Advent: Who Owns Your Weight and Your Wait?

The longer I live, the more aware I am of the world’s need for a savior. News outlets broadcast this year’s madness of ISIS and North Korean Kim Jong-un, the mayhem caused by racial unrest and the thorny task of managing Ebola. Over the course of a lifetime, we have many opportunities to observe injustice, experience loss, and endure illness. It can be overwhelming.

The longer I live, the more aware I am of my need for a savior. I am confronted with the folly of seeking after idols, putting other’s opinions of me over God’s, and the futility of trying to fix myself. Over the course of a lifetime, I have had too many opportunities to realize the pervasiveness of my sin. It is overwhelming.

The cumulative effect of living can become a staggering weight. Do you, like me, often find yourself uttering, “Come, Lord Jesus, come?” Waiting–adventing–gets a little more intense and more urgent each year.

We share our strain and longing with all generations. The people in Jesus’ time had their own communal and personal struggles. In the midst of their difficulties, Savior Jesus breaks in. Matthew and Luke write this about His coming.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus,
because He will save His people from their sins. Matthew 1:21

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you;
He is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:11

Our Savior Jesus liberates us and the world in which we live. He frees us from the sin weight that we carry. He puts us back together into who we are meant to be. And by His amazing grace, He invites us to follow Him into the battle for this broken world. Let our Savior own your weight and your wait. In the name of Jesus, let us work and pray for God’s kingdom to come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.