We’re in waiting. We wait for the coming, the coming of Christ, the Christ-child who offers the world the greatest gift ever known to mankind, the gift of eternity.
Today we walk into the season of Advent, a word literally meaning 'coming,' the coming of Christ. And I have a question for you; how will you spend this time waiting for the coming of the Christ-child?
The world will wrestle with you until you walk right to your Christmas tree that miraculous morning. You’ll fall in exhaustion after what seems like a blur of bustling, hustling and haunting cultural messages to ‘buy more’. But you’ll have missed the opportunity to wait for the coming of Christ!
Because every time we focus on buying more, we’re actually selling out to a social standard that the Lord, our Savior, never intended.
You see, God sent Himself to heal the world knowing He’d ultimately sacrifice Himself to save every one of us who awaits His rising. And it all started when the world waited so many years ago, beginning with the stump of a tree, the Jesse Tree. Jesse, the father of King David, a king who was promised that the world would be saved through his lineage, began the family line we still celebrate today during Advent.
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—Isaiah 11:1-2
The God of all the heavens and earth knitted the coming of the Christ-child so perfectly into the history of the world, that every year I’m amazed all over again! His Old Testament promises fulfilled, prophesies perfectly orchestrated and genealogies generated the greatest gift of all time, the Christ-Child!
And what’s more amazing, is that Jesus Christ, born without the glitz and glitter of modern day Christmases, offers us the same perfect and personal gift that David’s lineage would receive and the Wise Men witnessed! All we have to do is unwrap it.
But, you see, today’s cultural Christmas rests on the revival of an economy, the craft of consumerism and kids careening with costly gifts piled high under a tree, that’s lost its meaning someplace between the branches and that ancient stump of Jesse.
Culture drowns out the quiet coming of Christ, where real soul rest exists and the hope of eternal life saturates us with what Christmas is all about.
So, how then do we return to the quiet coming of a baby born in the mess and muck of a manger? How do we calm our souls run ragged with the hustle of a new-age approach offering no hope?
We take each of these twenty-five days and pause to find peace in the pace. We take mindless hustle and turn it into intentional hope. We dedicate the season to the Redeemer and we rest in the promises revealed in Old Testament prophesy born out of a stump…..resulting in a New Testament Savior!
Together let's revive a Christ centered ‘waiting’ in a culture of consumption! And let's do it every day for twenty-five. Make a daily conscious choice to take a perspective of patience and linger in a purposeful pause of the holiday's hasty pace. Transform the culture’s fast pace into a Christ-like peace. Meditate on promises only our Sovereign God could have orchestrated through a history so perfect it resulted in His story that saves us still today!
Wait patiently and peacefully, but wait with active anticipation! Yeah, live these twenty-five days in an active anticipation that draws you into the Word every morning, that inspires you to write verses instead of social media statuses and revives a fire in your heart for a faith in the greatest gift you’ll ever unwrap.
And, suddenly you realize that your God, the Giver, actually becomes the Gift. And from the stump comes a Savior….
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:23
Dear God, Giver of all things, You have wrapped up a history so rich for anyone willing to unwrap it! You orchestrated the perfect plan in history that still offers hope so that all we need to do is open our hearts to receive it. Now, at this time of year, when the world tries to steal the message of the coming Savior, remind us to pause our pace in this rat race! Guide us back to You in all we do so that, as we wait for Christmas morning, we diligently prepare our hearts and minds to receive Him all over again! Amen
This post was written for aNew Season Ministries, a ministry of women writers I am blessed to be a part of. Please visit us for more seasonal inspiration!
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