|
Listen to this devotional: |
Listen while you read: "I've Got Peace Like A River"1 (Lyrics) |
Romans 10:15b – How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! (NIV)
Every Christmas, one special person in Jesus' nativity story remains in the shadows. We rarely see this person on Christmas cards or in carols. Today, I wish to shine the spotlight on this one. You'll soon know who I mean.
The setting is the temple in Jerusalem. For centuries, worshippers gathering here have been awaiting the promised Messiah. Then one day, an elderly woman arises from her sleeping quarters and is seen shuffling about, intensely excited. She's got good news! She's seen Him! The Messiah has arrived! Imagine the commotion she created in the temple that day.
You know who she is. She's the prophetess, Anna. Anna had lived a quiet life in a room allotted for widows. She "never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying." Anna did not need an angel or a star to guide her that special day; she was in tune with the Holy Spirit and was in the right place at the right time. She instantly recognized the Christ child, and at once, "she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem." (Luke 2:36-38 NIV)
Of Anna, it can be said that she had beautiful feet. That's how today's verse describes those who bring good news. Anna was the first one to preach the good news of Christ's arrival to the people in the temple: God's chosen people. She deserves a place in our nativity retellings.
Scripture says nothing about angels or stars being beautiful. Yet, we read about feet being beautiful — the dusty, smelly feet of those who bring good news. Anna was one of them. She may have been withered and bent over from age. But her feet were beautiful in God's eyes.
This Christmas, while you enjoy lovely ornaments and carols of angels and stars, remember the beautiful feet of Christmas: Anna's feet. And don't forget the beautiful feet of unnumbered saints who have proclaimed the good news of Christ's coming down the centuries. Will your feet be among them?
Prayer: Dear Lord, enrich our joy this season by opening our eyes to see new beauty in the account of Jesus' birth. Amen.
Forward this devotional Share this devotional on Facebook Like PresbyCan on Facebook
Although PresbyCan doesn't have a mobile app, you can still have a PresbyCan icon on your mobile phone home screen. 
Sunday, January 26, 2025 – In Asia — Pray for wisdom for my team and me. We started going through weekly coaching with an organization which teaches us how to use social media as a means of sharing the good news. Pray for God's leading as we put this into practice and encourage those who follow our website to start meeting in person and studying the Bible together. I am thankful for their vision for in-person discipleship. Pray the Lord will bless many other ministries through this organization.
Child custody: "January 23, 2025: Urgent prayer request: please pray for a young friend Tessa who has court dates..." 
Car stolen: "January 23, 2025: Please pray for my friend who had her car stolen. She is a single parent and..." 
Thanks for sharing and reminding us Diane.
LOVED this devotion.
Thank you Diane.
Thank you Diane.
All the Best to you and yours for 2014.
Diane
Beautiful devotion! Hope all is well with you and your family. Many blessings in 2014.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family. Best wishes to you and yours for a happy and healthy New Year. Blessings.
Thanks, that was very interesting. I’ve must have missed this passage where Anna is mentioned. I would like to know where it is. Thanks again and Happy New Year.
Dear Diane,
Thank you for letting us see your beautiful feet.
Keep writing.
Hi Diane,
The other day I was looking at those very passages in the Bible, the one about Simeon and Anna, two old people who had been looking for the Messiah and the joy they both expressed when the saw the little Child in the Temple. You are right, as you mentioned Anna, and Simeon too are two people who seem to kind of get lost in the various stories of the birth of Christ.
Blessings to you and yours.
Good Afternoon Diane:
What a beautiful and inspiring message. I loved it and it certainly caused me to reflect on how we should be out and about bringing the message of God’s marvelous gift to those who do not know Him as Saviour. Your words “don’t forget the beautiful feet of unnumbered saints who have proclaimed the good news of Christ’s coming down the centuries. Will your feet be among them? – remind me of how very loyal our forefathers were in telling the wonderful news to those who were outside the glorious family of God.
An interesting story — My husband’s grandfather went to a revival service over a hundred years ago to play havic and cause a disturbance because he did not believe in the saving power of the Almighty. However while he was there the Lord spoke to his heart and he surrendered his life to the Lord, became a lay preacher and reached out to many. Had it not been for those traveling to his area, by horse and wagon and on foot, this man who had no love for God or anything concerning the Word of God would never have had the blessed assurance of eternal life.
Like you ably said, we should be using our feet to travel and bring the Good News to many who do not know the blessings in store for those who turn their lives over to the King of Kings.
It is my prayer you will have a blessed year.
Dear Diane,
I am deeply moved and inspired by your devotional. I had never thought of this facet of the Nativity. Thank you so very much.
This is a whole new slant for me on the life of Anna. Thank you for this challenge to my thinking.