Advent: Hope

Christmas is a special time of anticipation.  It seems as soon as autumn sets in our minds begin to drift towards Christmas day.  We may look forward to the songs or to the lights and decorations.  We may look forward to the exchange of gifts, or holiday parties.  We may even spend a sweet moment anticipating a Christmas meal shared with loved ones.  Whatever we look forward to each holiday season it is a time to remember that Jesus Christ, the long promised Messiah was anticipated for thousands of years.  As soon as sin entered the world the Lord made the promise of the coming Savior (Genesis 3:15).  From that day forward men and women who trusted God longed to see His provided Savior.  For years they waited, hoped and prayed and then Jesus came to the earth.  Simeon – a man who longed to see the Savior prayed this prayer of joy when he first saw the baby Jesus:

²⁹"Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,
According to Your word;
³⁰For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
³¹Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
³²A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES,
And the glory of Your people Israel."
Luke 2:29-32 NASB

Remembering His Return

Therefore be patient, brethren, until coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently until it receives the early and latter rain.  You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. -James 5:7-8 NKJV

Once on my high school cross country team a friend of mine decided he was really going to get ahead.  He put his head down and ran as fast as he had ever run in a race. When the team finished the race we looked around for my friend.  We found out later that he had been disqualified. Having lost sight of the goal he ignored the course markers and ran wildly off course...quickly! It is easy for us to do this spiritually.  We can try to put our head down to charge through our lives.  Yet, the word regularly beckons us to be mindful of Christ's return for us. We are not called to simply know about it, but to call it regularly to our attention. This anticipation sets our course, sets our priorities, and gives us the much needed patience that only comes from a proper perspective.

Jesus is your...

I have a Bible promise book that I treasure. Of course there are countless little volumes like this that aspire to give the reader a quick "at a glance" view of some applicable verses in any given situation. I have several volumes like this that I have received or collected over the years, but this one especially I appreciate. Most of the promise books I have seen jump right into the situations, verse prescriptions for every problem presented in a: "take two of these and call me in the morning" fashion. This promise book (God's Promises for Your Every Need, Word Publishing) starts with 16 chapters entitled "Jesus is your..." These are the 16 chapters that contain only Bible verses filled with Christ's character and care for us, along with a few of the verses referenced in each section:

Savior

Titus 3:5-6; 1 John 4:14; Ephesians 2:4-5

Lord

Philippians 2:9-11; Romans 12:1-2; Romans 14:8

Love

Romans 5:8; John 3:16; 1 John 4:7-12

Peace

Isaiah 26:3; Ephesians 2:13-14; Romans 5:1; John 14:27

Forgiveness

Ephesians 1:6-7; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Psalm 103:12; 1 John 1:9; 1 John 2:1

Righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Philippians 3:9

Deliverer

Isaiah 61:1; John 8:32, 36; Romans 8:2; Romans 6:22

Fellowship

1 John 1:3; 1 Corinthians 1:9; Revelation 3:20

Example

1 Peter 2:21, 1 John 2:6; Ephesians 5:1-2

Companion

John 15:15-16; 1 John 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:9

Brother

Matthew 12:50; Hebrews 2:11; Romans 8:29

Guardian

Psalm 3:3; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Peter 3:12-13

Security

1 Peter 1:3-5; John 10:27-29; Romans 8:38-39

Sufficiency

2 Corinthians 9:8; Philippians 4:19; 2 Corinthians 3:5

Fulfillment

John 6:35; John 4:13-14; Romans 8:32

Everything

Romans 8:37; Ephesians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 1:21

This is only a small sampling of the verses. After reading these chapters (the first 50 or so pages of this little volume) I wondered what the need for the rest of the book could possibly be? Jesus Christ IS the answer. If I am struggling in life it is because I have taken my eyes off of Him. If I remain Christ centered there is nothing that I cannot endure. If I can be convinced to become self centered I am destined for a tumble. I would encourage you this week to roll these terms around in your mind. Look up the verses. Notice these statements are sure, not contingent. "Jesus IS your..." not "could be", "might be" or "will be". This is His grace gift to you as part and parcel to the Saving relationship that you entered into with Him when you placed faith in Christ for Salvation. Roll over these qualities and trust Christ to be all of these things to you, as you are in Him.

I never was terribly handy. In our first home I had to adhere one piece of wood to another. Having no drill I had to drive the screws in by hand. It took a great deal of time and sweat to get the screws in place. The saddest part of the story is that very soon after the job had to be redone...with a powerdrill. How often do we sweat, work, and exert ourselves to get some thing done while Jesus stands over us saying, "You know I am going to have to undo all that you are doing before I can fix it." Even our best intentions result only in loss. We need Jesus.

My Beautiful and Intelligent Wife

I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but I do know that I couldn't mention it enough. Aside from having been given the spiritual gift of being able to put up with me, my wife has other supernatural powers. Those of you who know us may know that we are struggling to keep afloat. Working a number of odd jobs to try to make a living and hoping (eventually) to break into full time vocational ministry. This process has been one of endless challenge and difficulty. So it has been incredible for us! This process of breaking, fighting, failure and rejection has been very difficult and has conformed us to Christ's image more than any other phase.

We have, at some level, hung our hopes on the possibility of serving at a church in Ft. Collins and flirted with the opportunity to try to plant a church in Prague. Quite a handful of things to consider and pray for. The Lord has brought us to the point where we feel like something HAS to happen soon or we will be in a heap of trouble that we wouldn't want. This has caused me to look even more despairingly at the small remaining possibilities and hope and pray that one of them may come through. While reason would say not to put all of our eggs in a basket that is by no means a sure thing, it is difficult for me not to.

In a conversation a week ago April had a breakthrough. She realized that it is no good hanging our hopes upon the possibility of this job or that, as if there was a pot of gold at the end of one of those rainbows that we are waiting for. The reality is the Christ is our hope and The Father has already given Him! Why do we need to go hoping on the chance occurrence of this or that when the reality is that our hope is in Heaven with Christ and the things promised to us here is tribulation and difficulty. Furthermore, we are promised that difficulty keeps us more and more pointed towards our real hope and home, and it ensures we will not become too wedded t this earthly prison that we are currently attached to.

It has been said by people much smarter than myself, but it bares repeating. I just need to look at Jesus today. Trust the Lord for the future. Not because "it will surely get better" and not because "there are better days ahead" there is no such promise I've found in Scripture (regarding our earthly walk - there are better days ahead once we are done with this planet and Home with the Lord) but because no matter what happens He will still be with us. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, so I know that I will have the comfort that I need, not the necessarily the situation that I want. Reminds me of the well known verse:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace. ~Lemmel

That's good news. Right focus is everything. I was listening to the Screwtape Letters again and was once again struck by the enemies tactics at getting our eyes of Christ and off the present moment in favor of worrying our heads about things that have nothing to do with what we should be about at the present moment.

I have a smart wife. Thankful.