December 8 Holy
“Proclaim the holy birth”
Pray
Holy, holy, holy Lord, I praise You. Far beyond my greatest dreams; limitless in power, grace, and love; matchless in wisdom; with my whole heart I praise You, now and forever. Amen.
Read – Luke 1:35
“The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.”
Reflect
To be holy is to be set apart for sacred use. God is holy because He is set apart from the sin that corrupts our world. We are holy when we are forgiven, and when we join our purposes to His. The Baby in the manger is holy because He is pure and undefiled, set apart for the humiliation of the cross and the victory of the empty tomb.
Unfortunately, “holiness” has developed a negative connotation in our culture because we associate it with censoriousness and judgmentalism. A person who is “holier-than-thou” has an inflated opinion of himself and a jaundiced view of everyone else. Standing, six feet above criticism, he dispenses moral judgments as though he alone is above reproach, and as though he alone possesses the keys of the kingdom. This is the attitude of smug superiority that can give Christians a bad name. It has no place among us. Before we stand in judgment, dispensing criticism and condemnation, we should remember where we would be, but for the grace of God.
What a contrast to the holy Child of Bethlehem! He did not come to condemn, but to save. Set apart to serve, Jesus did not hide from the sinful world, fearing contamination. Instead, He immersed Himself in this world so that, freed from sin and its power, we might be holy, too.
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