Keeping Jesus the center of your holiday – Christmas Tip #2:
As a good friend reminded me just this weekend, pull out a hymnal and read/sing/hum the words to the old Christmas hymns. Sing them to the Lord in your quiet time, with your children, or when you ride down the road. The words are deep and meaningful.

God’s Commendation:
One of the things I love about Luke’s gospel: he gives the most detail. Luke was a doctor and wanted to give an “orderly account.” As I woman, I love that! The more detail, the better! In sharing the story of Christ’s birth, Luke takes us all the way back to the conception of John the Baptist.

“It all begins with a Jewish priest, Zechariah,” writes Luke (Luke 1:5 NLT). Zechariah’s wife was Elizabeth. Luke tells us that John the Baptist’s parents “were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. Yet they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and now they were both very old” (v. 6-7).

The words “righteous in God’s eyes” jumped off the page at me. It’s so easy to compare ourselves with others–for example, Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks–and think, “compared to that dude – I’m pretty good!” We can even compare ourselves with our friends or family members and think we’re righteous compared to their lifestyles or decisions. But that’s the world’s standards. What about God’s standards? Think about it for a minute – according to God’s standards, are you righteous in His eyes? What makes us “righteous in His eyes?” I thought of a few things:

1. First and foremost: ONLY if we are a child of God are we righteous in His eyes (See John 1:12). This is when we accept Christ as Savior of our lives.

But what about those of us who are God’s children? Zechariah was a priest. I would imagine his friends and family would have thought he was righteous – after all, he was one of God’s servants. (Just because someone has a title – does not automatically mean he or she is right before God.) Yet God make’s a point in making sure we know that HE was pleased with them. What were Elizabeth and Zechariah doing to receive God’s commendation? I thought of a few things:

2. Obedience – “they were careful to obey all the Lord’s commandments.” Are you obedient? Am I? Do you come to Him each day to receive your marching orders – to find out what’s on His heart and His mind before the day begins? And then are you faithful to do it?

3. Being careful of drawing near to Him in a quiet time or Bible study, or by going to church, yet having hearts that are far from Him. We can easily go through the motions with minimal effort or almost no thought. (The Lord quickened my heart a few Sundays ago on this very issue.) How do you approach your quiet time? How do you approach going to church? Are you mechanical or do you come in expectant – expectant for the LIVING GOD to meet with you, to speak to you?

4. Private blamelessness. In other words, doing the right thing behind closed doors when no one else is watching. Psalm 101 is one of my life Psalms. Read it!

More than anything, I want God’s commendation. I want Him to say of me, “she is righteous in my eyes.” Do you want the same commendation? Share your thoughts or you can comment on one of mine – don’t forget I’m giving away Christmas Journals through Thursday!

Merry Christmas!