December 10, 2021
During this Advent Season, our Daily Devotionals come from Tallowood Baptist Church's 2021 Advent Guide. Tallowood staff and church members contributed to the writings based on the Gospel of Luke which complements our Sunday worship series, "Christmas Music." Download a digital copy of this year's Advent Guide. 
Luke 1:57-66
When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.  Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.
On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”  Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.  All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things.  Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.
New International Version (NIV)
Simple Obedience 
Since I can remember, my head has been filled with daydreams: many adventures have been experienced and trials faced within my mind. Heroes and heroines of the faith often inspire my thoughts to wander off, their great acts of obedience depicting beautiful scenes of God’s grand work, as I wash the dishes for the fifth time that day or correct a sinful child. God has called me to a slow life full of common things.
Often, I have read over the account of John’s naming with little thought, knowing that he will live a spare life in the wilderness, eating locusts and honey. But Elizabeth’s and Zechariah’s obedience to God’s command, which broke a long cultural tradition and bothered their neighbors, helped to set him apart early on.
Likewise, God calls us to a life set apart. He asks us to live separately from our culture, requiring obedience in all the common things each day. A small “yes” or “no” in obedience, time and again, will distinguish us as Spirit-filled people, set apart from those lost in darkness.
Pop culture surrounds us, and it is easy to thoughtlessly watch, read, or listen to what our coworkers, classmates, friends, and family are watching. But God calls us to more. He calls us to dwell on what is true, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. He commands us to seek peace as far as it depends on us, eschewing the temptation of the impulse post that will start an argument that no one will win.
The beautiful and lovely story of our everyday obedience is this: each day we get to prepare the way for the baby born in a manger — the very baby who grew into a man, who died to rise again, and who is going to return. We get to prepare His way in the hearts of the people around us in simple obedience to Him.
“And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying ‘What then will this child be?’ The hand of the Lord was upon him.”
The hand of the Lord was upon Him; the Spirit of the Lord is in us.
Mallory Wiese, Tallowood Bereans Connect Group
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