The new book

My new book is here and available in two local stores - Park Place Salon and Joyful Creations Gift Market. It is also available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle versions.  

The Road to Bethlehem is a series of devotionals based in the first two chapters of Luke. During the writing, the verses spoke to me in a fresh (and often entirely new) way, and I hope it is reflected in the pages of the book. To whet your appetite, I'm posting the first devotional from the book tonight. It is my prayer that the devotionals will help you see Christmas in a new way and leave you more like the Christ Child than you were at the start. 

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# 1

Just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, (Luke 1:2 NASB)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 14 NASB)

Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. (Psalms 119:11 NASB)

Luke suggests that there had been two previous levels of information about Jesus. The first accounts came from eyewitnesses and "servants of the word", who handed down, probably orally, the stories of their personal experience with Christ.  Luke makes a clear distinction between eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Eyewitnesses simply reported what they had seen just as they had seen it. They had a story to tell, but not much more. 

Servants of the word, however, are a different matter. The term servant implies one who obeys the command of a master. We easily understand the term "servant of God" or "servant of Caesar", but "servant of the word" doesn't seem quite so clear-cut. John tells us that Jesus is the Word and Peter, when asked if he wanted to leave Jesus as the crowds had done, proclaimed "Where would we go? You have words of eternal life!" (John 6:68) How amazing! 

Jesus IS the Word. 

Jesus HAS the word. 

Jesus SPOKE the word. 

Our job is to know the word, embrace the word, and incorporate it into our lives in such a way that we  become SERVANTS of the word.  

Eyewitnesses are observers who have a story to tell. Servants of the word are more than observers. They have become participants who give evidence of the truth of their story by their changed lives. 

Which are you? Do you merely pass along the stories of Jesus you learned as a child or are you a participant who demonstrates truth by the power of your changed life?  

Today pray to become a more committed Servant of the Word. Pray, too, that our loved ones will encounter believers who are Servants of the Word  bearing irrefutable witness to the power of Christ by the quality of their transformed lives. May they present that truth in such a way that our loved ones find it irresistible.