This year I was asked to write an advent devo for our church. I thought it would be nice to share it here!
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“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’
(which means, God with us).” -Matthew 1:21-23, ESV
I’ve always loved Christmastime. I love the music, the decorations, the lights, the cozy weather. But most of all I love the excitement and anticipation that fills the air.
That sense of expectation is what this amazing moment speaks of in the above passage when an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and speaks the fulfillment of the prophecy first proclaimed hundreds of years before in Isaiah 7:14.
The Message version reads, “This would bring the prophet’s embryonic sermon to full term.”
I love that a pregnancy metaphor is used in describing this very prophecy and its fulfillment—of the pregnancy of Mary and the birth of Jesus. For with both a pregnancy and a prophecy one awaits the delivery or arrival of a promise given.
If we are honest, much of our lives involve this same waiting.
We have been given the promise of something to come—eternal life with Jesus Christ and yet we wait for its fulfillment to come. In between salvation and eternity lies our journey of sanctification. It’s a journey not unlike pregnancy. It’s one in which we are stretched and grow in relationship with Christ, it’s one in which we wait in eager anticipation for all the fulfillment of the promise to come, and yet it’s one in which we experience some aches and pains along the way.
In my own life certain health issues have caused my share of aches and pains over the last fourteen years. My faith has most certainly been stretched, and yet it’s the very thing that has pulled me through, helped me to stand, and given me hope for that which is to come.
On this Christmas Eve night, when the excitement and anticipation of the season is at its peak, would we soak in this feeling, would we carry it with us throughout our journey, and would all our aches and pains and stretching along the way be a reminder that we are being prepared to receive the fulfillment of the prophecy, the delivery of the promise, that lies ahead.
James 1:4 is such an appropriate reminder of this truth: “So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”
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Hi, I’m Meredith Collier. One of my favorite Christmas memories is caroling with the other children in our neighborhood. {To be quite honest, I’m not sure who we actually caroled to as pretty much all the families in the neighborhood were with us!} It is such a beautiful picture of community doing that which we are called to do as we abide in Jesus Christ throughout this journey of our lives—to sing songs, to celebrate, to rejoice and to praise Him along the way.
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May God’s Spirit fill you with the richness of His Word, the hope in His Truth, and the glory of His Son this Christmas… and all through your years.
{The sweet angel ornament pictured was given to me by a dear friend whose mom handmade it as a remembrance of our babies lost this year. It’s the most wonderful thought they they are in Heaven with Jesus Himself — in His perfect care until we join them one day.}
