Illuminate Advent Намуна

Illuminate Hope Day 1 

Thank you for your participation in this Advent devotion. This is a collaborative project including the pastoral team at Catalyst Church in Bentonville, Arkansas. Our heart is that this can be a catalyst to help you celebrate the beauty of the Christmas season by bringing illumination to the real purpose, Christ.  This devotion can be a helpful guide as you walk through the advent season. This devotion will focus on the elements of hope, joy, peace, love, and Christ. 

What is Advent? Advent simply means coming into place view or being; arrival. There are literally dozens of historical and traditional ways that advent is celebrated. As Christians, we can use this advent time to highlight 3 key places that Jesus promised His coming. 

1. Advent can be used to highlight the suffering of the people of Israel throughout the Old Testament and prepare us for the coming of Messiah, Jesus. 

2. The second aspect of advent can be the coming of Jesus into your specific situation and life. 

3. The third aspect is to anticipate His second coming where He will rule and reign as King. 

We entitled this devotion “Illuminate” with a clear purpose. The word illuminate means: showing the way, visibility, to make clear, to display and to light up. In a time of year where Christ seems to get lost in all the holiday traditions, it is good to take time to clearly direct yourself and others to the light of Christ. In Christ, we have hope, joy, peace, and love and advent shines light on all of these. 

“This is Christmas, the season of perpetual hope.” – Kate McCallister from Home Alone

The first attribute of Christ we see in Advent is hope. Hope is defined as: a feeling that what is wanted will happen or that events will turn out for the best; to look forward with desire and reasonable confidence; to believe, desire, or trust. 

Hope is a driving force in human life that when present can change everything. However, hope in and of itself can lead to disappointment. When we discuss hope we must ask, hope in what or whom? Many people view Christmas as a season of hope simply because they think there is a magical piece to the holiday season. Many people practice religious traditions without the relationship with Jesus. This actually can leave us hopeless. 

It may seem odd that today’s devotion mentions the Genesis account of man’s fall from grace. This was done intentionally. We want you to revisit the hopeless state humanity finds itself outside of God’s direct intervention. Humanity chose to willfully sin against a holy God and left a huge gulf between us. This is not hopeful at all. In the Genesis account you read it mentions a hopeful promise from God to do something about the sinful state humanity is in.
 

Christ’s arrival offers a holistic response to the sin problem and can directly affect your life today and give you hope for a future in Him. This is the promise from God that we want to illuminate in this devotion. In Christ, there is hope for restoration of God and man. In Christ, there is hope for freedom from sin. In Christ, there is hope for eternal purpose for your life. In Christ, you have hope to live as a son or daughter of a loving and compassionate Father. In Christ, your religious traditions are overshadowed by a relationship with God. We pray that this devotion illuminates the knowledge of the Glory of God in your life today. 

Take Away: 

1. Carefully read through the Genesis account of the fall of man. Recognize the hopelessness that sin creates. Then look at the hope from God that is promised. 
2. Ask God to illuminate Christ to you in this season. Ask God to show you how your traditions can be redeemed to illuminate Christ towards others this season.