It’s Christmas Eve and I’m sitting cozy and full in my
family’s living room. I’m wearing an
elegant green t-shirt I got this year.
It has a picture of an angel soaring and singing to the world about
hope, Hope that is swirled across the front of the shirt in glittering
gold. This year I don’t just want to
wear hope; I want to be like the angel, proclaiming hope.
And this year it’s been easy for two reasons. First, I see hope everywhere. Second, I see desperate need for hope
everywhere. All over I see God
faithfully pursuing people. I see Him
giving extravagant gifts in tiny moments.
In so many lives I see people on the edge of giving up, wanting to,
tired, struggling in the dimness of life to focus on truth. Truth that God is. That God cares. That though it seems long, God answers.
So here’s the theme of my Christmas cards and clothing and
my pleading prayers for my friends and my world:
Moments after the need for a Savior broke our bloodline, God promised that the Serpent would be crushed by the Seed of the Woman. More prophecies came here and there along the way. Maybe Eve thought her firstborn would be the one. Maybe Abraham thought in his own day he would see salvation. Hebrews 11 runs through their names like a chant of people road-worn but promise-serving. God was good to remind them each He had not forsaken them, that He was still near and still powerful even though the great fulfillments lay over the horizon. These all died in faith, not receiving the promises, but duly honored in the memories of God’s people for faith in the God who is worthy, the God who does reward those who diligently seek Him.
Moments after the need for a Savior broke our bloodline, God promised that the Serpent would be crushed by the Seed of the Woman. More prophecies came here and there along the way. Maybe Eve thought her firstborn would be the one. Maybe Abraham thought in his own day he would see salvation. Hebrews 11 runs through their names like a chant of people road-worn but promise-serving. God was good to remind them each He had not forsaken them, that He was still near and still powerful even though the great fulfillments lay over the horizon. These all died in faith, not receiving the promises, but duly honored in the memories of God’s people for faith in the God who is worthy, the God who does reward those who diligently seek Him.
4000 years go by between Eve’s fatal bite, deceived by the
whispering of the enemy of God. And one
of my favorite parts of the Christmas story is the glimpse we get into the
lives of people around them: people too soul-poor to quit hoping for the
Savior, no matter how long He took to come.
Simeon the prophet waits in the temple for his eyes to see the light of
the world in human flesh. Anna meets
Jesus and then the old widow runs to a group of people – what was this group
like?? – who had been waiting.
Waiting. After 4000 years of no
Messiah yet, they dared to wait.
And Jesus came. The
song says “the weary world rejoices”.
Jesus did come. After all. It had been so long that some forgot. That those who remembered were so tempted to
doubt God wouldn’t come through. But He
did. Because He so loved the world.
Hope is like that. After
a long time of not happening, something finally does. Be on the watch for it.
Merry Christmas!
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