Devotional Theme: The Advent Hope

Presented by Bro Matthijs Duyzer, Circuit Accountant
Video can be viewed on YouTube via the following link: https://youtu.be/Vn-6sRi6w4s

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, waiting is hard. Whether it’s waiting   for healing, reconciliation, or answers, it can feel like nothing is happening.
I often experience such a feeling if I’m honest. Since my retirement I’m    still in transformation to become a more patient person. I’m getting there but I admit, it is not my strongest virtue. Waiting more often then not feels like I’m being tested. That brings me to the question for myself but also for you who are listening: How can we wait well this season of Advent.?

Waiting is a transformative journey, a chance to reflect, to grow, to appreciate the beauty that unfolds in the pauses between our desires and their fulfilment. As the season encourages us to embrace patience, it prompts a deeper understanding on the profound lessons learned during the journey of waiting.

Today’s scripture text reads:
“But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently”.

The life of believers, then, does not consist of seeing the glory hoped for, but of persevering expectation. The actual situation is such that we do not yet see the glory. The persevering expectation of hope is a key theme throughout the New Testament. After all, it is about the future of us as believers.

The concept of patiently though active waiting is embedded in the spirit of Advent. Just as Advent calls us to actively prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth, the journey compels us to engage in active waiting.

Romans 8:25 speaks of the hope believers have in suffring: their longing for future glory far outweighs their present pain, because they know that God will raise their bodies to immortality and perfection, just as Jesus was raised. As we are true believers we must await with a longing that is stronger than our suffering, and we have the assurance that the Holy Spirit will work in us to confirm this hope, even in our groanings.

Christian hope my dear friends is not a maybe, but solid ground.
What we can already see, we no longer need to hope for, right?
Christian hope is the bridge between the past—what has happened, the suffering and resurrection of Christ from the dead—and the future—the longing for complete redemption. Deep down, it is true for all who have died in Christ in the hope of eternal life. That hope must alleviate all our suffering.
The hope we expect will one day become visible. And if I read Romans 8 correctly, all of creation will bear witness to that. That the hope of God’s children is not vain hope, but that all of creation will soon see what a child of God has hoped for. That God will show that the cause of His children was right and not in vain.

My beloved Brothers and Sisters, Christmas is approaching. Families getting together enjoying the Christmas time. We’re all getting excited and can hardly wait for the days to come.

Trust that your waiting has purpose, and that God is doing more than you can see or understand right now.
Trust that even in the silence between the flickering candles, there’s a divine plan unfolding.
Trust in the goodness that awaits and trust that light can pierce through the darkest nights.

So, let us this year eagerly await God’s promises. Though the waiting might made us weary, let our hearts not grow cold. Let us actively wait with an expectant heart and a trust that deepens our faith and gives us renewed strength to radiate, to beam more hope, peace, joy and above all love! Amen

Prayer:
Lord of the waiting, we wait because you are the one and the only one.
We wait for your peace and your mercy, for your justice and your good rule.

Give us your spirit that we may wait patiently and obediently with discernment, caringly
and without passivity, trustingly and without cynicism honestly and without perfectionism.

Lord of the waiting, teach us to wait with joy, not fear.
Help us to trust You in the silence and the stillness.
May our hearts be open and expectant, ready to receive all You have prepared. Amen.