Skip to main content

Waiting with Hope



            Advent is a season of waiting.  For the first two weeks, the focus is on waiting for Christ to be born.  The last two Sundays in Advent focus on the whole world, including creation, waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ when everything will be made right ( Romans 8: 18-22).  Advent is the beginning of the church calendar, so it launches a new year.
            What is the best way to begin a new year?  What about taking inventory of your soul?  The color of advent is purple signifying penitence and fasting.    The celebration of Christ’s birth is made more joyful with a clean heart.
            It’s hard to take a good, long look in the mirror.  No one wants to do that.  Perhaps that is one reason the Christmas season has drifted so far from a focus on waiting, anticipation, and penitence and certainly not fasting.  Rather the first glimpses of Christmas appear just after Halloween; commercials broadcast great ideas for gifts and engage in rationale about why you deserve to indulge in your pleasures.  Rather than fasting, the season is known for decadent eating. 
            Advent brings us back to the reason for Christmas.  The season of Advent begins with Hope.  While hope alone does not replace the greedy, over-indulgent, materialistic season that we have made into Christmas, it does bring soul-refreshing focus to the spiritual preparation of Christmas.
            Christmas is, after all, about hope.  The hope that anchored a nation is the same hope of Christmas.  The hope that keeps creation groaning for things to be made right was birthed at Christmas.  Hope is connecting the heart’s longings past the harsh realities to the promises of greater glory.  Waiting in hope is what the life of a prophet was all about.  That is why the first candle of advent is called the Prophet’s candle and why it burns with the light of hope.
            Tennyson said: Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering it will be happier...  As a new calendar brings hope about the unwritten, unlived days ahead, so the season of Advent brings hope.  Because the first coming of Christ was fulfilled; we can be certain His second coming will happen when the time is just right.
            In the meantime, we are gifted with the season of Advent to focus our heart, mind and spirit on the work of God through Christ.  Eager to wait through each Sunday before Christmas, we have much to fill the time.  We have a lot going on in our souls that needs to be examined and considered.  In contrast to the joy of the birth of Christ is the reality of our sin that provoked Him to leave heaven and take on the form of a newborn baby claiming the boundaries of human flesh.  Our sin is the reason He chose to stoop so low to become one of us and even showed more humility and determination to save us by drying on a shameful cross.  It’s not enough to celebrate the joy of Christmas without considering the reason for Christmas. 
            The hope of God for each sinner to come to faith in Jesus Christ becomes our hope.  As God waits for all souls to put their faith and trust in Him, we wait with hope on God to make everything right through Jesus Christ. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance 2 Peter 3:9.  May this season fill you with hope as you wait on the promises yet to be fulfilled.
Copyright © 2014  Deborah R Newman teatimeforyoursoul.com  All Rights Reserved.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thank You Dad

Recently I have been contemplating why it is ingrained in me that I must be quiet and respectful and look at the flag when the national anthem is played.  It’s as natural for me as standing for the Hallelujah Chorus during Handel’s Messiah or for the Bride when she walks through the back door.  Like a Pavlov dog, my instincts go into action, and I do not even think about my somewhat conditioned response. Why?  It was definitely my own father who had the most influence over me regarding the national anthem.  I am not a sports enthusiast.  However, from a young age I found myself at sports games because my older brother played every sport offered.  Our family faithfully attended those games, which normally started with the national anthem.  I found a way to enjoy the otherwise agonizing experience of being held prisoner to my brother’s sporting events by gravitating to my friends who were there under duress as well.  We made up games of our own; we would laugh and talk throughout the q…
Post a Comment
Read more

You Shall Not Be Overcome

I distinctly remember sending this quote by Julian of Norwich to a recently widowed friend of mine over ten years ago.  You will not be overcome.
God did not say you will not be troubled,
You will not be belaboured,
You will not be disquieted;
But God said, You will not be overcome. The quote in one of my devotional books for July 23, which marks the day I became a widow myself is by the same author.  “One day God spoke to me and I heard these words, “you won’t be overcome.”  God wants us to pay attention to His words.  God wants us to be strong in our certainty in Him, always, both in good times and in bad.  The Lord loves us, and God so enjoys our company.  God loves being with us and wants us to love Him and enjoy being with Him and trust Him completely, and all will be well.”  As I write this six years since his death I can attest to the reality that all will be well.  God chose to bless me with a second marriage to a wonderful man who holds my hand through this hur…
Post a Comment
Read more

The Worst

What is the worst thing you think could happen to you?  There are so many options in a fallen world that it is hard to consider the worst.  We try not to think about it.  We do think we are going through the worst thing when we lose a loved one, are betrayed by a friend or family, sent to prison, or become the victim of a crime.  You know the worst thing that has happened to you.  You can think of someone for whom you are grateful that what happened to that person didn’t happen to you.               The world is full of frightening and dreaded options of worst case scenarios.  When you read the Bible, it is not hard to decide what the worst thing that could happen in your lifetime would be.  The Bible makes it clear that the worst is that you do not believe in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and be saved.               That sounds like a Sunday School answer doesn’t it?  It doesn’t feel that bad to say “No Thank You” to God.  Many don’t even recognize the day that they to…
Post a Comment
Read more