Advent 2024 - Peace

Devotion for the week...

It's the second week of Advent! Are you finished decorating for Christmas? Ours is done, and now I'm starting to think about making some cookies to have on hand. We don't usually have much company in over the holidays, but I still like to have lots of cookies ready just in case (mostly because I like to eat them, too 😆).

Last week, for the first week of Advent, we considered the hope Jesus brings. This week we're looking at the peace He brings. As we see everywhere at this time of year, the prophet Isaiah wrote:

For a child is born to us,

    a son is given to us.

The government will rest on his shoulders.

    And he will be called:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). 

 

Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but you may have noticed that the world is still full of trouble. Thankfully, even the trouble isn't a surprise to God. In fact, Jesus told His disciples to expect it! "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

The other day I was listening to my Christmas playlist, which includes Casting Crown's version of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, and it felt perfectly made for this week's devotion. The poem that eventually became the classic carol was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the midst of the Civil War. It captures the disconnect between Christmas' message of peace on earth and the reality Longfellow saw around him. In the second last verse of the poem, Longfellow wrote,

"And in despair I bowed my head:

'There is no peace on earth,' I said,

'For hate is strong, and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.'"

Those words still ring true today, don't they? There doesn't seem to be much peace to be found and hate is still plenty strong.

Ah, but Longfellow didn't stay in despair! The last verse says,

"Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

'God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men.'"

That, right there, is the source of our peace. Even though all around us is madness, God is not dead, nor doth He sleep. We can have peace, no matter what trouble and sorrow we face, because we know that He is in control and that He "causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God." (Romans 8:28).

Advent 2024 - Hope

Devotion for the week...

It's the first week of Advent! As I type this, our house is a disaster with Christmas stuff in boxes and plastic totes all over the place. The tree is up and the lights are on it, but that's as far as I've gotten so far. Despite the mess, I love this process of getting the house ready for Christmas.

I also love the process of writing Advent devotions to get our hearts ready for Christmas. Jesus came to earth to bring us hope, peace, joy, and love, so we're going to focus on those four things this month. Today we begin with hope.

We listen to a radio station called The Joy FM, broadcast out of Florida. We've been listening to them for years, so we're very familiar with the on air personalities, and one of the ways they describe themselves is by saying they're 'real people, living real life along with you.' One morning a few weeks ago, that was very obvious. The morning crew, Dave, Bill, and Carmen, are usually very upbeat and funny, but as soon as I heard their voices this particular morning I knew something was wrong. Carmen sounded like she was barely holding back tears, and they were all very solemn. Turns out they had suddenly lost a friend the night before, someone who worked at a sister station and who had once worked with them at The Joy FM. You could tell they were reeling from the news, processing their grief even as they talked about their friend's faith and his love for Jesus.

The next week, the first morning they were back on the air after their trip for his funeral, they talked about how surprised they were by the first song played at the funeral. Glorious Day is such an upbeat song, it took them by surprise when it first started to play. Then they realized what a perfect song it is for a funeral because of the chorus, which says, "You called my name, and I ran out of that grave." It's a celebration of the incredible hope we have in Jesus.

Jesus was born as the baby we celebrate at Christmas so that He could become the sacrifice we remember on Good Friday, and the resurrected Savior we celebrate on Easter Sunday. Not only that, but because He died and rose again, we have the assurance that we won't stay in our graves, either.

"But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back" (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).

Unless Jesus returns first, the grave will someday claim us all. Thankfully, that's not the end of the story. For us and for all those who believe in Jesus, we have this hope: "And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died" (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

Set Free

Covid came to visit last week, so the week was almost a complete wash in terms of getting anything done. Thankfully I'm feeling pretty much back to normal, though if someone could stop my sinuses draining, that would be much appreciated.

Anytime I thought about the devotion for today, I thought of this one from a few years back. I know I've shared it a few times, but it's still appropriate, so I thought I'd share it again.

___________________________________________________________________________

Over the past couple of years, I've had a handful of times when I was sick over the weekend. Usually my weekends are jam-packed with things I need to do (house cleaning, groceries, etc.) and things I want to do (sewing, usually!), but on those weekends I've been sick I end up just sitting in a chair and accomplishing nothing. It drives me crazy! I feel like I have this huge list of things I should be or want to be doing and I can't do any of it. It feels like such a huge waste of time.

There's a brief story in the gospels about Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law...well, at this point Peter was still called Simon, so that's what he's called in these verses, but I'll be referring to him as Peter :) Luke records it this way: "After leaving the synagogue that day, Jesus went to Simon’s home, where he found Simon’s mother-in-law very sick with a high fever. “Please heal her,” everyone begged. Standing at her bedside, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. And she got up at once and prepared a meal for them." (Luke 4:38-39). 

That last sentence used to annoy me a bit. It felt like they only want her healed so she could get them something to eat. Isn't it funny how our minds interpret things, sometimes? Now that I'm older, though, I read that last sentence through the lens of those sick, unproductive weekends.

This poor woman had been sick with a high fever for who knows how long. She was stuck in bed, unable to do anything. Like me, she probably had a list in her head of things that needed to be done to keep her household running smoothly, and it was likely a lot longer than mine since she didn't have all the modern conveniences that I have. When I finally get over a cold, the last thing I want to do is just sit and relax. There is stuff that needs to be done and I can't wait to get at it. I imagine Peter's mother-in-law felt the same way as she got out of that bed.

Of course, when she was healed of her fever, she had company. What's the first thing we do when we have company? Offer food and a drink, right? That's exactly what she did, and I think she was relieved to be finally well enough to serve Jesus and her other visitors. She had been set free of the fever to finally get stuff done again!

So what about us? Whether or not we have been physically sick lately, we were all spiritually sick at one point and Jesus healed us by offering us forgiveness of our sins. By faith in Jesus, we have been healed and set free from sin. I think that, like Peter's mother-in-law, the best response to that healing is to get to work and serve Jesus.

Which begs the question, how do we serve Jesus? Is it only when we're doing church things? I don't think that's right at all. God made each one of us differently, with different talents and abilities. Read 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul compares the church to a body, where every part is needed because all of the parts are different. Not all of us can be preachers. Not all of us can be musicians (which you would know for sure if you ever heard me sing!). And not all of us can be children's church teachers. Some people are excellent business people, or good cooks, or good quilters! God can use all of those skills if we decide in our hearts that we are working for Him. 

Colossians 3:17 says, "And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father." 'Whatever'. That's a big word, isn't it? It means everything we do can be done in service to God, if we have the right attitude while we're doing it. And the right attitude is even described in the verse for us...'giving thanks to God the Father through him (Jesus)'. So, because of what Jesus has done for us (offering us spiritual healing and forgiveness of our sins), we are to be thankful to God, and we show that thankfulness by serving Him with everything that we do.

We have been set free to serve Him, just as Peter's mother-in-law was. She served him with food and drink. We serve him with everything we do.