Verse of the day: The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I came to have life and to have it in abundance (John 10:10).
When I was about to begin this devotion, I learned that Marion Newstrum had just died. Marion and her husband Elmer have been part of the Church of Bethlehem longer than most of our members have been living. She was 87, married for 64 years.
- When I spoke to Elmer and told him that I would like him to be strong in the Lord and not give up his life.
- He said.
- “The Lord has been a true friend.
- “I pray that all Christians can say at the end of their lives: “Christ has been a true friend”.
At that moment, I remember the anniversary of my mother’s death, she died at the age of 56 in a bus accident in Israel, it was December 16, 1974, these events are incredibly real to me today, if I may, can I start crying easily?For example, think my children have never met her. We buried her on Boxing Day, what a beautiful Christmas!
Many of you will feel your loss this Christmas more intensely than before. Don’t stop feeling it. Let him come. Feel. What is it to love, if not to intensify our affections, both in life and in death?But, oh, don’t get bitter. It’s tragically self-destructive to be bitter.
Jesus came at Christmas so that we could have eternal life. “Did I come to have life and have it in abundance? (John 10. 10). Elmer and Marion had talked about where they would spend their last years. Elmer said, “Marion and I agreed that our last home would be with the Lord. “
Are you worried about your house? My family members return home for the holidays. It’s. I think the main reason it’s good is because they and I are destined, deep in our being, for a final return home. All other trips home foreshadow. And omens are good.
However, they do not become substitutes. Oh, don’t let all the sweet things of that time become a substitute for the final sweetness, grandiose and totally satisfying. May every loss and pleasure stimulate your heart to desire to return home to paradise.
What is Christmas, but this: I came for them to have life?, Marion Newstrum, Ruth Piper, you and I ?, that we can have life, now and forever.
Make yours now richer and deeper this Christmas by drinking in the fountain forever, because it’s so close.
By: John Piper. © Desire God? Solid joys
Original: December 15th? Life and death at Christmas, © 2017 Faithful Ministérium,All rights reserved. Website: MinisterioFiel. com. br. Translation: Camila Rebeca Almeida. Crítica: Vinicius Musselman. Narrator: Erlio Garofalo Neto.
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