Today you should read: Luke 1:57-66
Luke, the detail-oriented gospel writer, gave us a great snapshot of the birth of Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist. This John would be the one to “prepare the way” for the Messiah to come, and he was quite the character! Eating locusts & wild honey, calling out religious leaders, baptizing hundreds of repentant sinners… John the Baptist is a standout in the pages of scripture. But what do we find out in his birth account?
1) It was a celebration. Neighbors and relatives were all there to cheer on Elizabeth and Zechariah. She was old. This was a paramount moment in their lives. It was a clear sign that God had blessed them.
2) The name was a big deal. In those days (and still today in some cultures/regions of the world), it was common to bestow a family name on a child. John was not a family name. The angel was clear, though, and Elizabeth would not be disobedient. Zechariah confirmed with a ancient middle-eastern etch-a-sketch.
3) Zechariah got his voice back. People had to be freaking out. God was making a point, not only through the child, but the parents. Something special was going down.
4) This child was going to do big things. “…all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.” God’s Son coming was the main point of all this, but God shows us again that He’s all about the details. A significant portion of those details included the ministry of the locust-eating, repentance-preaching, slam-dunk-baptizing (ok… too much?) of John the Baptist.
REFLECTION QUESTION: Today, I want us each to share in the comments section below: “How have you seen God work in the minor details of your life that lead to spiritual growth?”
By: Todd Thomas — Worship & College Pastor
JumpstartCPC.com 
Thanks Todd! Inspiring!!
God is concerned over the little things. If you’re faithful over little, He’ll make you faithful over much. When my kids were little and I was starting to homeschool there were days where I just didn’t feel like I was doing anything right. On one day, I was feeling particularly down. The task was too large and I didn’t think I had the personal resources to meet the challenges.
We had been introduced to Voice of the Martyrs and received their newsletter monthly. That year at Christmas, we had given blankets to the ministry for Christians in the Middle East. One of the blankets was a quilt I had made for our bed that had a really crazy pattern on it. When I went to the mailbox, the VoM newsletter was there. On the back there was a picture of a woman in a distant land holding my blanket. The caption read,”Is this your blanket? You are making a difference.”
God is for us!
What an awesome moment that must’ve been for you! I feel like over the past year, i’ve seen God work in the little moments more than anything big or glamorous. I’m with you – I want to be faithful with a little!