Tag: Christ
Where is my Hope?
The first candle of Advent represents Hope.
Merriam Webster defines hope as follows:
intransitive verb
1: to cherish a desire with anticipation <hopes for a promotion>
2 archaic:trust
transitive verb
1: to desire with expectation of obtainment
2: to expect with confidence :trust
Where is my hope?
People like Simeon and Anna (Luke 2:26-38) longed to see the Messiah. They were rewarded for their faithfulness. When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple, they knew he was the promised one. Imagine they held in their arms the one they long to see.
Meditation: Do I long for Christ’s return? Do I even think about Jesus’s return on a regular basis? If I daily think about HIs return and have confidence that He will return, would I live my life differently?
Prayer: Each day during this season, I will pray “Come, Lord Jesus” an echo of John’s words in Revelation 22.
Action: Go out each day and look towards the eastern sky. And think about Christ’s return and talk with the Lord about helping me to live my life in expectation of his return. I want to hear the words “Well done my good and faithful servant.” I know I am cleansed of my sins. I know I will live with Christ forever. But I want to know He will be pleased with how I lived my life.
Easy Street or The Path of the Cross
Salvation comes through repentance from sin and trusting in Christ’s death as a sacrifice for those sins.
But once we are saved we are called to be followers of Jesus. The path may or may not be an easy one. To often, we think once saved God melds to our will. Our prayers provide a gentle life with no troubles of any kind. Yet when we read what Jesus said would be required of those who chose to be a follower of Christ it appears to not be exactly Easy Street. Yet it is the the greatest path a person can choose to take.
Luke 9
23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?
26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.
Patrick tells us about women who choose the path of the Cross.
“ So, how is it that in Hibernia, where they never had any knowledge of God but, always, until now, cherished idols and unclean things, they are lately become a people of the Lord, and are called children of God; the sons of the Irish and the daughters of the chieftains are to be seen as monks and virgins of Christ
. And there was, besides, a most beautiful, blessed, native-born noble Irish woman of adult age whom I baptized; and a few days later she had reason to come to us to intimate that she had received a prophecy from a divine messenger [who] advised her that she should become a virgin of Christ and she would draw nearer to God. Thanks be to God, six days from then, opportunely and most eagerly, she took the course that all virgins of God take, not with their fathers’ consent but enduring the persecutions and deceitful hindrances of their parents.
Notwithstanding that, their number increases, (we do not know the number of them that are so reborn) besides the widows, and those who practice self-denial. Those who are kept in slavery suffer the most. They endure terrors and constant threats, but the Lord has given grace to many of his handmaidens, for even though they are forbidden to do so, still they resolutely follow his example.
Fourth Day Adventures 