Advent: Hope
The term advent is one that not everyone is familiar with today. For me I think of the little calendar that had hidden doors and chocolate or candy for the person who got to open it that day. But the concept of advent is much greater than a candy strewn calendar count down to Christmas.
Advent is a time that celebrates the coming of Jesus Christ our Savior. It is the period of four weeks prior to Christmas Day. For each of those weeks there is a theme to help us focus on the expectancy of our Lord coming as a small baby in a manger. The four weekly themes are: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.
This past week we looked at the hope we have in Jesus as only understood through grace. Romans 5:1-2 paints this picture beautifully: "Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith in to this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the HOPE of the glory of God."
Without this hope in Christ which allows us or grants us reconciliation with him...all we have left to hope in is this world and the things of this world. I don't know about you but as I look at this world it does not promote much hope. However as I trust my life, my very soul to the one who created it and died for it... there is much hope!
So where does your hope lie? Or better yet in whom? I pray that your hope is based on the rock of our salvation: Jesus Christ!
Advent is a time that celebrates the coming of Jesus Christ our Savior. It is the period of four weeks prior to Christmas Day. For each of those weeks there is a theme to help us focus on the expectancy of our Lord coming as a small baby in a manger. The four weekly themes are: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.
This past week we looked at the hope we have in Jesus as only understood through grace. Romans 5:1-2 paints this picture beautifully: "Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith in to this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the HOPE of the glory of God."
Without this hope in Christ which allows us or grants us reconciliation with him...all we have left to hope in is this world and the things of this world. I don't know about you but as I look at this world it does not promote much hope. However as I trust my life, my very soul to the one who created it and died for it... there is much hope!
So where does your hope lie? Or better yet in whom? I pray that your hope is based on the rock of our salvation: Jesus Christ!
Labels: Advent
posted by Eddie at 2:17 PM 