Following the Star 
Pause
If you have ever spent time around an infant, you know that they are completely helpless. Besides breathing and crying, they need assistance to do practically anything else.
And yet the Creator of all, God Almighty, enters the world in this way — vulnerable, dependent, and helpless. It’s in this kind of vulnerability that we understand the love and nature of God.
Take a moment to consider how this little baby changes your life, how baby Jesus changes everything.
Listen
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.
Titus 2:11-14
Think
Only 364 days left until Christmas! It seems like as soon as something is over, it’s on to the next thing. In this text, the writer tells us that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to live righteously while we wait… for Jesus to come, AGAIN.
I hate waiting: at the drive-thru, for a return text, or for that blasted progress bar to get across my computer screen! But this kind of waiting is different. This is the active kind. This is waiting with a lot of things to do. While we wait for the second coming of Jesus, we do what Jesus showed us. We live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly. Jesus came to get sin out of the way so we would be free to act like the people God intends, a people excited about doing good things in the world.
So what are we sitting around for? Let’s get out there in the world and start waiting!
Bill Buchanan
Pray
God, help me to spend this day actively waiting for Christ’s return. Amen.
Go
Now go out into the world knowing that God goes before you, walks beside you, stands behind you, and is at work within you, empowering you to make a difference in the world.
