Scripture: Hebrews 10:5-7
⁵ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
⁶ with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
⁷ Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’ ”

Devotional Thought:
The first and last lines of this passage stand out to me. Therefore, when Christ came into the world he said, “I have come to do your will my God.” Jesus said himself in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus entered this world to do the will of God by serving. Our joy is bound up in our sense of well-being. It is the confidence that everything will work out.

My wife, Susan, tells about a time when she and a friend took a trolley to the last stop assuming that it would return the same way. Little did they know that the trolley service would stop for the day and the last stop turned out to be the last stop. Not that Susan is old by any imagination…but suffice to say this was before the cell-phone days and GPS! Having little idea where they were and only a payphone to call for help, they called Susan’s dad who immediately headed out with the vague directions about being at the end of the tracks. A little while later Susan and her friend saw a car coming down the tracks (not something I would suggest!) directly toward them. Lo and behold, it was Susan’s dad using the tracks to find them. Can you imagine the relief to know that he was with them? That he had tracked them down…no pun intended…and they were now safe?

Jesus did the same for us. He tracks us down regardless of where we are and brings us home. Our joy then is not where we find ourselves in the moment but our sense of well-being comes from the one who comes to find us. Christmas season reminds us that Jesus is Immanuel which means God with us. Allow that to wash over you. God with us. Traveling toward us regardless of our location.

Prayer:
Help Lord. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, that I need your grace in my life. Thank you for your gift of forgiveness that frees me from past mistakes. Thank you for your mercy which draws me back to you without shame or resentment. And thank you for the joy you bring each time I remember that you love me enough to come find me wherever I may have wandered.