We are at the start of the time of anticipation, Advent, when we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ in our “world”. I am not talking about His being born again on Christmas….that was a one time event that happened about 2011 years ago....but of His coming again into our lives today. It is a time of anticipation because we know for a fact that He will come if we were to ask Him to. The trouble is that all too often we sit back and let things happen.
We may, in fact, have been born Christians because of the circumstances or the country where we were born or because we inherited our family’s beliefs but does that make us real Christians? I read this joke comment lately that sums it all up: If I was born a pig does that then make me a hamburger?
The main problem, it would seem, is that people are nowadays too time conscious and therefore haven’t got the time to wait….especially on God. It is as if we expect Him to deliver everything we ask for right now. A perfect reflection of our times.
And if He doesn’t deliver.... then we dispose of Him as we do everything else. Discard!
The short four weeks of Advent should teach us to wait on God in the sure knowledge that He is coming again for a meeting with Us! This alone therefore should give us a sense of hope and comfort, especially when we are down. Handel immortalised Isaiah’s words when he composed “Comfort Ye my people” in the knowledge that we really could live a whole day on a compliment because we actually do live in great isolation.
On a collective and personal level we need someone to look after us. We understand (blame?) the "hurts" that we recognise in our life as coming from frustrations of sorts and harp so much on them to make them seem worse. But we are then astounded to learn that our God will never allow us to enter an alley where there is no exit. God’s word…and that complment from our friends…..become our experience of faith.
My friend Carmen recently told me that faithfulness brings forth great results, even though we may not see it. Even the Saints, though they did not see the sign of victory right away, did not waver in the work that God had called them to do. "God is perfect" she told me. "God, being who He is, cannot cease to be what He is, and being what He is He cannot act out of character with Himself. Only as we have complete assurance that He is faithful may we live in peace and look forward to the life to come. Every heart can make its own application of this truth. The tempted, the anxious, the fearful, the discouraged may all find new hope and in the knowledge that our Heavenly Father is faithful."
