And now abideth faith, hope, charity,
these three; but the greatest of these is charity. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV)
While on
vacation many years ago, I took pictures of the prettiest chickens that I had
ever seen. It was not until I was
researching the Twelve Days of Christmas song that I realized that they were
French hens. The French hen is one of the most colorful of chickens.
In the
Twelve Days of Christmas song, these chickens by some accounts represent the three
theological virtues: faith, hope and love. These are the foundations of a
Christian life. Without having faith in Jesus, how can we have hope in this
world and love others?
Throughout
the holiday season we receive many gifts. My favorites are the ones that my
family and friends take the time to make. You will see several ornaments on my
tree that were made by my children and friends to express their love. There is
a lot of love hanging on the tree.
Jesus came
to earth to give His life so that we will hope in a lost and dying world. With the birth of Jesus we received the gift
of hope. With this gift of hope we also received the gift of love, the greatest
of all gifts.
Love is not
always easy to give. Resentments, hurts and past mistakes bind the love in our
hearts toward others. When we break those bonds with the help of Jesus, we are
free to love and receive love.
This year I
want to focus on Jesus. I want my life to be as colorful as those French hens
with the right amount of faith, hope and love. I want love to be the brightest
of all.
Thank you, Jesus, for giving the
greatest gift of all ─ love.
Dawn Sexton
© 2013
1 comment:
Dawn, you wrote a wonderful devotional. You need to write more often. God bless you at this special time of year and also into the New Year, 2014.
E. Bonnie
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