Advent - HOPE

If you really have to know, yes, I’ve made a few mistakes in my life. I know, it’s had to believe that a person in my position, (everyone thinks preachers are near-perfect), could make mistakes but I do. In fact I decided to keep track. Just for the record mind you. It was surprising what I discovered. I found out that . . .
You know I’m kidding. It would take too much memory on the computer to record them all. No one is exempt from making mistakes, getting things wrong or just doing something that offends or hurts someone else. At church one Sunday I put up my hand and asked the congregation if they might have made some mistakes in the past week. Some hands shot up while others were raised in a way you knew there was hurt and pain. When all hands were raised high, I had two things to say. They needed to know my hand was up first. Then I told them we are all in it together. Heard a line a long time ago that “of all the decisions we make in life, 50 percent will be wrong, but a preacher best do better.”
Last Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent. And for those who ventured out into the snow, you heard about Hope. In most cases the sermon would have wound around our hope of eternal life. A word about Christ coming to bring us hope of an eternal life in heaven. In the liturgical churches they may have learned that Advent is the time of year where we prepare for the ‘hoped’ appearing of the Christ child. The first candle is a symbol of the first flicker of light in a dark world.
The dark world gets the first glimmer of light and asks . . . What do you want for Christmas? Maybe this is where maturity shows itself. Our answers are different. We ask for toys as a child, clothes as a teen, needs as an adult and something far greater as we get older. I believe there is something else that goes along with hope and we find it in Col 1:27. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” There it is. Christ in you. When we accept Christ into our lives, we are changed. We become new people. Not different. Just better. And there is a hope that is far different. His presence gives us hope for our worldly future as well. It is a journey through time when we have the presence of Christ in us and we get better every day as we get closer to Him. This is supposed to mean making fewer mistakes but it also means that we make this world a better place.
As a small child, I looked up to my mom’s dad. I’m named after him. He was my hero and I wanted to grow up to be like him. When he came over to the house, I would always try to sit right next to him. I watched him, listened to him, tried to be like him and to know him just by getting closer and closer. As a young adult I went to see a couple of the men grandpa trained as engravers. Walking into their little shop Mr. Froget looked up from his work and said, “Hi Bill.” A number of years ago, while looking at a photo of him before he passed away, I noticed many physical similarities. Had I indeed grown to be like him?
That is my hope for each of you. That you are growing closer to the image of Christ. Will this mean we cease to make mistakes, hardly. But it may mean we make fewer and fewer as we mature in Christ. But there is only one way for all this to work. We need to get closer and closer to Him. Maybe that is why my life verse is, Phil 3:10, “That I may know Christ and the power of His resurrection.”
What is your hope this Christmas? The greatest gift we receive is the Gift of Christ in our hearts. Share the true gift as it is an eternal gift. Remember. It is Christmas in you not you in Christmas.
Something to think about
Rob