Our Daily Bread 6th January 2025 Devotional — Little Town of Bethlehem
OUR DAILY BREAD DAILY DEVOTIONAL 6 JANUARY 2025 MESSAGE
Welcome to Today’s Daily Bread Devotional Message to inspire and bless you! Read, Study and, Meditate over and over again. Let the blessings of God rest upon you!
Our Daily Bread 6th January 2025 Devotional Message
Today’s Topic: Little Town of Bethlehem
Bible in a Year: Genesis 16-17; Matthew 5:27-48
Bible Verse: Bethlehem, . . . out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Matthew 2:6
Today’s Scripture: Matthew 2:1-11
Insight: Matthew’s gospel emphasizes gentile (non-Jewish) inclusion into God’s redemption story. His genealogy, for example, highlights three gentile women—Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth (Matthew 1:3, 5). And Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, was previously married to a gentile, Uriah the Hittite (v. 6). In Matthew 2, gentiles—the magi (who may have been members of the Persian royal court)—come to worship Jesus (vv. 1-2). By highlighting gentile inclusion in Christ’s story, Matthew leads his readers to the good news that God’s redemption is for all people and His followers are called to “make disciples of all nations” (28:19). By: Monica La Rose
Our Daily Bread 6th January 2025 Devotional Today
Phillips Brooks wrote the lyrics to the beloved carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem” after visiting Bethlehem. Brooks, pastor of a church in the United States, was so moved by his experience that he wrote this to his Sunday school students: “I remember . . . on Christmas Eve, when I was standing in the old church at Bethlehem, close to the spot where Jesus was born, when the whole church was ringing hour after hour with the splendid hymns of praise to God, how again and again it seemed as if I could hear voices that I knew well, telling each other of the ‘Wonderful Night’ of the Savior’s birth.”
In 1868, Brooks put his thoughts into a poem, and his church organist set it to music. The song spoke stillness and peace into the unsettling aftermath of the American Civil War: “O little town of Bethlehem / How still we see thee lie! / . . . The hopes and fears of all the years / Are met in thee tonight.”
Matthew wrote of our Savior’s birth in Bethlehem in Matthew 2. When the “Magi from the east” (v. 1) followed the star to Bethlehem (see Micah 5:2), “they were overjoyed” to find Jesus (Matthew 2:10).
Today, as we celebrate Epiphany, we too need the glorious news of our Savior’s birth. As the hymn reminds us, He came to “cast out our sin and enter in” and “be born in us.” In Him, we find peace. By: Alyson Kieda
Reflect & Pray
Where in your life do you need the peace the Savior offers? What aspect of Jesus’ story touches you most?
Dear Jesus, thank You for the hope and peace You’ve brought to me.
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