Twenty-Five Days of Christmas/ Daily Devotional (Day 10) Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter1:13). As we press on during this second week of this Christmas season or Advent, and as we continue to prepare for Christ, we set our hearts and our minds on the hope that we have in Him. Remember as we said yesterday, the hope that we have is not wishful thinking. Its not the attitude, I dont know if its going to happen, but I hope it happens. The hope we have in Christ is absolute and eternal because it is in Him and Him alone. He is worth more than all the wealth in the world. He is absolutely righteous, holy, and He is perfectly faithful. The hope that we set our hearts and minds on as Christians is a complete hope in Jesus. It is a confidence that what He promises He will do, what He starts He completes, and who He is will never change. We can count on God. We know that our hope is in Jesus, but how does our hope grow so large that there is no room for doubt, worry, fear and anxiety? Have you ever noticed that the Christmas season has the tendencies to become very stressful for many people? It is true. Instead of the “most wonderful time of the year” for many, Christmas has become the “most stressful time of the year.” Why? I believe it is because the expectation or the bar has been set so high that the fear of failure or disappointment begins to flood the hearts and minds of too many during this time of year. They want to get people what they want, and fear the disappointment of others if the can’t live up to those expectations. Oh how we have made Christmas something that it was never intended to be all because we have placed our hope in other things and other people. Christ alone is our future and our hope. I am reminded of the name it and claim it lie that is being taught today. Many tell us believe that if we give to God our health, time, money, and talent, then God will bless us right back in those exact same ways, but we forget what it is that the promises of God truly are when we think that they are physical and monetary. Can they be? Absolutely, but God blesses us so that He might be blessed by what He provided in the first place. God knows that there are earthly blessings we need and want, and God is the dispenser of those according to His will. But those are not His treasures. He wants us to be much more wealthy than that. True wealth is spiritual wealth and God’s blessings are spiritual blessings. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). There are things better and higher than material blessings, and God wants us to have the best. He wants us to have things that last; things that moth and rust won’t destroy. We were never intended to put our hope in monetary blessings, but instead in spiritual blessings. Blessings like the satisfaction of knowing that your sins are forgiven eternally, and the blessing of an eternal inheritance which is the blessing of a quality of life that is grounded in eternal fellowship with God. In Christ, God offers to give us spiritual blessings and crown us with glory and honor. The hope that we have is that God delivers perfectly and fully everything we need for our spiritual well being. God does what He says . . . delivers what He promises . . . establishing His sufficiency and power to supply everything we need so that we might bring Him glory. This is not about God giving us a few things to get us started. It is not like God pointing us in the right direction. It is not just a matter of giving us a few pieces of the puzzle and leaving us alone to figure it out. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3). The hope that we have is that Christ alone provides everything we need for salvation, for spiritual nourishment, for instruction for life, and preparation for His arrival and eternity with Him. Yes our confidence is that God supplies it all in Christ: Every provision; every instruction; every motivation; every reason; every promise, and every spiritual blessing. Lord, prepare our minds for action, and help us be sober-minded, setting our hope fully on the grace that was brought to us at the revelation of Jesus. Lord, help us to set our minds and hearts on the treasures of heaven so that what we store up will have eternal value for Your glory alone. Amen.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:10:16 +0000
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