Advent: Join the Triumph預覽

The Scripture:

"Then the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 'This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I told them, ‘I will give this land to your children and their children.’ Moses, I have let you see it with your own eyes. But you will not go across the Jordan River to enter it'” (Deuteronomy 34:4, NIRV).

The Story:

We started this devotional with a question: “Do you like winning?” Everyone said “yes,” and we all high-fived and did a backflip. But the truth is, we may all love winning, but we don’t always win. You can be on a great team, but at some point, you do lose. The same is true for life: a lot of good can happen, but there will be hard days. Maybe you feel that way around Christmas. Maybe you miss your friends over Christmas break, maybe you don’t get the toys you wanted, or maybe Christmastime brings up someone who is no longer with you. Those are hard things, and this verse shows us the hard parts of life and the Good News of God.

Moses leads God’s people out of Egypt and into the wilderness. Sounds like an awesome adventure – who wouldn’t want a wilderness exploration? The thing is, God’s people end up spending 40 YEARS in the wilderness. That’s not a typo: not 40 days, not 40 hours, but 40 YEARS. Why? Because God’s people needed to learn a few things before they went to the Promised Land, a land God had prepared for them to live in and make a home. The wilderness taught God’s people that they didn’t need more things: they needed God. Moses needed to learn this too, because he disobeyed and cared more about getting his way than being friends with God.

This story shows us we won’t always win. We will not always be perfect, and we will lose. We will sometimes care more about things than we care about God, and that feels a lot like losing. When we choose our own way, it leads to losing, but God’s Way leads to Victory.

The Triumph:

The Christmas Season is a time when people love things. They love presents more than they love celebrating Jesus. God wants to remind us that the point is not getting to the Promised Land or getting presents. The point is being friends with God. God is the Ultimate Treasure, not things. Even when we lose, God is teaching us that – even though that thing may be important to us – the most important thing is being friends with God.