Advent Devotional #4: Hope
“Is the love of God shed abroad in my heart?”
by Rev. Scott Chrostek from Almost Christmas: Devotions for the Season
I had a chance to sit in my four-year-old son’s school chapel service. During the welcome, his teacher asked the class full of jumpy children to “name one thing that you did today that you didn’t think was possible.” Feeling unsure of what my response would be, I was shocked by how quickly every single one of Freddy’s classmates thrust their hands into the air. Each one of them was so excited to respond. They all had something to say!
Has anybody asked you this question before? How did you respond?
The apostle Paul encouraged the earliest church to accomplish the impossible when he said, “Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us.” (Ephesians 3:20) Jesus encouraged his disciples to do the same thing when he said, “I assure you that whoever believes in me will do the works that I do. They will do even greater works than these because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12).
Christ’s followers should strive to be people who do things that are considered beyond the realm of possibility.
John Wesley asked, “Is the love of God shed abroad in my heart?” This is a question of impossibility, that the love of God would reside in our heart, and yet we know that the impossible is God’s specialty. What else is the Incarnation, the birth of Jesus we celebrate at Christmas, than the impossible event of God becoming human?
God is anything but predictable. God is always surprising. He comes to us as a baby, offers us life in death, says that in giving we receive, the first are last, the lost are found. God has a propensity for the unexpected and longs for us to see this. Time and time again, Jesus assures us that we have the power to do the things that God does. Paul tells the early church that we can accomplish the unimaginable. Our life together as followers of Christ is rooted in believing this. To live a life of faith is to live a life that seeks to love others in ways that are beyond possible, in the same surprising way that Jesus first loved us.
We are to live like Christ, who entered our world humbly as a child born in a manger, whose arrival was announced first to shepherds watching their flocks instead of to princes and rulers.
Live like Christ, who engaged people, all people, no matter who they were, saying, “I love you and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Live like Christ, who invited people to experience his love by saying, “Follow me.” Christ didn’t say believe in me, trust in me, understand me, or defend me. He simply invited people, saying, “Follow me,” and they did, all kinds of people - fishermen, tax collectors, sinners, people of great faith, and people who had no faith at all.
If Jesus was anything, he was the kind of person who made everybody a little uncomfortable, because he absolutely loved everybody all the time, but especially those who were deemed unlovable.
The church is the living body of Christ. It is a group of people who live and love like Jesus, who don’t conform to the world, but are transformed by a love and unwavering devotion to the good news of Jesus Christ. It’s an eclectic community of people who compel others by their actions and who invite others with their words to come and see a love that is dumbfounding and contagious and makes us better.
Does your life reflect the genuine love-filled action of Christ - the humble, sacrificial, unconditional, surprising love of God?
The one born in the manger invites us to let our lights shine before others. He calls us to live lives of surprising visibility. He commands us to go out and be seen. Are you answering his call?
Reflection Questions:
What ways has God surprised you today, this week, this month, or this year?
What is one thing you have done recently that you didn’t think was possible? Where did you see God in that moment?
How does loving others like Christ create hope?