Fourth Sunday of Advent 2016 <3
As we sat around the tables of the motel lounge in Iowa a few weeks ago, my sister-in-law Sonja gave me an Advent devotion to use…
A. W. Tozer…
another favorite author of mine.
It has been the right word for this unusual Advent Season.
A holiday season that has been void of many of the traditional and customary preparations this year thanks to our move next week.
The writings of this saint and scholar have helped me cherish the pared down Advent of 2016, as he points fervently to the heart of how the Church celebrates the Waiting.
Words like this….
“We must love someone very much to stay awake and long for his coming, and that may explain the absence of power in the advent of hope even among those who still believe in it.” A. W. Tozer….From Heaven….page 32
I remember as a child praying that Jesus wouldn’t come back nor take me Home before my upcoming birthday…or Valentine Party…or a particular Christmas when I had asked for and was quite sure Santa would finally bring me a pony….
which he didn’t…
or the next year for a Chatty Cathy Doll….
which he did.
I loved Jesus; but not more than the next big event.
Granted I was a child, but there have been times, since then, when I hoped the Lord would linger…until this next sweet expected blessing could be enjoyed.
Or I have wished Him to hurry up…just to end my own personal pain.
So I read Tozer’s words and I wince.
Because always, and ultimately, the waiting should be out of love for the Expected One.
Not anticipating His return so I can be done with the messier parts of this world…
and not hoping He would tarry just a bit so I can squeak out one more earthly pleasure.
But instead…
to watch and wait…
simply because He is Wonderful and Precious and Worthy…
entirely because of love for Him.
What kind of power would the Church have if we, the Body, were so in love with Jesus that to see His return meant more to us than anything we could think to ask or imagine?
What if His Presence was the desire of our hearts?