Here we are at the beginning of the Advent Season. Advent is, of course, that season – that period of about four weeks immediately before Christmas where we turn our hearts and our thoughts toward the coming of our great King, our loving Savior. It’s a season of waiting, anticipating, and really longing for His coming, preparing to receive Him anew as we celebrate His birth and as we eagerly look ahead to the final return of Christ to earth. What a season of hope and joy, really!
And, it’s a season that is common to all believers around the world – all of us waiting, anticipating, and longing to experience the birth of our Savior at Christmas time and longing for Him to return to earth once again and triumph over the enemy – defeat Satan, who is present everywhere in this world trying to keep all of us from being faithful followers of Jesus. We long for that final victory because we know that final victory will change everything.
But the question before us is this: how will we fill the days of Advent? If we are truly getting our hearts and minds ready to experience Christmas and celebrate His birth rightly – offering Him our heartfelt thanksgiving, how are we going to do that?
In our North American culture, we have many traditions that have developed around Christmas, don’t we? Decorating for Christmas, baking for Christmas, shopping for gifts to give at Christmas, wrapping those gifts, sending Christmas cards to family and friends, attending Christmas parties – and all of these things have the potential to be very good things – they can bless us and bless others as well. But we have such a propensity in North America to overdo – to get so caught up on these things that we miss His coming. We lose our focus on the Savior’s birth and trade that in for exhaustion, overspending, overeating, overdecorating, over–everything – indulgence of every kind. Anybody know what I’m talking about?
Why do we do that? Why do we choose to fall into bed exhausted on Dec 26 and wonder how we missed it?
There are probably many things that contribute to it, but two of the biggest reasons are these:
1. Satan deceives us into thinking that these things are the most important things. They are things we have to do… and not just half do, but to go all out? And we can go all out because of the second reason…
2. Our affluence – we have so many resources – putting it plainly, we have so much money! Compared to the rest of the world, all of us living in the US are indeed rich!
And, because we have so many resources, so much money, we spend it – especially at Christmas time!
Now spending money in and of itself is not a bad thing. But we need to remember that as children of God, all that we have belongs to HIM – which includes the money in our pockets, banks, and 401k’s – it all belongs to Him, and He entrusts it to us to be wise stewards of It – to spend it wisely. Not spending it all on ourselves or on things where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal as the verse from Matthew 6:19 tells us, but spending money on treasures in Heaven, on things that have eternal consequences. That means that our responsibility is to spend money on things that last and make a difference forever.
So what can we do, then, on this front side of Advent to prepare our hearts and our minds, to make sure that we don’t miss Him? That we experience with fresh eyes and open hearts each and every day of this Advent Season, the fullness of what it means that God sent His Son to earth as our Savior – to be born as a child in lowly stable, placed in a manger for His bed – that He came to be the sacrifice for your sins and my so we can live with Him forever? How do we make sure that happens?
There are three practical things I’d like to suggest:
1. Decide now what you will do and won’t do. And get rid of the guilt for choosing not to do some of the things that really are not part of God’s priorities. Make choices now and don’t be tempted to add-in. Guard your calendar and your time.
2. Be sure you are spending time every day, every day in Advent focused on His coming – really prepare your heart and your mind for that. Don’t miss it. First thing in the morning is usually the best time for it. Start your day in some kind of devotional reading and time of prayer that really centers on what Christ’s coming and His eventual return to earth really means to us as believers. If you have a regular devotional that you use, either set it aside or even better, add to it something specifically geared for Advent and the true celebration of Christ’s coming, of Christmas.
3. Consider how you will invest the money that God has given you. Will it be exclusively on you and your family? Will you give extra to the church? And what will you do with God’s clear mandate to us as believers to care for those that have nothing – to care for the widows and the orphans? How might you care for them?
Might I suggest that you consider giving gifts of bricks from GEMS’ Brick Campaign as a way to care for orphans. Each “brick” that you purchase will be used to build The Esther School in Zambia, for orphan and under-resourced children. Please watch the new video below and read more on the GEMS website.
The Esther School is a BIG undertaking – a big job! BUT we serve a BIG, BIG God, and He will make it possible through girls and counselors and women and families all across the world. We will build the school, brick by brick.
And isn’t The Esther School the very kind of thing that God calls us to do in this season of Advent and all year long as well? Isn’t this a way of honoring Christ with our actions, being obedient to His call to care for those that cannot care for themselves? I believe this is exactly the kind of thing that is acceptable to God – that pleases Him. When we get our eyes off of ourselves – stop thinking about what we want and what our culture tells us we ought to being doing, and look at a lost and hurting world and how we can make a difference with the many resources that He has made available to us – we delight God’s heart. To whom much has been given, much is expected. The Esther School – for such a time as this!
The Esther School from GEMS Girls’ Clubs on Vimeo.