"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace." - Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV I was sitting in church one Wednesday night, overwhelmed with anger. Someone had hurt me, and I felt they weren't acting the way they should. I thought my sins weren't as bad as theirs, so I felt justified. But then, the Lord gently reminded me that I was wrong. I realized I was judging this person, and that was a sin in itself. God is holy, and my behavior was no better than theirs. I felt convicted and was moved to tears. The Holy Spirit whispered to me, "If you really love them, you would pray for their best, regardless of their behavior." That realization hit me hard. I admitted to myself that I didn’t truly love them as I claimed. My actions showed that I wanted them to act a certain way for my benefit. I remembered the verses from Numbers 6 and knew I needed to pray for G...
The story of Jesus’ birth, as recorded in Luke 2:12, is one of the most cherished accounts in the Bible. The angel told the shepherds, "And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." While this scene may seem simple and peaceful, it carries a deep and powerful message about God’s love for us. The Manger and Its Meaning A manger is a feeding trough for animals, and in Jesus’ time, it was often made of stone. Imagine the Savior of the world, not born in a palace, but laid in such a humble place. This setting reminds us that Jesus came to identify with the lowly and the ordinary. His humble beginning points to the kind of life He would lead—a life of service and sacrifice. But the manger also holds a deeper meaning. It foreshadows what was to come. When Jesus died, His body was laid in a tomb carved out of rock, similar in appearance to a stone trough. Just as He was wrapped in swaddling cloths as a baby, His body was ...