Advent 2025, Day 24

    

Day 24, December 23, 2025

Theme: 

Love

Readings: 

Reading: Mal 3:1-4 , Mal 4:5-6

Gospel: Lk 1:57-66

Reflections:

In Malachi today, we see references to refining by fire (smelting metal) and by soap (scrubbing clothes clean).  God is holy. He is one.  He is singular in his insistence on righteousness. He will refine us. He will let us be refined. Not only God, but life itself has a way of refining us. For these reasons, God sends Jesus to guide our refinement and support our growth in righteousness, not just to get us a ticket to heaven.  Righteousness is a deep value of God. It's really, really important. 

So let's keep that commitment to righteousness in mind as we read and consider the prophecy in Malachi.

Malachi's prophecy refers to John the Baptist.  His radical commitment to righteousness at all costs was preordained by God, and God gave John the parents and the personality needed for him to become the messenger who prepared the way for Jesus.  We underestimate John. We misunderstand how much (and why) God values righteousness and how beautifully John reflected this in his life and ministry.  In 21st-century Christianity, we often equate righteousness with well-managed behavior, and its absence with a simple failure of self-control.

Righteousness is NOT about behavior, nor is it about transactional relationships.  Righteousness is all about LOVE.  We will and do the most good for those we love.  We treat them with righteousness.  We make sure the air is clear.  We repair the ruptures in the relationship if the other person accepts our attempt at repair.  In the case of righteousness with God, we can't keep up our end of the deal for very long at all.  We regress to a mean of egocentrism and idolatry. This is the pattern in the Old Testament, New Testament, and today.  We need spiritual formation for the rest of our lives, into the image of Jesus, who chose vulnerability and temptation as a human.  There is no way to do this on our own.  We need all the support we can get, including centuries-old liturgies like Advent, Lent, and the season between Easter and Pentecost.  We need to remember.  We need it so much that Jesus instituted remembrance as central with his disciples on his last night with them.

God emphasizes the necessity of righteous relationships by framing the prophecy of John the Baptist in Malachi 4:5–6 with a powerful image:  Families turning to each other on the deepest level. In other words, righteousness begins and is tested in the place where love is learned first--the family. 

Meditate on your heart's desire to be united with your family members, both those from whom you might be estranged and those with whom you already have a loving relationship. Now imagine angels celebrating the unity in your family with song, like the night Jesus was born.

My Soul Rejoices in the Lord (Magnificat), Tenielle Neda & Jon Guerra (goes with yesterday's Day 23 devotional...so good I don't want anyone to miss out on it)

Song: **Oops** Yesterday, I got my songs out of order.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Phil Wickham (this whole album is incredible.. please check it out) I mistakenly posted this on yesterday's devotional. It connects to the presence of angels in today's reading.

Bonus! The Advent 2025 playlist is ready for you to listen to on Apple Music. It's diverse, and it was so much fun to put together as I read through the scriptures and wrote this series.

NOTE: the songs are on Apple Music, which you can get for a month for free if you are new... I just didn't want an obnoxious YouTube Ad ruining your quiet time :-)

Please comment on today's devotional below. A Gmail account is required to comment.

If you are looking for a nondenominational church in the Denver area, check out denverchurchofchrist.org