Advent - Hope

Come, Thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth Thou art;
dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.

The theme for the first week of Advent is Hope. Not only hope of the coming of the Baby Jesus, but hope in his return, His promised second coming. Jesus tells His disciples in John 14 that He is going to prepare a place for them and that He will return to take them there.

As Christians, we know that this world is not our home. Heaven is our true home. Yes, we are to live our lives here on earth and spread the Gospel while we are here, but this life is temporary. Our home in heaven is eternal.

For me, thinking about eternity is difficult. The only existence that I know is one that is marked by time, by the passing of minutes and hours and days. Eternity will not have minutes or hours or days. That's a difficult concept to grasp.

Yet I long for my eternal home. Why? First, it is there that I will be constantly in the presence of the Lord without all the distractions of this world. And second, because we will be reunited with our loved ones. I long to be with our first daughter. I miss my friend. I cannot wait to be with them again.

When the crap of this world gets us down, we have hope that this is NOT all there is. If not for the hope of eternity with God, how can we make it through the tough stuff of life? How do you face another day when you can't make sense of tragedy? HOPE. I don't know how a person can face another day without hope.

I encourage you to take time to reflect during this Advent season and not rush into all the busyness of the Christmas season. Reflect on what it means to have hope.