“He is before all thing, and by Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).

As we’ve discussed before, the Christmas season has an effect on the world like no other time of the year does. We’ve explored how everyone seems to live in a state of anticipation at Christmas, not just for presents or for big dinners. Everyone seems to have a deeper, more supernatural anticipation. Christmas is the anniversary of when Jesus first came to earth, so all of creation waits for Him again.

This overflow of joy and excitement might be why the world just seems different during this season. People are a little kinder. We give a little more. We think of others more, and we think of Jesus more. Christians remember Him in all things more so at Christmas than at any other time of the year. Not to say that we don’t try to acknowledge Him in everything that we do on a regular basis, but as the body of Christ, when do we hear more about the birth of Jesus than at Christmas?

But what about on all the other days of the year?

We know we are meant to live with giving hearts, we’ve been told to keep Christmas in our hearts all year long, and we are certainly meant to acknowledge the Lord in everything that we do. But after the lights come down and the carols fall silent, will we remember that God remains in the details? Will we remember that His intentionality is forever and not just for Christmas? Will we still give and love and bless on December 26th as we did on December 25th?

We’ve looked at God’s intentionality in our other devotions for this season, but for our final devotions in our Peace on Earth series, we’re going to observe the details in the Christmas story. We need to lean in close and understand that when we choose to live differently, the world can change. When we live with the intentionality of God-when we see Him in the details of history and see Him in our present-we’ll start to live with the same intentionality. Our hearts will look like His because the more accustomed we are to listening for His heartbeat all around us, the more our rhythm will align with His.