A Time for Hope - Advent Devotions 2019
Tuesday, December 24 - Pastor Aaron Erdley
Psalm 119:81 My soul languishes for your salvation; I hope in your word.
Hopes and dreams change as we grow and mature. As a child I can remember getting ready for Christmas and hoping for a new bicycle or other times hoping that one day I would be a famous singer or play soccer in the World Cup. As I’ve grown, my hopes have turned to more practical things like hoping for a job that I enjoy, a healthy and happy family, and people around me who love and support me. I’ve been fortunate to know those things most of my life and they are still things that I hope for the future.
Christmas is a time of hope, and of gift giving and receiving. We hope for certain things, and all too often end up returning items that aren’t the right size or color, or that simply aren’t something that we would use. We hopefully say thank you for the gifts that we receive, but we too quickly move on to what is next and our hope turns too quickly to something else. This Christmas savor the moments of hope. But, not hope in gifts or a season of the year; we live in the hope of forgiveness and new life that began with the gift of God’s Son. The gift of Jesus Christ gives us hope for today and for the future. Jesus is God’s gift of love intimately given to the world, and the only thing that can truly bring hope to our lives. May we live and share the hope God has blessed us with.
God of hope, fill us with peace and gratitude in this Christmas season, and use us to bear your word of hope to the world. Amen.
Psalm 119:81 My soul languishes for your salvation; I hope in your word.
Hopes and dreams change as we grow and mature. As a child I can remember getting ready for Christmas and hoping for a new bicycle or other times hoping that one day I would be a famous singer or play soccer in the World Cup. As I’ve grown, my hopes have turned to more practical things like hoping for a job that I enjoy, a healthy and happy family, and people around me who love and support me. I’ve been fortunate to know those things most of my life and they are still things that I hope for the future.
Christmas is a time of hope, and of gift giving and receiving. We hope for certain things, and all too often end up returning items that aren’t the right size or color, or that simply aren’t something that we would use. We hopefully say thank you for the gifts that we receive, but we too quickly move on to what is next and our hope turns too quickly to something else. This Christmas savor the moments of hope. But, not hope in gifts or a season of the year; we live in the hope of forgiveness and new life that began with the gift of God’s Son. The gift of Jesus Christ gives us hope for today and for the future. Jesus is God’s gift of love intimately given to the world, and the only thing that can truly bring hope to our lives. May we live and share the hope God has blessed us with.
God of hope, fill us with peace and gratitude in this Christmas season, and use us to bear your word of hope to the world. Amen.