...and a prayer

The world into which Jesus came was one filled with obstacles, oppression and lost hope. The government was Godless; cosmopolitan society had come with a foreign government. With it came cosmopolitan religion, which demanded tolerance of behavior and practices, and beliefs that were contrary and offensive. Some religious leaders had become corrupt and power-hungry; others simply misunderstood the God they worshiped. Though they had the promise of One who would come and deliver them, their hope in that promise didn’t look beyond their immediate physical needs. Believers were looking for One Who would come and overthrow the government, who would restore them to their former glory. They were looking for One who would come and change their environment.
The world into which Jesus will come is much the same. Our government seems to constantly re-interpret and change laws that limit our religious freedom. Our society is growing more tolerant of immorality and less tolerant of Christianity. Religious leaders fall like flies to temptation, corruption, and pride. National disasters dash our hopes and fuel the skeptic’s resolve. We grasp for hope while inside we question. Many feel abandoned. We are looking for a God that will protect us physically from the outside world.
God’s protection of us is so much bigger than the temporal. His control goes far beyond our immediate environment. Jesus came to earth to change people, to restore people, to save people. His kingdom is not of this world. He came to prepare us for it, not to prepare it, here, for us. We are able to endure our situation now because Jesus came the first time. We have hope because Jesus will come again.
This advent season, may we find our hope in the second coming of Christ. May we resolve to give others that hope. For the non-believer this event is one of doom. May we see the immoral, offensive, oppressive, blasphemous world as what it really is, the harvest field. May we walk into it with the love and hope in Christ, the evidence of things unseen.