Greetings in the name of the ‘light of the world’, Jesus Christ – THE Crucified and Risen Saviour! What a beautiful morning in the Kingdom…and I pray that there is beauty in your personal ‘kingdom’ today. I trust that your week had many delights and surprises that gave you reason to smile. I will be praying for you today, asking Father to fill your heart with anticipation and expectation of coming together with your Christian family to celebrate … this is the season of miracles!
Many thoughts stir my heart as I ponder this morning. I have made some observations this week that I want to put in my Advent 2014 journal. First, there are a lot of Christians who are playing games with God and his purposes. Ever since the days of the Garden in Eden, man has being playing “Hide and Seek” with many variations of ‘playing rules’. Many times they combine a form of “Tag” where they run away from God. I am not sure if you play, or have played, those games. I have and I have never won, not once! Countless God-followers in the pages of Scripture tried to play those games and God always found them…in the backside of the desert, in the watery deep while inside a whale’s belly, wallowing in their despair, while being busy serving Him, when actively opposing Him, in the temple praying so religiously, and on the hillside watching the sheep. God said: “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 23:24 NIV.
Second observation, there is a great need to maintain our traditions – like Advent wreaths and candles, and family gatherings, and the retelling of our shared history, and of making room for understanding other traditions, and of making room for God. I have been reading about Jewish traditions and how they support much of the Christian ideas. I learned about a ‘dreidel’ – a spinning toy for children that in fact carries the message – “A great miracle happened here.” I am learning more about Hannukah – being on the 25th of Kislev and the significance of ‘victory’ in the lives of God’s people. Incidentally, Hannukah begins at sundown next Tuesday and carries on to sundown on the following Wednesday.
Third observation, we have forgotten the futuristic vision of Christmas. Yes, we celebrate the birth of a special baby that signified God’s entering into a very needy world…but it is a reminder to live out the implication of what that child lived and died to teach us. However, it is also a time of preparing for the return of that ‘baby’ as a mature and confident King to a world filled with darkness and evil…needing a conquering King. Maybe this is simply a new variation of hiding from God.
Fourth observation – the weekend is coming…enjoy and be blessed!