Devotion Booklets for Seasons of the Church Year Advent-Christmas Devotional - 2017 - single page | Page 31

You Are Never Alone
Monday, December 25th
Isaiah 7:14
It was never the physical pain that made him cry out. It wasn’t the beatings nor the scourge, not even the
nails driven through flesh. The pain that made Jesus cry out on the cross was being separated from and
abandoned by God. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This separation from God was what
caused his suffering. This loneliness was the pain that pierced his soul.
There is no loneliness like being apart from God. Nothing cures that loneliness like Jesus, the one called
Immanuel – God with us.
There is so much that separates us from God and so much pain that separation causes. Our sins, our
doubts, our failings; these all place us apart from God.
God’s plan was to fix this separation by coming to be with you in your loneliness. He wraps his own Son in
human flesh and comes to visit with us.
Don’t miss that today. Among everything that happens today, whether you are surrounding yourselves
with lots of friends and family or whether you are alone this Christmas, don’t miss this: God came to be
with you.
Yes, he came to be present in the manger that first Christmas. More than that, he came to be with you
forever. He came to this earth to live a perfect life in your place and to die for all your sins. He defeated sin,
death, and the devil so that nothing could separate you from God ever again. He promises to be with you
even now as he sits at the right hand of God and rules all things for your good. More than a manger, God
came to be with you forever. That is Christmas: God with us.
Prayer: God, you are with us. Continue to make your dwelling in our hearts and in homes and in our
churches, that we would never be separated from your grace, mercy, and love. Be with all who feel alone
this day, and remind all of us that your love will never leave us. Amen.
Activity: Take some time and think about who will be lonely at your church this Christmas (examples: shut
-ins, those living far from family, those in the military, those in the hospital). Say a prayer for them. Then, if
you can, call them or write a brief note, even if it will get delivered later, to wish them a blessed and a
merry Christmas.
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