Month: January 2026

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I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness.
Isaiah 61:10

Gift Wrapped for God

What do you think of your new clothes? We’re not talking about the new clothes you might have gotten for Christmas, but the new clothes that the Lord has gifted to you. Our eyes can’t perceive these new clothes we’re wearing, but God notices them on us. He sees us wrapped in “garments of salvation” and a “robe of righteousness.”

We didn’t pick these clothes out or buy them for ourselves. These clothes were a gift from Jesus. And he paid a steep cost to give them to us. He paid with his life for us to wear these clothes. More than that, he took our grimy, dirty, sin-covered clothes away from us when he gave us his garment of salvation.

Martin Luther famously captured this exchange that happened at the cross when he said, “Lord Jesus, I am your sin; you are my righteousness. I have made you what you were not; you have made me what I was not.”

Jesus has made us what we were not. Jesus wraps us up as gifts for his heavenly Father. He presents us to the Father, wrapped in his perfection. He says, “These people are my joy. And I know you’ll love them too, Father.”

Prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for gift wrapping me in your garment of salvation and robe of righteousness. My soul rejoices in you because you covered my shame and sin with your forgiveness and glory. I am precious in God the Father’s sight. Let that truth give me peace every single day. In your name, O Lord. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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“I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
Isaiah 61:10

You Are What You Wear

Some have said, “You are what you wear.” If you are in a clown suit, you probably are a clown. If you’re wearing a baseball hat, team jersey, baseball pants, and cleats, you probably are a baseball player. If you are wearing a beautiful white wedding dress, you probably are a bride. You are what you wear.

By birth, we needed new spiritual clothes to wear. Why? Because, by nature, we are sinful people who are wearing sinful, dirty, greedy clothes.

Thankfully, through Jesus, God has given us new spiritual clothes. The prophet Isaiah wrote that, “He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.” The LORD himself has given us his garments of salvation; he has dressed us in his robe of righteousness. “Righteousness” is a word that means “perfection.” How did he do this? First, Jesus lived a perfect life; he was robed in righteousness. Then Jesus lovingly made a trade. He dressed us in his perfection and clothed himself with our sinfulness. Taking our sins on himself, he suffered the punishment we deserved. By his death, he paid for our sins so that we will never have to.

As a result, we can delight greatly in the Lord! Martin Luther put it this way: “In his righteousness I live, not in mine.” In the end, who are we? Check out Isaiah’s description of our clothes once again. We are saved. We are perfect in God’s eyes. We are what we are wearing—beautifully perfect in the pure clothing given to us by God himself.

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, thank you for becoming what you were not, so that I might become what I was not. Give me great joy as I remember who I am through you—one who is clothed in a garment of salvation and arrayed in a robe of righteousness for all time. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
Isaiah 63:9

In Distress

The “damsel in distress” is a character often found in books and movies. She is usually helpless, in a dire predicament, and unable to save herself. Tied to the railroad tracks with a train barreling toward her or locked away in some tall tower, her only hope is for someone to come and rescue her. The hero rides in on his white horse and, with superior strength, he wins the day, many times with little effort or cost.

Jesus is a different kind of hero. While Jesus won the day, he didn’t do it by coming in on a white horse. Rather, Jesus saved us in our distress by becoming distressed. Yes, Jesus came to rescue us by putting on flesh and being made like us in every way. He knows what our distress is like. He saved us because he knows what it is to cry and to be hungry. He saved us because he knows what it is to have friends leave and to be disappointed with others. He saved us because he knows what it means to be tempted to sin, and he knows what it takes to resist sin. He knows what it takes to have Satan come after him and what it takes to send him running. Most of all, he saved us because he knows what it takes to pay for our sin, as he still bears those marks in his hands and feet.

This is how Jesus redeemed us and how he lifted us up and carries us. Yes, he came to earth as true God, but also came as true man. Not on a white horse nor a show of strength, he suffered to save us from suffering. Both as a powerful savior and a suffering servant, he came to rescue us. By being distressed for us, he saved us from all distress.

Prayer:

Father, you sent Jesus to be distressed in our distress. By his coming to earth and through his life and death he lifted us up. In our distress may we always look to his love and redemption. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Galatians 4:6-7

Christmas is About Family

It’s almost a cliché these days, but it’s true: society has been removing Christ from Christmas for a long time. Ask most people what the holiday is about, and you’ll probably hear “time with family” more often than the birth of the Savior.

And while Christians may lament that family has eclipsed Christ, our Bible reading today reminds us that Christmas is about family. Did you catch the good news in today’s Bible passage? Because of Christmas, God has made you part of his family.

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He rightly belongs in God’s family. We do not. By nature, we are slaves to sin and estranged from God. But in his mercy, God sent his Son to redeem us and sent his Spirit into our hearts. And with the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, you can confidently call God, “Father.” That is pure grace—the grace of a God who not only forgives but adopts.

And what comfort that adoption brings! All of us crave acceptance, belonging, and a sense of home. We often look for it in our earthly families and closest friendships. They are wonderful gifts, yet they can disappoint you, because like you, they are sinful. But the belonging your heart longs for is found fully in your place as a child of God. Because of Christmas, you can call Jesus your brother, and he gladly calls you his brother or sister.

And you are part of a remarkable family: believers across the world and across the ages who trust in Christ. One day, you will experience the joy of a family reunion beyond imagining—a gathering that will include loved ones in Christ who died before you.

So when your final day comes, you can rest in confidence. You are no longer a slave but God’s child, and since you are his child, you are also his heir. A place in your Father’s house is already prepared, and nothing can take it from you.

Prayer:

Father, thank you for adopting me as your child through Christ and giving me a place in your family forever. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
Galatians 4:4-5

The Greatest Christmas Gift

Many people assume Christmas is just a single day, December 25th, or perhaps two if you count Christmas Eve. But it is, in fact, a season of twelve days. Today is the eighth day of Christmas, and God has another present for you to unwrap: the greatest gift of all.

This gift arrives “when the set time had fully come.” Not a moment too late or too soon, the gift came at a specific, perfect moment in history, precisely when it was most needed.

The gift came from God, because “God sent.” He did all the work; all you do is receive it.

What did he send? “His Son, born of a woman.” The eternal God took on human flesh and blood. He who had no beginning suddenly had a birthday, an age, a hometown, and a body confined to time and space. The One who fills heaven and earth humbled himself to dwell among us.

This humbling involved being “born under law.” That means he placed himself beneath the very commandments he authored and lived a life of perfect obedience. Jesus wasn’t your Savior only for the six hours he spent on the cross; he spent thirty-three years before that fulfilling the law in your place, as your Substitute. Every commandment you break, he kept flawlessly for you.

Why this perfect obedience? “To redeem those under the law.” That’s all of humanity, including you. We are all under God’s law and guilty of breaking it. So, Jesus kept that law for us and bore its punishment on the cross, buying our freedom from our slavery to sin.

The glorious result? “That we might receive adoption to sonship.” That’s amazing! In his Son, God the Father has given you the greatest Christmas gift of all: He made you a member of his family. No longer a slave, you are now an heir of forgiveness, peace, comfort, hope, and the everlasting riches of heaven.

Prayer:

Son of God, thank you for being born under the law to redeem me and make me an heir of heaven. Amen.

Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.