Embracing Advent: Hold on to HOPEናሙና

HOPE TOGETHER

Have you ever handed someone a gift on Christmas Day, but they refused it when you tried to give it to them?

I can’t even imagine carefully choosing presents for my family, wrapping them up with bows, and placing them under the tree — just to have everyone ignore the boxes on Christmas morning.

As we spend time this Advent season discovering the gifts God offers to us, we need to imagine our Father kindly handing them to us. And then, we need to receive them. 

One of the gifts he extends to us is HOPE. Hebrews 10 says that we should not just accept, but hold tightly to, the hope that God offers us.

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the HOPE we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. 

– Hebrews 10:23-25 (NLT)

But how do we hold tightly to this hope? The advice in these verses is to hold on to hope by spending time with others so that we can encourage one another.

It is hard to have hope alone. God knows that we need one another, which is why we are designed to be in community together. Right at the start of the Bible, it says in Genesis that it is not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). Whether it is in our marriages, families, friendships or churches, we are meant to meet together, motivate one another and encourage each other in our faith. We need to be there for one another to remind others (and ourselves!) that we have HOPE.

This Advent season, carve out a little time to get together with others to motivate and encourage one another. Maybe you can gather with a small group of friends for prayer and encouragement before tackling your to do list, or you can make plans to attend a Christmas Eve service where you can celebrate Jesus’ birth with others. (If you do not regularly attend a local church, don’t be shy to visit someplace new!)

Choose to be a part of God’s larger church family, knowing that your presence matters. Bring encouragement to someone… and receive encouragement from being together. Dig deeper into your community of believers. Let’s hold tightly — together! — to the HOPE we’ve been promised!