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<\/a>There\u2019s no question that Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I have long memories of Christmases past. Perhaps, unfortunately, it\u2019s been many years since I felt the supreme joy of anticipation that my grandchildren experienced last Friday. Christmas should be a time of anticipation, but for too many of us, it\u2019s a time of running around purchasing gifts (many entirely unneeded) and getting ready for the big day. At this stage of life, my job is not so much to enjoy Christmas as to help other people enjoy Christmas and build the memories my parents gave to my brother and me. Frankly, that\u2019s fine with me.<\/p>\nAnticipating Christ<\/strong><\/p>\n The Babylonians conquered Israel sometime between 587 and 6 BC. Four hundred years passed before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Judea\u2014four hundred years of waiting. To put this into perspective, the United States of America is only about 250 years old. Imagine if we had been dreaming and anticipating freedom from the British Empire for 400 years. How many of us would remain hopeful that God would enable our nation to regain its independence?<\/p>\n One of my favorite passages in the Old Testament is quoted by Peter in the New Testament: \u201cA thousand years in your sight<\/strong> are like a day that has just gone by,<\/strong> or like a watch in the night<\/strong>\u201d (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8). Last Sunday, the preacher in the worship service we attended decided to preach on the Second Coming of Christ. I thought it was an odd choice, mainly since he spent his time defending a dispensational interpretation of the New Testament text from Thessalonians. It seemed to me that the first Sunday of Advent ought to be about anticipating the First Coming of Christ. Nevertheless, the sermon made a point: Just as the Jews had to anticipate the coming of Christ for a long time, and just as children have to anticipate Christmas, sometimes we have to wait and anticipate the coming of Christ into our own lives.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve mentioned before that I wouldn\u2019t say I like waiting. I rarely go to any restaurant where I must wait in line. It takes a family member insisting we go there to make me stand in line. I wouldn\u2019t say I like standing in checkout lines at the supermarket, which I often do. I wouldn\u2019t say I like standing in lines buying Christmas presents, something I\u2019ve had to do recently. I haven\u2019t had to wait 400 years for anything, but I\u2019m sure I would find it stressful!<\/p>\n No matter how little we enjoy it, we all must wait for God from time to time. There are prayer requests that need to be answered, opportunities that never seem to arise, conflicts that seem never resolved, and problems that never seem to be solved. When this happens, and we have to wait, often we lose hope and the joy of anticipation. We lose the faithful anticipation that God will act on our behalf.<\/p>\n Christmas and Waiting<\/strong><\/p>\n Christmas reminds us that this is a short-sighted mistake. It is part of our fallen human nature and our inevitable human anxiety about our future. We can\u2019t know when God will solve the problems we are concerned about. We suspect that it may not even be in our lifetime. And, our fears are justified. Nevertheless, scripture reminds us that God hears our prayers and is in the business of answering all our prayers sooner or later.<\/p>\n When you get to be 70 or older, many of your worries are about your family and its future. I know most of mine are. No one can look at the condition of our world and not suspect that difficult times lie ahead. On the other hand, there\u2019s no point in human history in which this was not true. There have always been wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:6-7). There have always been times of economic dislocation, bad government, oppression, and other human suffering. Most nations, unlike the United States, have suffered times in which they were invaded and held hostage.<\/p>\n As a college student many years ago, I was on a train from Luxemburg to Switzerland. Sitting beside me was an elderly gentleman, a French schoolteacher. Twice in his lifetime, the German army crossed the border and entered into his country. As we talked, he reminded me that we Americans often cannot understand our world because we have not had to suffer some of the problems other nations have suffered. Before recent years, the vast expanse of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans protected our country from invasion or war. The nuclear age has ended our geographic safety, but we have not yet suffered an attack, conquest, and servitude. Those nations who have, and those people who have suffered as the ancient Jews suffered, look at the world differently. They look at the world much more the way the ancient Jews looked at the world.<\/p>\n Waiting Like the Ancients<\/strong><\/p>\n Perhaps this Christmas, as we wait for our annual celebration of the coming of the Messiah, it would be a good idea for us to practice Holy Anticipation. Holy Anticipation is not a na\u00efve anticipation. It is not the anticipation of a child that believes their parent will solve all their problems. It is not the anticipation of an immature person who believes things will be OK without me doing anything. Holy Anticipation is that anticipation that allows us to go about the business of living wisely and loving others, in the name of Christ, not knowing exactly what the future will bring, but anticipating that in the end, everything will turn out as God wishes to turn out, and therefore for good.<\/p>\n It is that anticipation that Paul speaks about in Romans<\/u>:<\/p>\n I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.<\/strong>\u00a0For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God\u00a0to be revealed.\u00a0For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,\u00a0in hope\u00a0that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay\u00a0and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.<\/strong><\/p>\n We know that the whole creation has been groaning\u00a0as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.<\/strong>\u00a0Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit,\u00a0groan\u00a0inwardly as we wait eagerly\u00a0for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.\u00a0For in this hope we were saved.\u00a0But hope that is seen is no hope at all.\u00a0Who hopes for what they already have?\u00a0But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.<\/strong><\/p>\n In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit\u00a0himself intercedes for us\u00a0through wordless groans.<\/strong>\u00a0And he who searches our hearts\u00a0knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes\u00a0for God\u2019s people in accordance with the will of God.<\/strong><\/p>\n And we know that in all things, God works for the good\u00a0of those who love him, who have been called\u00a0according to his purpose.\u00a0<\/sup>For those God foreknew,\u00a0he also predestined\u00a0to be conformed to the image of his Son,\u00a0that he might be the firstborn\u00a0among many brothers and sisters.<\/strong>\u00a0And those he predestined,\u00a0he also called;\u00a0those he called, he also justified;\u00a0those he justified, he also glorified<\/strong>(Romans 8:18-30).<\/p>\n There are just a few weeks until Christmas. Let us begin by anticipating Christ’s special entrance into our lives.<\/p>\n Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This weekend, we celebrated Thanksgiving with four of our five grandchildren. It was a wonderful family time together. We were in the hotel where one of our children was staying on Friday evening. It was the day that this particular hotel lit its Christmas tree and had Santa Claus attend the lighting. All four grandchildren … Continue reading Holy Anticipation<\/span>