Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The Beginning of Advent...

Sunday, December 1, began the Advent Season.  While the retail world has been preparing their store displays for Christmas for several weeks now, pretty much since before Halloween, and they saw it begin with earnest on Black Friday, we see the Christmas Season as officially beginning Sunday, December 1, the first Sunday in Advent.  And as they see it as a chance to dramatically increase sales before the year-end, we see it as a chance to prepare ourselves again for the second coming of our Messiah. 
I love Advent.  It is a holy time of year for me.  A chance to reflect on God Himself becoming human, being born in the most unholy of circumstances.  Truly becoming one of us, even one of the least of us.  Yet inside, He was still fully God.  Living on the outside just as you or I might have, yet, pure and holy.  Our divine Lord. 
But not only do have the promise that He was coming, we have the promise that He is coming again.  And Advent reminds us of that.  And it gives us an opportunity to make ourselves ready.  Three quick ways to do this:  first, we identify with Christ by getting baptized and becoming a member of his church.  This shows that we are a part of His body, the church family.  We need to commit to him, and to his family. 
Second, we live by the qualities Jesus lived by while he was here on earth; these are love, humility, truth, and service to others.  In other words, we sort of role-play what Jesus would do if He were in our situation.  We try to become imitators of Christ, regularly asking ourselves, “What Would Jesus Do?” 
And thirdly, we watch ourselves carefully, so we don’t fall into any sin.  We work on our discipline, we become more self-controlled, we stand up to sin – we don’t give in.  We need to monitor this carefully, because sin starts with a tiny temptation.  We need to make sure we avoid any little thing that might open the door to sin.  When we work on these three things, we will be ready for his return.

William Coffin once said, “We have learned to soar through the air like birds, to swim through the seas like fish, to soar through space like comets. Now it is high time we learned to walk the earth as the children of our God.”  This advent season, make sure you’re ready for his return.  Make sure you’re walking as one of his children.  

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