A Hope Eternal - Advent DevotionalSampl

During the school year, I love driving my kids to school. Most mornings, we manage to discuss a few important things: the school lunch menu, the Dallas Cowboys, and the importance of showing up and giving it your best for the day. I cherish these moments with my children because I know someday soon, they’ll prefer to drive themselves to school. My heart swells with affection for them. I want them to feel loved by their daddy, and I want them to feel love for their daddy.

Upon taking your first tour through the Book of Deuteronomy, it is possible to conclude that God’s love for you is entirely dependent upon your ability to obey His commandments. That rationale goes something like this: If you can do the right things, then God will love you. And the opposite would be equally true: If you do the wrong things, God cannot and will not love you. As believers and followers of Jesus, this sounds silly. But many of us (including me) still follow Jesus as though this were true—a works-based, Gospel-less mindset and posture. When we live like this, our joy is only as real as our perception of God.

Yet, when we consider the true message of the book of Deuteronomy, we begin to see the incomparable nature of God’s covenantal love. In its context, this verse reminds the people of God that His covenantal love cannot be undone. God’s faithfulness to His people and His love for His people are anchored in His character, and our capacity to obey doesn’t change the way He sees us or thinks about us. When we believe this, our joy is cemented in the reality of a God who is gracious, steadfast, and always loving.

God’s love for us is further demonstrated in the spectacular arrival of Jesus Christ upon this earth. God takes steps towards you, over and over. His fatherly affection for you does not relent. When we understand His love and grace in this way, our hearts and minds are motivated to obey. We obey God because He loves us. We obey because he is holy and worthy. Jesus Christ invites us into the joy of Christmas and the eternal, perfect love of the Father. This Advent season, let us find joy in the grace and love that the Everlasting Father has shown to all of us whom He calls His children!

Prayer

Dear Father, You are great and glorious. Thank you for showing me Your steadfast love. Thank you for showing me complete and total love—love that is not dependent upon what I do or don’t do. Father, thank you for sending your Son Jesus Christ to be born. He is the promised Messiah and the resurrected King. Help me live as a joyful disciple dependent upon Your Holy Spirit. Help me to live as a messenger of the Good News of Jesus. I love you, Lord. I pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Jason Davila, D.Ed.Min., serves as an adjunct faculty member for the Regent University School of Divinity.