All of us have a deep need to be loved. We’re also terrified that we’ll be rejected. For many of us our search for love and our fear of rejection are the driving forces behind the story of our lives. One of the most incredible truths we find in scripture is that there is a God who both loves us fully and knows us completely. The good news for those who are searching for love is that love came searching for all of us.
We often go searching for joy and settle for happiness instead. Happiness is a product of the present, it’s a result of my current circumstances. Joy however is rooted in both the past and the future. In order to find lasting joy and not just momentary happiness we have to root ourselves in the faithfulness of God in the past and the certainty of what he has promised to us in the future. We can find joy by reminding ourselves that just as God was faithful in fulfilling his promise to provide a rescuer and redeemer he will also be faithful in fulfilling his promise to one day come again to renew and restore all that sin has broken.
We often go searching for joy and settle for happiness instead. Happiness is a product of the present, it’s a result of my current circumstances. Joy however is rooted in both the past and the future. In order to find lasting joy and not just momentary happiness we have to root ourselves in the faithfulness of God in the past and the certainty of what he has promised to us in the future. We can find joy by reminding ourselves that just as God was faithful in fulfilling his promise to provide a rescuer and redeemer he will also be faithful in fulfilling his promise to one day come again to renew and restore all that sin has broken.
Just the word is like a balm to our restless and weary souls. In a world filled with conflict and constant busyness many of us are desperate to find a little peace. At the birth of Christ, the angels came proclaiming “peace on earth,” and yet the earth seems anything but peaceful. However, just before his death Jesus doubles down on this promise of peace. In John 14:27 and 16:33 he promises that despite the troubles and tribulations of this world there is a peace available to us that transcends our current circumstances, a peace that can calm our fears, answer our anxieties, and steady our souls. A peace that only he can bring.
Just the word is like a balm to our restless and weary souls. In a world filled with conflict and constant busyness many of us are desperate to find a little peace. At the birth of Christ, the angels came proclaiming “peace on earth,” and yet the earth seems anything but peaceful. However, just before his death Jesus doubles down on this promise of peace. In John 14:27 and 16:33 he promises that despite the troubles and tribulations of this world there is a peace available to us that transcends our current circumstances, a peace that can calm our fears, answer our anxieties, and steady our souls. A peace that only he can bring.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote: “To live without hope is to cease to live.” As human beings we need hope, and yet so often what we end up placing our hope in disappoints us and lets us down. In a world filled with politicians, products, and people that don’t live up to the promises they make to us. In a time where the hope of perpetual progress seems to have been dashed; where can we find the hope we need? In Romans 15:1-13 Paul shows us how the hope we’ve been searching for is ultimately found in Christ. In him we can find a hope that will never fail, never disappoint, a can transform our lives and overflow out of us to bring transformation to the world around us.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote: “To live without hope is to cease to live.” As human beings we need hope, and yet so often what we end up placing our hope in disappoints us and lets us down. In a world filled with politicians, products, and people that don’t live up to the promises they make to us. In a time where the hope of perpetual progress seems to have been dashed; where can we find the hope we need? In Romans 15:1-13 Paul shows us how the hope we’ve been searching for is ultimately found in Christ. In him we can find a hope that will never fail, never disappoint, a can transform our lives and overflow out of us to bring transformation to the world around us.
Hope, Peace, Joy, Love they aren’t just words, they are deep needs and longings that live inside every human heart, longings that only find their ultimate fulfillment through Jesus. If we are truly going to experience the hope, peace, joy and love that Christmas promises it is going to require us to choose to recognize the baby’s whose birth we celebrate as the Saviour and King.
When Joseph became aware of Mary’s pregnancy, he had a choice to make. His first impulse was to quietly divorce her. This decision was noble because it would have prevented Mary from experiencing the punishment required for adultery. God intervenes and gives Joseph a message to still proceed with their marriage even though he is not the father of the child. Joseph had another decision to make. What are some of the lessons we can learn from Joseph’s choice to love Mary and obey God?
It is easy to look at Mary’s song of praise through the lens of history and take for granted her joy at being chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. Looking through the lens of that moment however, as an unwed mother, having to explain to the man she was betrothed to that yes she was pregnant, but no she hadn’t been unfaithful, it took choosing to see beyond her present circumstances to rejoice. Yet rejoice she did because, despite the difficulties that faithfully trusting God may have brought into her life, the blessings of being chosen by Him and used by Him far surpassed the momentary difficulties she would experience. Mary was able to have joy because she chose to see the bigger picture of what God was going to do in her, through her and for her through the child she would give birth to, the fullness of which we will see when Jesus comes again.