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Detecting Christmas December 14 Devotional

by David Joynt on December 14, 2023


JAMES 1:22 | 22 But be doers of the word, and not merely
hearers who deceive themselves.

 

Matthew 1:24 | 24  When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife.

 

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” G.K. Chesterton

 

Joseph never speaks in any of the Gospels. Mary is eloquent, her famous song a prophetic paen of rare and profound beauty. Her husband is completely silent. But he is also obedient. Chesterton’s quote implies that obedience is the key to discipleship. It is not what we know that grows our lives and impact, but what we know and put into action. Joseph is a man of action, even when God’s plan brings danger and disruption into his life.

 

Listen for a direction from God today and follow through.

 

 

Gracious God,

Help us to be people who discern and then do, hearing and obeying. May we be people of action who make the ideal real. Amen.

 

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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