished, their dad turned to them and encouraged them to start praying and my oldest, Mr Noah, had a one line prayer. All he said was: “Thank you Jesus for having me.”  That was it.

Even if his little 5 year old self doesn’t get the full weight of his prayer, I started to tear up. In that statement, He taught me so much. Noah just bowed his head and thanked God for His grace, in his five year old way. Undeserving, unconditional love of the Saviour for him. Accepting him as he was – a sinful, fallen-short-of-His glory little guy. (Ok, he’s five so I’m guessing he didn’t read into this as much as I have ~ but I’m just taking his prayer and expanding on it a tad.)

Isn’t that what’s most important? Without that, the Gospel isn’t anything at all. Gods unmerited grace shown in Him sending His son for us, is why we get to pray in the first place. A lesson in the powerful simplicity a prayer can be. Noah doesn’t know the power of his prayer and that’s the beauty of it. He bows his head and says something that comes naturally to him when he thinks about talking to Jesus. Today, it was just that one line and it was enough.

Pious prayers mean nothing. It doesn’t matter how you say it or how long it takes you to get it out. Even if your prayer is a one liner, but you’re being honest and transparent with the One that’s listening, you’re doing better than pretending to say the right things and meaning none of it.

I’m preaching mostly to myself here. I think tomorrow night, I’ll join the ones who seem to have this right and have figured out just how to talk honestly to God. Think it’s about time I took some notes on this from the smallest, youngest members of my family. My kids.

*Adapted from a quote by Max Lucado.

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By Jean Williams

If there is one thing I’m good at, it’s forgetting.  Your name… What I did on the weekend… The experiences of last year… Gone, every one!

I used to read Christian books and forget them.  In one sense, that’s no big deal: we all forget, and it doesn’t mean we haven’t learned anything.  But I also wasn’t absorbing what I read: crystallizing the key points, tasting the sweet, going away informed and transformed. That takes a different kind of reading.

Over the years I developed a method of reading that helped me to remember what I read.  I thought this was idiosyncratic, something that would work only for me, until I read Tony Reinke’s  Lit.  To my surprise, a number of “my” techniques jumped of the page.  If they’re good enough for Reinke, they’re good enough for me, and they might work for you too.

So here they are:  11 ways to read a Christian book, absorb it, and remember what you have read (if you are an e-book reader, adapt them for the screen, you can highlight and make notes there too. Read more…

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Frank Retief was pastor at St James Church Cape Town for 31 years, having planted the church in 1968 with his wife Beulah.  He became the Presiding Bishop of the Church of England in South Africa until he retired in 2010.  Frank remains active in ministry through preaching, teaching, pastoral work & writing, and has authored a number of books. 

Giving

Luke 21 verse 2 – 4:  He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”You, who read this, may remember that in chapter 19 verses 45 – 48 Jesus drove out of the temple those who were trading commercially, saying “It is written, my house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.” (Chapter 19 v 46)

Now we read of another incident in the temple that caught the eye of Jesus. And it also concerned money.  The Scribes were experts in the knowledge of Scripture and were able to use scripture in such a way that drew from the public not only a great admiration for being so seemingly erudite, but they also looked for financial gain. Thus Jesus “looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. “ (Chapter 21 v 1). There was a collection box of some sort and the wealthy put their gifts into it, and it seemed to be very ostentatious. But Luke tells us he also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. Jesus commended her in verse 3. “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others.” This was a very strange statement to make, but Jesus explains that the others gave out of their wealth. It was no hardship to give, but this poor widow gave out of her poverty. She gave all she had to live on.