Devotion:
Read Romans 15:13.
It is interesting to me that of the four “gifts from God” we are focusing on during Advent, three of them are mentioned in this one verse: hope, joy and peace. Hope is our focus today as we worship together. The writer refers to the One we worship as “the God of hope.”
Think about what a life-giving force hope is. One way to do that is to think about its opposite: despair. It takes life out of us. We don’t want to go on. We lose motivation to do most anything when in the depths of despair. But to have even a glimmer of hope, we are motivated to keep going, to keep trying, to take another step.
God gives us this gift primarily through Jesus Christ. In him, we have an assurance that God loves us and can guide or even carry us through anything that confronts us.
Our focus this month is that God not only gives us these gifts, but that they are the kinds of gifts we can both keep for ourselves as well as give them to others. The image this writer uses is a container being so filled that it overflows. May you “overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Celebrate that you have the wonderful life-giving gift of hope. And think about who you know who most needs to receive that gift. Offer them the gift of hope and guide them to the One who is its source.
Personal Worship Option:
Consider this prayer: God of hope, I am so grateful for that most valuable life-giving gift. Help me to live as a person filled with your hope and help me gift it to others.
No comments:
Post a Comment