Luke 2:29-30

New International Version (NIV)

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation

For Meditation

Eli Stanley Jones, the 20th-century Methodist missionary and theologian from Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States of America, mostly targeted the educated classes in India. He spent much of his time with Gandhi, the Indian leader, whose life challenged him so much. At the end of one of his conversations with Gandhi, the great leader asked him something that shock Jones and brought out of him, his whole reason for being a disciple of Jesus.

“Tell me in one sentence what Christ means to you.”

 “All I want and need of God, that, Jesus Christ my Lord is to me,”Jones said.

At the dedication of Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem, the old man Simeon, didn’t have to be asked that question. He volunteered his testimony. He had lived all his life “waiting for the consolation of Israel,” and this was the hour of confession (Lk. 2:25). Graciously, God had kept Simeon and opened his eyes that day to see the event He was waiting for – the advent of the Messiah. With the Spirit of God upon him, Simeon stepped forward and expressed his joy in praise to God, saying:

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel” (29-32).

That was what the baby in his arms that day in the temple meant to Simeon. Knowing Jesus and holding him in his hands fulfilled his life’s expectation; and that gladdened his heart. He could therefore ask the Lord to call him home  in peace, knowing that God had visited His people.

1. If someone is to challenge you today with Gandhi’s question to Jones, what will you say?
2. Who is Jesus, and what is He to you?
3. Do you have an inspired knowledge and understanding of His being and what He is to the world?
4. Does that knowledge solidify your faith and your walk with Him?
5. Is Jesus, to you, “all that [you] want and need of God?”

I pray that this Christmas season, you will ponder over these questions and truthfully come to grasp with how much the Manger Baby means to you.

So: May the Holy Spirit reveal Christ to you in a unique way; and may His love and the grace of God that flows through Him, totally consume your life until He comes.

Knowing who Jesus is and what He means to the world brings meaning to your walk with Him, and inspires your testimony.

Shalom