Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Birth of the Savior
Mica 5: 1 - 9

OH, little one, from you will come the Savior
Life, like birth, takes time. It has a long gestation. The bloom appears only after a slow unfolding of the bud, wherein every moment of development finally participates in the glory of the full flower. We never quite grasp the process until it`s over. Yet, strangely unlike life, we, anxious humans, are impatient with the process. We are restless with our understanding about beginning and the end. It is hard to wait, to trust that something good and great will come of all the mute moments in between. Waiting is always disturbing and painful. We may have to answer a lot of questions and we may have to deal with our impatience. Waiting to see something good is not very easy but the good result will vanish all our anxieties.
It is the same experience that we see in the history of the people of God who waited for the Promised Land. In this passage, Israel, seemingly condemned to insignificance, was a people called to faith, by the prophet Mica, that God`s guarantee would somehow come true. “Bethlehem,  too small .ruler in Israel”. Out of their hidden smallness would rise a mighty and wondrous shepherd whose greatness could span the ends of the earth. This was a great promise but the people had to wait long years to see this wonderful savior. But the birth of this savior revealed God’s faithfulness to His promises
Little Bethlehem had in its midst a smaller life yet, a body prepared for the great high priest, who would come to do the Most High’s will. The single “Yes” of this high priest made possible the salvation of whole Nation, through the birth of Jesus. The creator of all things came into the world in the smallest of places, Bethlehem. Christmas reminds us the fact that Jesus came first to a small place and that reveals that in God’s eyes even a small place is significant. This is a message to every one of us that we need to take every small place and what we think as small things very seriously. In God’s sight nothing is small and nothing is insignificant. God has a purpose in everything that he created and He considers everything meaningful and beautiful.
Prayer: Thank you Lord for your promises. Help us to understand your purpose in every creation that you created. Amen
Thought for the day: Small but significant in the eyes of God

Neethi Prasad, St. Stephen’s Mar Thoma Church, New Jersey


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