What We’ve Been Taught
Scripture Reading — Luke 1:1-4
I . . . decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
The Christmas story is familiar to many people throughout the world, wherever the message of Christ has spread. In various parts of our world today, though, the Christmas season has become a time when focusing on Jesus competes with shopping, holiday parties, and a frenzied rush.
In the book of Luke, the story of Jesus begins with a reminder that can help us even today in our world of competing ideals. Luke writes to a reader called Theophilus (“friend of God”) so that this person may know deep-down that the story of Jesus is certain and true.
God wants the Christmas story to inspire a kind of certainty in us. This is not intended to promote pride or superiority, as if to suggest that we know God better than anyone else. Instead, this is to instill wonder at the reality of the birth of Christ and what it means for the whole world (see John 3:16).
Do you feel overwhelmed by the busyness of the Christmas season? Do the holidays remind you of stresses and hurts from the past that have not healed? In this season, turn again to the story of what God has “fulfilled among us”—the promise to provide a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. See how Jesus changes the lives of all who come into contact with him, and let his birth renew in you the certainty of God’s love for us all.
Spirit of God, thank you for sharing the story of Jesus with us. May the wonder of this story sink into our hearts, giving us certainty and hope in you. Amen.
About the author — Joel Vande Werken
Joel Vande Werken is the director of ecclesiastical governance for the Christian Reformed Church in North America in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He served for over seventeen years as a church pastor in Sussex, New Jersey, and in Whitinsville, Massachusetts, before moving to Michigan in 2024. He and his wife, Brandie, have five children.
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