The Season Of Expectation And Waiting
“See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm.”
~ Isaiah 40:10 (NIV)
Helen Steiner Rice wrote a poem titled, “What Is Christmas?”. A few lines are: “Is it just a day...at the end of the year? A (joyful) holiday filled...with merry good cheer? A season for presents...both taking and giving? A time to indulge in the pleasures of living?...Have we closed our eyes...And turned our eyes from “the bright star above?”
For many people the Christmas season means the excitement of putting up either the live or artificial tree with their treasured decorations placed perfectly upon the branches. Their homes both inside and outside have festive decorations to celebrate the upcoming occasion. The cards are being addressed to be mailed to friends and/or family. The shopping list has been made and the names are ready to be checked off one by one. The oven is being kept busy baking cookies which is filling your home with a lovely aroma.
In today’s society, for God’s people, the Advent-Christmas season often becomes more and more difficult to anticipate and celebrate. Each year as your eyes look around in the stores they are decorated in non-religious decorations with non-religious Christmas music blaring in your ears, and most have eliminated the traditional religious items from their shelves in their “holiday” sections. Websites, newspapers, and TV barrages you with advertising for “holiday shopping”. You are encouraged to “shop until you drop”.
The Advent-Christmas season for Christians helps to keep their thoughts centered on Jesus Christ. The excitement of the season brings to them the expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and also encourages them to continue to be alert for the second coming of the Messiah. For believers, this is the ancient and true meaning of Advent-Christmas as it keeps their eyes on “the bright star above”.
Be happy and merry this year as you celebrate the true reason for the Advent-Christmas season, and that is Jesus Christ.
Father, just as You sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus, help me to clear the path in my heart, too. Show me the distractions in my life that block me from all-out worship of You this Advent. Lord, I await Your coming! As I celebrate the first Advent––the first coming––I look toward the day where I will see You face to face. I imagine what it will be like. Give me a heart, Lord, that looks for Your coming on a daily basis. Help me to live my life where I'm constantly seeking Your presence. My offering to You today is my righteous life for I know I am only clean because of Jesus. Show me today how I need to be refined, purified, forgiven. Give me the strength to ask for forgiveness and to then change my ways. Amen.In Jesus,
Cap'n Kenny
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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
What Is Christmas? Is it just a day...at the end of the year?
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