Five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty…ninety-five, one hundred…Here I come, ready or not. Of course, that’s the way our familiar game of Hide-and-Go-Seek begins. I wonder if God said those very words about 2,000 years ago as He entered our world on that first Christmas Day?
The pastors and Sunday School teachers had been teaching the Bible where it says that a Messiah (God’s Rescuer) was coming. One group called the Pharisees loved God so much that they wanted to be sure they obeyed all of God’s Laws. They were so focused on their behavior to honor God that they had grown out-of-touch with God’s Heart, so they weren’t ready. Another group called the Sadducees wanted to have all their beliefs and theology (which means “the study of all things about God”) exactly right, so they weren’t aware, nor ready. Another group called the scribes and the priests were too concerned with their religion’s place in society, with preserving their traditions, and with their status among the people, so that they weren’t ready. Joseph, Mary’s fiancée, wasn’t ready; it took an angel to convince him. The regular person living in that day wasn’t ready either. Too much time had gone by with too much confusion about God and when His Promise to Come and deliver their nation from the Romans who ruled them would come true.
Each year we do many things to GET READY for Christmas. We buy gifts, prepare meals, go to parties, travel to gather together with loved ones in the family, and more. Sometimes, in all our getting ready for Christmas, we aren’t so ready for the remembrance and celebration of the what, why, and how of Christmas, the promise that the God Who came in history as Jesus, comes to us each day, and will one day come in the future.
The four Sundays and weeks before Christmas Day, we call The Season of Advent. Advent simply means “a coming into view”, or “coming into being”, or “arriving.” God’s Advent means His coming into being (arriving) on our Earth as Jesus. In other words, Jesus is God’s Advent.
Luke 2:10 records the angel speaking to the shepherds about Jesus’ Coming saying, “I bring you GOOD NEWS of a GREAT JOY, which is for ALL PEOPLE.” What is that JOY the angel announced? That God was not content to be a concept, like we simply acknowledge there must be a Creator because there is so much design and beauty. The JOY is what great lengths God went to so that we could know Him personally. What kind of God leaves heaven to pursue us sinners? Our God.
This is not a fairy tale; it does not begin, “Once Upon a Time…” Our God became a fertilized egg in the womb of a poor teenager. Any concept of God as a dispassionate observer of our lives here on earth is smashed to pieces with God’s Advent…Jesus.
How can we prepare our hearts for Christmas? By observing The Advent Season, which begins November 29th, the Sunday of Thanksgiving Weekend; so, it can sneak up on us. I wrote a Family Advent book to capture the season as a family. I commend it to you. It also is an inexpensive gift to campaigners, leaders and Committee. God’s Blessings on your Advent!
Order at Saltresources.com or the YL online store.
Written by: Ty Saltzgiver