Certainty
God loves you. Of that, you can be certain.
As I write this, it is the first Sunday of Advent, the 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas when many churches observe a time of waiting -- waiting for the birth of Christ. It is traditional to light 4 candles in an Advent wreath symbolizing hope, love, joy, and peace. So I’ve been reading and thinking about hope.
I have heard quite a few sermons where the minister explains that the word hope as Christians use it is not the same as what we typically think when we say things such as “I hope she will like me,” or “I hope we have chocolate cake for dessert.” When we talk about the hope we have in Jesus, its meaning is almost the opposite. It is certainty. It is knowing. If you are ever interviewed by Oprah, when she asks her question, “What do you know for sure?” your answer is “I know for sure God loves me.”
Having that hope in Christ does not mean we never have doubts, or that we are never afraid, or even that we never feel hopeless. Sometimes when we are going through those times of doubt, uncertainty, fear, and hopelessness, our hope -- our certainty -- in Christ is based on something like a memory. We may not feel it at present, but we remember and remind ourselves that we have the certainty of Jesus’ presence in us and with us, that he loves us.
In her devotional about Advent hope, Sarah Bessey wrote:
Advent hope does what all truth does, it clasps hands with the past and the future. With one hand we reach back to the Prophets and remember the long, long wait for our Jesus to be born. And with the other hand, we reach forward to the second coming of Jesus with hope, the arrival that makes every word of Isaiah’s passage today* true across all of time and space.
I like that image -- like a kid between two of her friends, one behind and one ahead, stretching her arms to encourage the friend behind and holding on to the hand of the one ahead. That is what we are doing with our hope, our certainty, of God’s love. We remember the love we have seen in the past and we hold on to the love we know we have in the future.
May you know and remember the hope -- the certainty -- you have of God’s love.
* The passage Sarah referred to is Isaiah 11:1-10, a beautiful description of the world filled with God’s love.
Isaiah 11:1-10 (NIV)
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples’ the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
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What is this?? A while back, I had an idea. I was thinking of some friends I wanted to pray for, but I didn't have a specific thing to pray about on their behalf. I decided to pray that they would feel God's love. I decided to send them an email when I prayed, so they'd know and be encouraged. Then I thought about my many other family and friends who I would like to encourage with prayer, and decided to start this email.
Two things I try to do:
-- Encourage you with a reminder of God's love. My goal is to avoid anything where the response is "I should..." Just a short reflection of God's love.
-- Pray for you. I'll pray with each email, and please reply to me with anything you'd specifically like me to pray for you. I'll keep it confidential, don't worry..
If you would like to send me specific prayer requests. I will gladly pray with you. Email me at mavis at moonfamily.cc. I'll keep all communication confidential.