What I’m listening to: Someday at Christmas by Jack Johnson

Welcome to Day 16 of our Advent series! If you’re up to speed, congrats(!), if not, be sure to check out the previous posts. The first one explains a little more about the series. Now for today’s verse from Luke. 

 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

                                 Luke 2:21 (NIV) 

Have you ever done only most of something God wanted you to do? Maybe you finished two-thirds of a project and then abandoned it because it got difficult or stopped being fun. It can be easy to want to quit halfway through, but God does not call upon us to be quitters. What if Mary and Joseph had not abided by Jewish law, and decided that David was a way better name for a baby? Jesus’s story might have turned out very differently even with only minor changes. In the same way, we can’t just figure that something is “close enough” to what God wanted us to do. We must not only follow God’s instructions, we must follow them exactly. It can be difficult, but the Lord rewards the faithful, and so we must press on. Even if it seems infinitely more difficult, it will be infinitely more rewarding in the end. 

Prayer Prompt: Pray for the strength not to give up or take a shortcut on a project God has tasked you with.