No Glitz, Just Glory

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Today's reading titled no glitz just glory was written by Sochi Dixon looking at the handmade Christmas ornaments. My son Xavier crafted over the years and the annual mismatched bobbles. Grandma had sent him. I couldn't figure out why I was.

Not content with our decorations and always valued the creativity and memories. Each ornament represented.

So why did the lure of the retail stores holiday displays tempt me to desire a tree adorned with perfectly matched bulbs, shimmering orbs and satin ribbons. As I began to turn away from our humble decor, I glimpsed a red heart-shaped ornament with a simple phrase scripted on it, Jesus my Savior. How could I have forgotten that my family and my hope in Christ are the reasons I love celebrating Christmas are simple tree looked nothing like the trees and the storefronts, but the love behind every decoration needed beautiful like our modest tree. The Messiah didn't meet the world's expectations in any way.

Isaiah 53 says Jesus was despised and rejected yet an amazing display of love. He still chose to be pierced for our transgressions, he endured punishment so we could enjoy peace.

Nothing is more beautiful than that. With renewed gratitude for our imperfect decorations and our perfect Savior. I stop longing for glitz and praise God for his glorious love sparkling adornments could never match the beauty of his sacrificial gift Jesus today's Our Daily Bread devotional Scripture reading is from Isaiah chapter 53 verses one through nine, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed. He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away yet who of his generation protested for he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of my people he was punished he was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Let's pray great and mighty God help us to see all that we have in knowing you. Everything the world has to offer fades in comparison to the matchless splendor of our Savior Jesus Christ. May we see the beautiful love reflected through the magnitude of your sacrifice.

Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread ministries