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This week’s Devotional Topic
What’s In A Name?
Most parents are very careful about the names they choose for their children. They may choose words that have meanings that they appreciate and character traits they want to see in them. And they might include names of relatives to honor those relatives and possibly so that their children will grow to reflect those people in some way.
The reality is that in most cases we do see the names as very characteristic to the persons. We might see that as self fulfilling prophecy. The person of Jesus the Christ took on many names. Among them he was called “Immanuel” for He would save His people. One place we find this is in Matthew 1:20 – 23 “…an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through His prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.'”
My mother used to read us a Christmas story describing how this world might be if Christ had not come and there was no “God with us”. Thankfully, we don’t have to imagine a world without Christ. We can celebrate “Immanuel” – God is with us!
This week’s Scripture: Luke 2:8-14; Isaiah 7:10-14; Matthew 1:18-23; John 1:9-14
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