Father,
It's Advent. It's
the time we celebrate something that we all would consider impossible if You
never told us that it really happened. God has taken on flesh and has walked on
this earth and lived a life like ours, dealing with all the good and the bad and
everything else. Impossible. And yet, true. Father, at Christmas we celebrate
one of your marvels, actually, the most astounding of Your marvels.
And then, there's
the reason why this marvel came to be: our sin. Humanity is, by nature, hostile
to You. Your Law is something to be despised. Your power, something to
disbelieve. Your character, something to be mocked. Your rule, something to be
rebelled against. How wicked! And yet, it is this humanity that You decided to
rescue at such great cost. Another marvel. If it had been up to us, we would
despise all such people and would make sure that they suffer the many aspects
of death in this life as well as the next. But that's not You.
You have come to
deliver from death. And You did that, again, by doing the impossible. You, God,
eternal deity, took on flesh so that it would be You who would suffer the many
aspects of death we had earned, and in this way deliver us.
Father, herein lies
the heart of our religion. It is filled with wonder and mystery and grace and
mercy and love. It's all about Your marvels. And it is simply amazing. We ask
that You would impress these things on our souls so that we would understand, to
some extent, what You have done. We ask that we would see this aspect of
reality more clearly so that we would live more wisely. We ask that You would
never let us forget what You have done.
It is our hope that
as You do impress these things on our souls that it would result in heartfelt
worship, a willingness to suffer for You, a deep and earnest love, an eagerness
to submit, a thoughtfulness about life, a thorough enjoyment of You through what
You have created and a lively hope for the age to come.
And as we celebrate
the first Advent, we look forward to the second. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Amen.