Daily Devotional For Thursday, December 25, 2025

Note: In each devotional where you see only the reference to a Bible passage without the verse (ex. John 3:16), that is a direct link to that passage online. All you have to do is click on that reference and you will be taken to the verse itself. Thank you.

For Christmas day I want us to focus on the word, SAVIOR. When the angel came to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth, the angel made this announcement in Luke 2:11, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (ESV).

What did Savior mean to God’s people in that day? Their concept of salvation was different from what most Christians think today. It was actually much, much bigger; and it seems to me that we have lost some of the richness and hope in the way we talk about salvation today.

If you ask most believers what it means to say Jesus is my Savior, they will say that Jesus saved them from their sins, saved them from God’s judgment, and/or saved them from hell. All of that is true. In fact, in Matthew 1:21 the angel told Joseph, “Mary will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save His people from their sins” (NIV). And Romans 5:9 says, “Since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God’s condemnation” (NLT).

So we are saved from our sins and we are saved from God’s judgment. And if that is all it means to be saved, that certainly is more than we could ever deserve. We will never be able to thank God enough. Your salvation—your forgiveness and certainty of eternity in heaven—is secure in Christ your Savior. And of course that is the most important aspect of salvation. But there is even more blessing wrapped up in our salvation. And for that, we have to look to the Old Testament.

Salvation in the Old Testament means: to relieve you from something that was constricting or confining you; to give you room to breathe; to turn scarcity into sufficiency; to bring freedom from distress. Are you in a tight spot, stressed out and anxious, feeling like your very breath is being squeezed out of you? God says, “Unto you a Savior is born—He is Christ the Lord.” He will relieve the pressure and give you room to breathe. He will make a way where there is no way.

Are you coming up short in the face of an overwhelming challenge? Are you afraid you just don’t have what it takes? God says, “Unto you a Savior is born—He is Christ the Lord.” He will be your sufficiency. He will provide for you. Does it seem like you just can’t catch a break and you’re ready to give up hope? God says, “Unto you a Savior is born—He is Christ the Lord.” 

He will bring freedom from your distress, hope for your despair, and light into your darkness.Jesus will save you in ways that could only be done through His divine power and intervention, because you know that your own resources are not enough to meet the task. He will be a rich store of salvation, an abundant source of supply, accomplishing “exceedingly, abundantly above all that you could ask or imagine” (see Eph. 3:20-21). You won’t just get through by the skin of your teeth; there will be an unmistakable, over-obvious abundance of His grace and power in your life.

How does that sound to you? Could you use that kind of salvation right about now? Unto you a Savior is born—He is Christ the Lord. Call on His name. The Bible says this in Hebrews 7:25, “He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (NIV). On this day, no matter what is going on in our lives, good or bad, we pause and remember that a baby born 2,025 years ago came to give us salvation (see John 3:16-17), to give us an abundant life (see John 10:10) and to give us eternal life (see John 10:27-28, John 12:25, Rom. 6:22-23); power to live in this world (see Acts 1:8, Eph. 3:16-20) and direct access to God the Father (see Eph. 2:18, Heb. 4:16, & Eph. 3:11-12). These are just a few of the benefits we get a home in heaven and purpose for living. We get the promise that there is nothing that ever separate us from God the Father’s love for us (see Rom. 8:37-39). These are just a few. If you want more, read Rom. 8:26-36. 

Assignment: Today, read the Christmas story as a family in Luke 2:1-20, Matthew 1:18-25 and from  Isaiah 9:6-7 as well as Micah 5:2-5. If you have children, let them read some of this out loud. If you need easier to read translations for your children, use this link: https://www.biblegateway.com/. You can select easier to read and easier to understand translations from the top such as The Living Bible, Easy EnglishBible, International Children’s Bible, The Message Translation and the New Living Translation. After you do this, then discuss as a family how the Christmas story impacts your lives as a family and what the Christmas story means to your family. 

Scripture To Meditate On: Isaiah 7:14, “All right then, the Lord Himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a Son and will call Him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)” (NLT).

Prayer To Pray: “Lord Jesus, I call on You today as my Savior in every sense of the word. I look to You to save me from my sins and to save me from judgment.  And Lord, I also look to You to save me when I’m facing overwhelming odds, when my back’s against a wall, and I’m stressed beyond my capacity to endure. I believe, as the Bible says, that “Only you have the power to save! Your name is the only name in all the world that can save anyone.” Thank You for Your great gift of salvation, Lord Jesus, my Savior. Amen.”

I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly