HOW would you answer the following
statement: To me, Christmas is ___________.
Maybe you have the first Sunday in
Advent in mind, and you would answer Hope, because that’s what the first candle
stands for. But then I would ask: Hope in what?
For a Christ-follower, it’s hope in
Christ. Hope in a blessed baby that God sent to save the world. His son sent to
us. God in the flesh, sent to redeem us, (although the actual redemption would
come later, at the cross).
But if you’re not a true
Christ-follower, what do you place your hope in? Mankind? That’s where atheists
and agnostics place their hope. I heard an agnostic on the radio recently,
talking about how he and others like him place their hope in community and the
goodness of humans. He doesn’t think you need God for that. Honestly, that
seems kind of silly to me, and it ignores reality. Mankind doesn’t have a very
good track record. And it seems to be worsening. My mom, who will turn 95 on
December 7, has seen a lot in her time. She lived through The Great Depression,
and said goodbye to her new husband (my dad) in 1942 when he sailed over to
North Africa and then faithfully awaited his return as he fought in a world war
on two continents for three-and-a-half years.
She’s lived through the Civil Rights
battle in this country, the Vietnam War riots, the leveling of the World Trade
Center on September 11, 2001 in New York City. And she told me several days ago
that she’s never seen it this bad—the anger, the hate, the malice, the
frustration, the impatience, the way people treat one another. I asked my war
history buff husband the other day if there’s ever been a time in history, a
century, where there hasn’t been any war going on. His answer was swift. “Nope.
There’s always been fighting going on somewhere.”
Maybe it isn’t any worse than it was
a hundred to two hundred years ago. Maybe it’s just because we have 24/7 news
now. News that’s always in our face and in our ears. News at the stab of a
finger on a mobile device that allows us to see ugliness like we’ve never been
able to see it before. Breaking News! flashes that scroll across the bottom of
our televisions, Amber and Silver Alerts that flash on our cell phones. But the
carnage and death and hate action all seem to be happening so breathtakingly
fast. It's no longer just happening "over there," but over here, everywhere. In our cities, primary schools, colleges, and businesses. And the hateful speech, the name-calling. The yelling rather than
respectful discussion. The ridiculous, unfounded labels people slap on others to make them
look stupid, ignorant, unenlightened, and out-of-touch. It makes me wonder if
some people have a vocabulary of ten or fewer words.
My point is that people do not seem
to be evolving in a positive direction. People on their own, left to their own
devices, that is. I’d be leery about putting my hope solely in humankind. Like
I said, their track record stinks.
Or maybe you put the word “love” in
the blank of that statement. Christmas is Love. Because that’s the second
Advent candle we lit yesterday, and that’s what comes to mind. You think of
Christ’s love for us, and the love we should have for our neighbor. After all,
this is a big season of Love. Of giving because you love, and organizations and
businesses inundating us with that message this time of year. Give, give, give!
And, while you’re at it, buy something for yourself. You deserve it. You love yourself.
But I think we lose a lot of
meaning in Advent if we focus entirely on a baby born in a stable. Yes, it’s
important to celebrate God’s gift to us demonstrated in the Christ child,
because it was a gift that gave us hope and love. But it wasn’t the giving that
gives us hope and love; it was the Gift.
The Advent candles recognize the virtues
of Christ.
It is Christ who gives us Hope.
It is Christ who gives us Love.
What atheists and agnostics forget, refuse to acknowledge, or refute is that it is God through His son Jesus Christ that
we can possess Hope. It is God through His son Jesus Christ that we can possess
Love.
Why do I say that? Because God said
it.
Some of the things God points out in
Scripture are:
“God is Love.”
“We love because He first loved us.”
“…love hopes all things.”
“Apart from me [Jesus], you can do
nothing.”
And what does He say about worldly
wisdom, like the atheists and agnostics boast of?
“The wisdom of this world is
foolishness with God.”
“The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
And in the very beginning, God said,
“Let Us create man in Our image.” If you believe that, then you understand that
His image is imprinted on each person born. The potential for goodness is
there, in each heart and mind. He’s the one who put it there. We didn’t do it
ourselves. God is good. Without Him putting that goodness in our hearts, we’d
be devoid of goodness. Unfortunately, some choose to ignore or refute that
truth. A truth that is pointed out much later in Scripture.
“For since the creation of the world
His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were
thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were
darkened.”
And just what is it that keeps
mankind doing any good at all in this world?
It’s God’s Holy Spirit working and
moving in hearts. It’s God directing events. It’s the love and mercy of God.
Without God there is no real love. Without God there is no true hope. Oh, you
can be hopeful, but for what? You see all of this turmoil and hate and death
going on around you, and your hope lies in changing it all, making it better. Well, that’s good,
but what about the end of time? Don’t you wish that justice would have a final
say? Don’t you kind of wish, and hope, that it will all work itself out for good
at the end of time?
And that’s what the atheists and
agnostics don’t address, or don’t like or want to talk about. If you don’t have
a God, then there is no one to work it out at the end of time. There is no
Christ returning to judge the world and all of its sin and injustice at the end
of this age. It doesn’t matter because, in the long run, hate and evil win. And
lucky are those of us who haven’t been used, tortured, run out of our country,
murdered unjustly, or discriminated against. It's too bad for the sufferers who drew unlucky numbers at birth. If the naysayers are right, and I'm wrong, all we can say to the sufferers is, "I'm sorry."
And don’t you hope for that isn't the case? Don’t
you hope for a perfect world? Not just for a future generation, but for those
who came before us and are already gone? Don’t they need some kind of
retribution exacted on their behalf? Or is this as good as it gets?
Of course, as believers in Jesus
Christ, we are relieved because we have faith in Christ, that He has already
paid the price for our sins. He has sat in our judgment seat and accepted the
penalty for us, and we have been released, without punishment. We can hope in
that perfect future, that perfect world because He is hope. We place our trust in Him.
Have you ever wondered what the
world would look like if God removed His loving Spirit from it? All you have to
do is read the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation to find out. It’s
horrifying. Scary. It’s a heartbreaking picture of the world and people without God. No love, no hope. And all of its ugliness is true.
We love because it’s His love
working through us. We hope because he instills that in us. We know the
end of the story, and that gives us hope. Christ imparts His virtues to His
people, and His gifts of Hope and Love keep us looking forward to a better time
and place, keep us acting, keep us working for good, keep us abiding in faith. Keep
us running the race, persevering. We can celebrate His first Advent and
joyously look forward to His second.
We are not great men and women. We have a great God who loves and puts up
with us. We have a great God who gives us second, third, and a thousand
chances. For now. But eventually that, too, will come to an end. It has to in
order for true justice to be served.
The evangelist Billy Graham had it
right with his response to a man who recognized him in an elevator and said,
“You’re a great man!”
“I am not a great man,” Reverend
Graham responded. “I have a great message.”
And that’s what Advent is all about.
A great message, for today and for the future.
A message of hope, love, joy, and
peace. Hope, love, joy, and peace that once came swaddled and lying in a manger
and that will one day return as a conquering King to right all wrong and rule
forever. A time to celebrate Who came and Who will come again!
Where would you be without hope or
love, now and in the future?
_____________________________________
So, until next Monday, may your week be
full of blessings that you receive and give, your heart be full of joy and
thankfulness, and your days be filled with laughter. Build a little heaven in
your life right now, and watch your heavenly garden grow!
Blessings,
Andrea
When the eyes of
the soul looking out meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right
here on earth. ~ A. W. Tozer
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