Meditating on Advent Again

One of the things I enjoy on my Samsung tablet is the fact that I can read the Bible anytime, anywhere. I use YouVersion. They have different reading plans that are fun and easy to use. This past month I read a daily devotional on Advent. The particular plan was called 121 Advent. I am not sure why I choose that one over the many options, but I quickly discovered it was just the one for me.

The meditations were on HOPE, PEACE, JOY, and LOVE. I wanted to share different aspects of what I was learning, but I would have had to retype the message. I've taken the time to re-visit some of the days. Some I paraphrased, some I quote.

Re-meditation on Advent.

Advent – a Latin word simply meaning, “coming”. Advent is not a biblical mandate, but a tradition implored among the Christian tradition to set our minds and hearts on the coming of Christ.

HOPE: Hope wavers in human hearts when it is based on mere desire. Hope based on what Jesus has done is a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future. It is full assurance.  When Jesus stepped into the scene hope was made possible. Romans 5:5 “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. God has given us hope, but we must abide in Him and His Spirit in us, in order to experience and live out hope. Colossians 1:27. Is the focus of your hope FOR something or IN the person of Jesus?

PEACE: “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.” MLK 

Shalom, the Hebrew word for peace means wholeness, complete flourishing of a person’s life. Your life being whole WITH God. Harmony. When we live in peace, God is glorified because He is the God of peace. We reflect Him through peace, but we also receive lives of good, of flourishing. This is why peace matters!

Peace was broken with God in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve brought sin into God’s good and peaceful world. The peaceful relationship between God and man, and man and one another, is now hostile and damaged. It took Jesus as mediator to resolve peace with God again. Jesus, Prince of Peace. Jesus is Mediator. Jesus is the one who would offer to reconcile us back to God and and bring true peace into our lives. When Jesus was born, peace came into our world.

When we look out for the betterment of others peace becomes the natural outflow. When we love as Jesus loves, we bring peace to others. Bring peace. Bring love.

JOY: Happiness is not joy. Feelings of pleasure is not joy. Joy is an action of us choosing to trust God in our circumstances, even despite our circumstances. Joy is a knowing that God is in control of everything, even the details of our lives. We can be confident that God is always at work to draw us closer to Him in all situations. Knowing that brings true joy. Philippians4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: REJOICE.”

LOVE: “Scripture distinguishes human love and the love of god, the latter being perfect and the former, while a glimpse in part of God’s love, impossibly perfect due to the nature of sin’s existence. It is important to recognize our inability to experience the fullness of love apart from Christ, who removes sin and allows us to see love clearly and fully. That is why the advent of Christ not only gives us the grandest display of love, but it also allows the possibility for us to know and experience love.” (I Corinthians13 gives a clear definition of love by its characteristics, what it is and what it is not.)

“Why do we love? When we have a complete understanding of love, perfect love displayed for us in God’s gracious giving of His Son, the outpouring of love upon others is not only justified, but instinctive. We love because He first loved us.”

The source of love is God Himself. The source of love in us then becomes God’s Spirit, which indwells upon our salvation. I John 4:7 “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”

Our capacity to love is fully and completely dependent on the grace of God, which fortunately for us, is constant and far bigger than human capability or understanding. Defining love simply on our ability to choose love is an important aspect; however, this leaves love at the mercy or our ability, which is not love in the fullest degree of its existence. When we depend on God’s grace through faith for love we are made able to love in the fullest sense of what love is. When we experience the love of Jesus, we are then able to love others. Hebrews 10:23-24 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds….”