Verse from Philippians

“使天上、地上和地底下的一切，因着耶稣的名，都要屈膝，”

腓立比书 2:10 

“that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,”

Philippians 2:10 

Cleopatra, Galileo, Shakespeare, Elvis, Pelé. They are all so well known that they need only one name to be recognized. They have remained prominent in history because of who they were and what they did. But there is another name that stands far above these or any other name!

Before the Son of God was born into this world, the angel told Mary and Joseph to name Him Jesus because “he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21), and “he . . . will be called the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32). Jesus didn’t come as a celebrity but as a servant who humbled Himself and died on the cross so that anyone who receives Him can be forgiven and freed from the power of sin.

In our times of greatest joy and our deepest need, the name we cling to is Jesus. He will never leave us, and His love will not fail.

Verse from Matthew

“说：“那生下来作犹太人的王的在哪里？我们看见他的星出现，特来朝拜他。””

马太福音 2:2 

“"Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."”

Matthew 2:2 

A young married couple had more love than money. As Christmas neared, both struggled to find a gift that would show how much they cared for the other. Finally, on Christmas Eve, Della sold her long, knee-length hair to buy Jim a platinum chain for the watch he’d inherited from his father and grandfather. Jim, however, had just sold the watch to buy a set of expensive combs for Della’s hair.

Author O. Henry called the couple’s story The Gift of the Magi. His creation suggests that even though their gifts became useless and may have caused them to look foolish on Christmas morning, their love made them among the wisest of those who give gifts.

The wise men of the first Christmas story also could have looked foolish to some as they arrived in Bethlehem with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:11). They weren’t Jewish. They were outsiders, Gentiles, who didn’t realize how much they would disturb the peace of Jerusalem by asking about a newly born king of the Jews (v. 2).

As with Jim and Della’s experience, the magi’s plans didn’t turn out the way they expected. But they gave what money cannot buy. They came with gifts, but then bowed to worship One who would ultimately make the greatest of all loving sacrifices for them—and for us.

Father in heaven, 

please help us to learn what it means to give what money cannot buy.

How can you worship God today?

Verse from 1 Thessalonians

“所以，你们该彼此劝慰，互相建立，正如你们素常所行的。”

帖撒罗尼迦前书 5:11 

Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

It can lie. It can gossip. It can slander. It can also murmur and complain. It can manipulate and flatter. It can tear down. It can paint itself in nice words, even while cutting someone to ribbons. 

Rainey’s friend Joe Stowell calls it "the dragon in our dentures." Our tongue. It can truly be deadly.

On the other hand, when that "dragon" is under the power of the Holy Spirit, when we are daily training it to be submitted to Christ's control and available for His use and purposes, He can transform it into an instrument that delivers encouragement.

Rainey remembered being in church one Sunday morning when she spotted a prominent local oncologist walking by. She had been hearing about some special things he'd been doing with his cancer patients—some unique ways he was allowing God to minister through him in the course of practicing his profession. So she caught his attention and said, "Hey, I just wanted you to know I really appreciate what you're doing. Do you realize what an incredible minister for Christ you are? You're making quite a difference in our community."

It was like she had hit him with a stun gun. A dazed expression flashed across his face. And after a moment's pause, he looked at her and said, "Really?"

She said, almost laughing now, "Well, yeah. The things I've been hearing about the work you do are really inspiring. We could use a lot more Christ followers like you." 

He shook her hand and smiled. "You don't know how much I needed to hear that this morning. Thank you."

She was reminded again how often people just need a nod of encouragement in their journey, no matter how confident he or she may appear to be. 

Shared a good word with someone lately?

Verses from John

“你们研究圣经，因为你们认为圣经中有永生，其实为我作证的就是这圣经，然而你们却不肯到我这里来得生命。”

约翰福音 5:39-40 

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.”

John 5:39-40 

Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby writes of the “uncanny ability of experts to get things hopelessly, cataclysmically wrong.” A quick glance at recent history shows he’s right. The great inventor Thomas Edison, for instance, once declared that talking movies would never replace silent films. And in 1928, Henry Ford declared, “People are becoming too intelligent ever to have another war.” Countless other predictions by “experts” have missed the mark badly. Genius obviously has its limits.

Only one Person is completely reliable, and He had strong words for some so-called experts (John 5:39–40). The religious leaders of Jesus’s day claimed to have the truth. These scholars and theologians thought they knew what the promised Messiah would be like when He arrived. 

As another new year gets underway, we’ll hear predictions ranging from the terrifying to the wildly optimistic. Many of them will be stated with a great deal of confidence and authority. Don’t be alarmed. Our confidence remains in the One at the very heart of the Scriptures. He has a firm grip on us and on our future.

Father, 

whenever we are troubled or alarmed, help us to seek You. 

We commit this coming year and all it holds to You.

Verse from 1 Chronicles

“耶和华啊，尊大、能力、荣耀、胜利和威严，都是你的；因为天上地下的万有都是你的；耶和华啊，国度是你的，你是至高的，是万有之首。”

历代志上 29:11 

“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.”

1 Chronicles 29:11 

David’s prayer in 1 Chronicles 29 paints a beautiful portrait of a powerful and generous God. While these sentiments—God is everlasting, everything belongs to Him, and He strengthens His people—are all undoubtedly true, David isn’t just praying a random prayer. 

First Chronicles 29 is about the people giving resources and materials to the building of the temple. David’s prayer follows a listing of the resources people donated to the “building fund”—gold, silver, precious jewels, bronze, wood. We see a striking similarity between the descriptions of the building materials and the descriptions of God in that both are written in terms that inspire awe. The temple materials, both in amount and in type, would have been something to behold. 

Similarly, David describes God in terms that inspire awestruck reverence at His glory. Could it be that the writer was attempting to make the point that the house should reflect the occupant? The temple was where God resided among His people. Shouldn’t it reflect His glory? Today God’s Spirit dwells in believers.

Knowing that you are the temple of God’s Spirit, how can you reflect His glory?

Verse from Philippians

“向着目标竭力追求，为要得着神在基督耶稣里召我往上去得的奖赏。”

腓立比书 3:14 

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:14 

Today’s reading contains the most personal statement Paul makes in his letters. In the preceding verses (vv. 4–6), he unpacks his Jewish heritage, religious training, and great zeal for Judaism. The startling candor comes in verse 8 when, reflecting on what had defined his life prior to encountering Christ on the Damascus Road, he writes, “I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” Garbage—that’s strong! 

All the things that had driven him to persecute and kill were now counted worthless compared to the value of Christ. This speaks to the extraordinary value of relationship and rescue over religion and ritual. And that relationship with God through Christ is the strength that fuels our hearts in all the seasons of life—whether good or bad.

God provides the strength we need to persevere and grow.

Verse from Proverbs

“惧怕人的，必陷入网罗；倚靠耶和华的，必得安全。”

箴言 29:25 

“The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted.”

Proverbs 29:25 

In September 1939, Great Britain allied with France and several other alarmed countries in declaring war on Hitler's Germany, which had invaded Poland in its intended march toward global domination. By the end of the year, anxieties throughout England remained on high alert; everyone was fearful of bombing and invasion. 

When King George VI sat down before two large microphones to make his Christmas Day speech to the nation, he was dressed in his official uniform as Admiral of the Fleet. With so many parts of the world facing an uncertain future, his goal was to reassure the people that their nation was prepared and able and their cause right and just. 

"A new year is at hand," the king said. "We cannot tell what it will bring. If it brings peace, how thankful we shall all be. If it brings us continued struggle, we shall remain undaunted." 

Then, turning to some lines of poetry his wife had recently shared with him, he concluded his speech with these words, which are a fitting close to our year together. They offer a word of encouragement that—we hope—will settle your hearts amid the troubles of our own era in history. These lines are from "The Gate of the Year," a poem written in 1908 by Minnie Louise Haskins:

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."
And he replied, "Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!"

In this new year, let us sink our hands more deeply into God's hand and pray that God will grant us and our family His favor.