Photo by Jerry Kiesewetter on Unsplash
Dear Servants of the King,
Happy New Year! True … we’re barely past Thanksgiving and Christmas is still a few weeks away. But, it is “New Year!” The first Sunday in Advent is also the first Sunday in the Church Year. So “Happy New Year!”
The new year is always a time to look back and remember the past year … remembering the “good old days” as we get together with friends and relatives. We also look to the future, hoping for better times ahead … especially if the past year was filled with difficulty and challenge. We might make … and even keep … a few resolutions to help make our hopes come to fruition. Some of these hopes will be realized … some will transform into other hopes … some will simply fade.
Advent is a season in the church where we wait for the coming of Christ and the hope He brings with Him. For many in the world, the focus of the waiting is Christmas Day. However, for Christians, the true waiting is not for Christmas … Jesus has already been born. The true waiting is for His return. As we wait, we hope. In His return, Jesus will deliver on the hopes Christians across the ages have had and still have. We live in hope, knowing He’ll establish His kingdom and His new creation once and for all here on earth. And He’ll bring all who believe Him and His promises with Him to live for eternity in this place we can only imagine through God’s Word and promises.
In some ways we’re a lot like Saint Paul, the writer of 1st Thessalonians. In Paul’s day, 2000 years ago, the Thessalonians rapidly converted to Christianity through Paul’s Spirit-inspired teaching. Unfortunately, this rapid conversion caused intense persecution by those who felt threatened by the gospel. Paul was forced to flee. And he worried constantly about the faith of those he left behind. He longed with all his being to visit them again in order to bolster their faith. He says, “We pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face…” (1 Thessalonians 3:10) As they waited to see if Paul could make it back to them (he isn’t able to by the way), Paul also urges them to remember Jesus’ promise to return. He encourages them by praying that God “may establish your hearts in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.” (1Thessalonians 3:13) He exhorts them to maintain hope in Jesus’ promise to return and bring them into His eternal kingdom, free from the hardships they face in the world.
As we live in faith in the world today, it doesn’t seem like much has changed. We’re still here, waiting. We might even wonder where God is and what’s taking Him so long. But, we also have hope in His promise, knowing He’ll return. Torn between our desire for immediate results and our hope for what awaits us, we wait. God has promised to save us. Jesus, born over 2000 years ago on the first Christmas, will return again to save us. And when He does, our hope will become our reality. Happy New Year!
In Hope,
Pastor Jim