Ihope Christmas: Wait for it!

Christmas is a wonderful season to anticipate a glorious future. This is our hope: a glorious future. “…waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…” (Titus 2:13 ESV) At Christmas we celebrate the first advent of Jesus, but we also look forward to his second advent. The promise of the incarnation of our Lord will be fulfilled completely when he returns in glory.

One aspect of hope is the acknowledgement that we are missing something now. Believers in Jesus are forward looking people. We are waiting for glory. Jesus himself is waiting for the glory of the future. “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.”(Hebrews 10:12-13 ESV) Jesus too has hope. He hopes for the day when his enemies are fully subject to him. The enemies of Christ are still running rampant in God’s kingdom. One great day they will be overcome. Victory in Jesus forever! We wait with Jesus. There is nearly an unending list of things that are missing. We are made for completeness, for wholeness, for shalom, but in this world we have tribulation. Nothing is perfect here. We are reminded of the curse daily. Maybe we are reminded through an illness, through a violent crime, or through a natural disaster. We might carry a deep sorrow everyday. Many sorrow over their children. As it says of David “And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”(2 Samuel 18:33 ESV) This is a deep sorrow. When we are with the Lord forever we will no longer have such sorrows. He will wipe away every tear! We will understand God’s gracious plan.

We long for a day when there is nothing horribly wrong. That day is coming for the believer. All our hopes and longings will be fulfilled in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Just wait for it! Here is the hope stated in bold terms: “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25 ESV)

At Christmastime let us acknowledge our need of God’s hope. Let us draw near to God through Jesus in order to be saved to the uttermost.

Merry Christmas!

A Thanksgiving Meditation

In Colossians 3: 15-17 Paul talks about thanksgiving three times. The whole paragraph is superb, but let’s just isolate the thanksgiving words. He says, “be thankful,” sing “with thankfulness in your hearts,” and finally “giving thanks to God the Father through him.” These three are a good way for us to prime the pump for Thanksgiving.

First of all, the Bible always commands us to be thankful. God has given us the ability to direct our thoughts. We can develop the discipline to look at the bright side of things. We can force ourselves to be thankful. For a believer in Jesus Christ this is always true. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. We have eternal life. No matter what comes up we are going to be fully blessed forever. Jesus tells us that he knows us and gives us eternal life. Then also, almost all of the time, we can be thankful for temporal blessings too. The old song says, “Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.” The truth is, by and large we live very blessed lives. Do you have a family who loves you? Be thankful! Are you anticipating seeing some loved ones this holiday season? Be thankful! Perhaps you can think of a time when God delivered you from a temptation. Be thankful! It is too easy for our fallen minds to think about all the failures, the trials, the painful times, and to begin to be grouchy and bitter. God tells us to be thankful.

Next Paul commands us to sing “with thankfulness in your hearts.” The heart is the seat of our feelings. Here the command is for us to feel thankful as we sing in worship to God. Probably you will have an opportunity to sing some during this holiday period. Try to sing with your whole heart. No one likes to hear a song sung with no true feeling behind it. If you are thankful in your heart it will show up in the sincerity, the zeal, and energy with which you sing. If you are singing in worship and praise to God, how would that look?

The final command is “giving thanks to God the Father through him.” I love these direct statements of how to pray. This is how you do it. We come to God the Father through Jesus Christ. When we come to God we bring our thanksgiving to him through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and man. He is the only sufficient and fully adequate mediator. He is the infinite advocate. He needs no help to bring us to the Father. He is fully capable to get us to God. He alone. Do not come in the name of anyone else. To do so is to insult Jesus Christ. We can be fully thankful that the only Messiah is our savior. Trust him! He is our access to all the blessings of God. Thank you LORD!