In the following post, Cindy Ketner reflects on the Hope we find in the coming of Christ this Advent Season. Cindy is an elders’ wife, the mother of two beautiful daughters and serves faithfully at Salem Chapel. Look for more Advent Devotionals by Cindy in the coming weeks.
Sometimes in our fragmented culture, Christmas and the traditions that surround it seem imposed from a random source, but in reality they were established by the church a long time ago. The earliest recorded traditions were in the 400’s. As with the Israelites in the book of Exodus, God wants to be the source of our calendar and celebrations. This advent season we are suggesting a couple things to help “prepare him room” and invite Christ into our Christmas. The first is to read through the gospel of John and focus on what you can learn about Jesus. (You can download a copy of the Advent Reading Schedule here.) Another way is to follow the Salem Chapel blog as we post an Advent Devotional each week to reflect on the coming of Christ. And of course, as you continue in your own Christmas traditions, remember to be looking for Jesus.
Week 1 – Jesus Brings Hope
Hope. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Now that sounds good, but what is it we hope for? In this text, it’s God and the promise of our future life. Sometimes we lose sight of this hope and are like Paul said, “to be pitied more than all men” (1 Cor. 15:19).
If, instead, our daily lives are based on the idea that God is with us through Christ, we have hope for today. We know and experience God’s love through his Word and through the Holy Spirit; we know he “has the whole world in his hands;” and we know that He will and is more than able to assist me in the day -to-day events of life. These are all great sources of daily hope.
And when we continue with that idea that God will be with us beyond death, we have mega hope. As people near the end of their lives, they can be depressed that their life is almost over. For a follower of Christ, their life is not almost over! When Dietrich Bonhoeffer went to the gallows, he said to a friend, ‘“This is the end, but for me it is the beginning of life.” (Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 13) How can we know this hope as Bonhoeffer knew it? We can trust the words of Jesus in John 14:2 “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” We have a great source of hope in a true eternal life beyond death.
Biblical hope is much more solid than our current wishful thinking. As the old hymn says, our hope is “built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.” This is our hope both for today and the future.
