The Christmas story has been told and retold. The major figure, obviously, is the baby Jesus. Then there’s Mary, the mother of our Lord, and Joseph, her considerate husband, whose faith must have been challenged when he found out that the woman he was engaged to was pregnant.
Then there were the shepherds, who heard that announcement: “To you is born a Savior, Jesus.” A while later—they weren’t at the stable like in the nativity scenes at Radio City Music Hall—the wise men, or the Magi, came bearing gifts, guided by a star.
God put those characters in there as lessons for all of us.
But there is another side figure the Christmas story—a man by the name of Simeon. It could be that the first person other than Mary and Joseph who ever held the Savior as a baby was Simeon.
The thing is, he was a non-entity in the culture of his day. What the world calls great, God often says nothing about. The Christmas story is full of examples: Mary was unknown. Joseph was just a carpenter. Shepherds were considered nobodies in their day. Simeon was a nobody too, but he still ended up in the Bible. Why?
He was one of those faithful people who kept his eyes on the Lord and believed in God’s promises. In other words, Simeon took the Bible seriously. He didn’t rely on social media. He didn’t check the internet or go by TikTok. He went by the Bible.
He was waiting for the One who had been promised. I could give you many passages from the Old Testament, but here are some examples of what Simeon was believing: “He [Christ] will crush your [Satan’s] head. . .” (Genesis 3:15); “But you, Bethlehem. . . out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel. . . ” (Micah 5:2); “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
So Simeon went by that Bible—and God was watching all the time.
Did you know that every time we open the Bible, God is watching? Every time we pray, God watches, and He says, “Oh, you’re going by what I said! You trust that what I said is true. I’m going to honor you for that.”
My challenge for all of us today is this: Why don’t we be like Simeon this Christmas? Why don’t we take some of God’s promises and not only believe, but believe and wait with expectation?
Simeon believed, and then he waited. Don’t you think that at times, Satan came to his mind and said, “You old fool. You’re hanging on and believing what? The Messiah’s coming? Has He come yet? No. Give it up. Don’t be a weird religious person. Why do you believe and hang on and expect?”
That’s what happens to all of us. Satan says, “Look, it’s the here and now that’s important. Come on, live in the real world.” But God is saying to you, “No. Live in My world, which is the real world.”
Jesus is about real life—not just “go to church on Sunday.” Real life is about trusting in Jesus, 24/7, 365. Today let’s choose to believe the Bible like Simeon did. Whatever we need, we can trust that God’s got it all under control.
What do we care about—what we read on the Internet or what the Lord thinks? Fill yourself with the Word of God. It’ll produce faith like it did in Simeon.
Prayer:
Lord, like Simeon believed for the Messiah to come, we believe that Your Word is unchangeable. We can lean our whole weight upon it, and it will never fail us. Thank you. Amen.