HOPE.
Christmastime is known as the season of love.
For this is the time when disparities are set aside, and giving
is on everybody’s mind. The agenda is to give as many gifts as able, to help as
many people as possible, and to yes, love even the unlovable.
Christmastime is also known as the season of peace.
For this is the time when disparities are set aside, and harmony
is on everybody’s mind. The agenda is to live, even for just this time, in a
period with no war, no hate, no anger, no squabble, no bitterness.
Christmastime used to be known as the season of hope. For at this
time, disparities are set aside, because hurriedness is on everybody’s mind. The
agenda is to be as busy as possible, because Christmas is around the corner and
time is running out to finish the shopping, the gift wrapping, the baking, the
caroling and the list can go on.
To pause and reflect has now become a thing of the past, overshadowed by haste. It is almost unthinkable to slow down. It’s a race to get all the gifts under the
tree before Christmas eve!
Yes, Christmas is definitely about Love and Peace, but it is
also about Hope.
Yeah, what about HOPE?
It is all about slowing down, pausing and reflecting...
...in HOPE for the coming of Jesus our Christ and Lord, to redeem this world and to
restore his creation to the beauty that it once was; and in this we, his
children, will finally live with him in that perfect, beautiful home he has
prepared for us.
...in HOPE
that all the pain and suffering we see, feel, and even experience around us
will be brought before Him and be made beautiful.
Are you still in the spirit of expectancy for the coming of
Christ? Do you still desire His final redemption? Proverbs 13:12 remind us that
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
In a time when hope feels foolish and naive, or when hope is
overshadowed by the other urgent things, be reminded that Christmas is a
reminder of the HOPE God has given us. While it is the celebration of “God come near”, it is
twinned looking forward to His coming near, again, once and for all.
Christmastime is our yearly celebration of this HOPE.
So, be steadfast. Our hope is never in vain.
“Now hope does not disappoint, because
the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was
given to us.” (Romans 5:5 NKJV)
Hope on.
And “may the God of
hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may
overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
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