Prepare to Celebrate Hope
Soon we will celebrate Christmas with lots of good times, food, and gift sharing. However, sometimes we get so busy with what our culture expects we lose sight of what we should be celebrating. We are to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our hope.
What is hope? It is the anticipation of a promise fulfilled. It is something we will wait for until we receive it.
All too often, our hope is set on things that fall through. People will fail us. Material items deteriorate and lose their ability to sustain the fulfillment we hoped for. Get hit with disappointment too often and we stop daring to hope.
However, there is a hope that never disappoints. It is Jesus Christ and the promises of God. The timing and how the fulfillment comes may test us, but once it comes, it will prove worth the wait. Many times, it goes beyond what we hoped for. It usually does for me. I’m still waiting for some of His promises while following His leading through the Holy Spirit.
We can’t latch onto this hope and then celebrate when it is fulfilled if we don’t prepare for it. We need to know more about Jesus Christ in order to believe the promises. He needs a place in our hearts where He can share His love for us while we wait for the promises. We have to learn how to ask the Holy Spirit for help and listen for His guidance.
This time of year, many read Luke chapter 2 about the birth of Jesus Christ. Let’s look a little further into the chapter for a story about hope that did not disappoint. In verses 22-35, we can find the story of Simeon. He is an old man by the time Jesus is brought to the temple, but sometime earlier in his life, God told him he would not die until he saw the consolation of Israel. The Holy Spirit led him to the temple the day Jesus was brought in per Jewish custom. Upon seeing the baby in Mary’s arms, he knew the promise had been fulfilled. He did not have to see Jesus as a grown man doing miracles. He knew upon his first view of baby Jesus that his waiting in anticipation had paid off.
We do not know how long Simeon waited, nor do we know when he died. The important thing we know is that Simeon never gave up on the promise. Once it happened, he knew to thank and praise God. He celebrated the birth of Jesus, the answer to his hope in a promise.
Waiting for a promise is not easy. First, we have to trust the source of the promise. We definitely can with God because His word never comes back void and fulfills what He says. Look at all the promises fulfilled in the Bible besides Simeon’s that had him waiting into old age, never giving up his hope. Second, we have to do this waiting with favor for the one who promised and with expectation. This ties back into trust, but if we lose anticipation of it ever coming true, we will stop waiting. If we don’t wait, we have a good chance of missing the promise all together.
Isaiah 40:27-31 points at how our faith can flag when we lose anticipation and trust for a promise. However, it shows us how God never fails us. We can trust Him and attain what He promises. He can succeed when we wait on Him.
It is worth our while to prepare for the promises of God. We must work on our connection with the Holy Spirit, our helper and guide, so we may endure the waiting and be there when the promise comes. This way, we will see the opportunities God is putting before us that we must prepare for in anticipation.
Let’s remember to not only prepare to celebrate the promises, but celebrate as soon as they are fulfilled like Simeon did.