Friday, December 11

Luke 3:7-14
Today’s reading brings us back to John. John the Baptizer, John the prophet, John the negative Nancy. He’s always raining on our parade, warning us of some impending doom, calling us names—this time, “brood of vipers.” Gee, thanks, John.

But, as usual, he’s on to something. While we’re busy going about life, frolicking in our sure salvation, John is begging us to remember that the security of our salvation doesn’t get us off the hook. Trees that don’t bear good fruit are cut down and thrown into the fire.

“Bear fruits worthy of repentance,” he tells us. Let’s parse that for a minute. In this case, “worthy of” means something along the lines of “consonant with.” The ESV translation reads, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” Let your fruit arise out of your repentance. If the tree is repentance, the fruit will be good.

Repentance might not be the first virtue that comes to mind during Advent, but it’s a necessary one. How can we prepare our hearts to receive the coming Lord if we’re stocking them with rotten, mealy fruit? We must confess our sin, clear it out, and start to bear good fruit—good fruit like giving to others, taking no more than our share, and being content with what we have.

This is pretty practical fruit here. Take the weekend to choose one of the actions John names and put it into practice in preparation for Christmas.

Prayer: Merciful God, I confess my sin and selfishness to you. Don’t let me get too comfortable. Prune the bad fruit from me and give me the grace to bear good fruit that’s worthy of repentance.

Thursday, December 10

Philippians 4:4-7
The world into which Jesus was born—and the world in which the apostle Paul wrote—was not a peaceful world. Those days, like ours, held wars and rumors of wars. They held persecution and political maneuvering. It would’ve been tempting to wonder what God was doing, or if he was even paying attention to the plight of his people.

And yet Paul says that the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds. Will it really? How can our hearts possibly be guarded against the onslaught of violence, enmity, strife, disease, and loneliness? How can he instruct us to rejoice?

Because, like the poet Wendell Berry, he’s convinced that the facts of the world don’t have the final say. He’d find a kindred in spirit in Berry, who writes this in his poem, “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front”:

“…Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts…”

Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.

It’s true. The facts of the world frequently do not bring joy. But the facts of the gospel give us reason to laugh and to rejoice.

The fact of the gospel is that the Lord is near. The Lord, the sovereign one, is close by. Just when we thought all was lost, God came to make his dwelling with us. And we must expect the end of the world, when the Lord will come near once again—when he will once and for all dwell with us.

That’s why Paul can tell the Philippians to rejoice. That’s why he can reassure them of the bone-deep peace that’s possible. Paul has considered all the facts. And the most prominent of them all is that the Lord is near.

Prayer: Lord who comes near, I will laugh today. I will rejoice because, as I have considered all the facts—the facts of my life, the facts of the world, the facts of your kingdom—the one fact that speaks most loudly is that you are here. Guard my heart against despair and let me feel joy.

Wednesday, December 9

Isaiah 12:2-6
This week’s readings are so full of joy. There’s singing and exulting and praising and shouting and good old-fashioned rejoicing. God’s people are bursting with celebration! And their celebrating comes because of this remarkable fact: God has become their salvation.

What does this salvation look like? This salvation is like water: life-giving, life-sustaining water. This water comes from wells dug deep down to the water table. There’s no risk of them ever drying up.

I’ve never used a well, so I don’t know firsthand the joy of hauling up bucket after bucket of water, feeling more restored as each pail surfaces. But I do know what it’s like to be so parched I can’t concentrate, and then to round the corner and see—a silver beacon before me—a drinking fountain. And I have been a child and whiled away a whole afternoon prancing through a sprinkler whose water sprayed sky-high.

The water in this passage is no ordinary water. This is living water, and this abundant living water makes me burst into laughter. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation!

God’s living water is free for the taking. There’s no need to be stingy; I don’t have to store it up for tomorrow as if salvation could be in short supply. There’s no one standing behind me, saying, “Save some for the fishies!” Nope. Salvation is abundant. I can keep returning.

Prayer: Jesus Christ, you are the living water. I am grateful for your salvation, so plentiful it overflows. Thank you for never turning me away, for not limiting the amount of you I can take. I bask in your presence today.

Tuesday, December 8

Zephaniah 3:17-20
When I was in college, I refinished my first piece of furniture. I bought a table at a garage sale—a water-stained, scratched, scuffed table. I brought it home, set it up in the garage, and got to work.

I applied a stripping chemical over the whole thing, then scraped off ribbons of varnish. Some bits of varnish were stubborn and demanded that I really lend the weight of my body to remove them. Once the whole thing had been stripped, I wiped the table down, let it dry, and sanded it smooth. Then I stained it golden and coated every surface with polyurethane to protect it. Here I had to brush carefully so the final coat of gloss would follow the grain of the wood. A few days later, after leaving it to dry, I polished it with linseed oil and powdered pumice. By the end, the table practically glowed.

That’s what I picture when I think of renewal: a complicated process that takes a whole lot of elbow grease and more than a little patience. That kind of renewal is a labor of love.

So it is for God. “He will renew you in his love,” says the prophet Zephaniah. God seeks us out—water-stained, scratched, and scuffed as we are—and imagines what glowing beings we could be. He loves us.

He loves us enough to take the time to peel off our layers of chipping paint, buff out our nicks, seal in our beauty, and polish us till we shine. And yet his arms don’t grow tired, and he doesn’t get antsy waiting for our final glory. The “labor” is hardly laborious for God. To him, it’s simply love.

All that it takes to renew us is God’s love. Yesterday, it was the mere presence of God that had the power to bring us ease and joy. Today, it’s his love that has the power to renew us.

His love is potent. It will make us new.

Prayer: God of love, I am like an old and worn-out piece of furniture, a piece beyond repair or rescue. If it were left up to me, I wouldn’t have the strength to restore me. But for you, all it takes is your love. Work at me with your love. Make me new.

Monday, December 7

Zephaniah 3:14-16
Even as an adult, I find my parents’ presence incredibly reassuring.

Recently, worn down by a season of great life change, I traveled to visit them. Nothing else could console me. When I turned onto their street, there was my dad at the mailbox, looking sharp in his suit and tie. The mere sight of him dispelled my anxiety.

Over the course of that weekend, surrounded by the familiar artifacts of home and kept company by these two wise, capable people, I was set at ease. My muscles could rest, my mind could take in things other than my to-do list, and my heart could dream again. I felt deep joy for the first time in months.

And that was just from being with my parents! They are still flawed, fallible beings. Imagine the kind of ease that comes in the presence of God: “The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more” (Zephaniah 3:15).

This is the Advent promise: that God is with us. The wisest, most capable one is with us. In his presence, there is no reason to fear disaster. Not because the disaster simply feels distant, but because he has actually triumphed over it. In God’s presence, disaster loses its power. We can be at ease. We can rejoice and exult with all our heart.

Prayer: King of Israel, it takes nothing more than your presence to dispel my fears, to give my heart room to rejoice. Today, let me sense your presence. Let me shout for joy.

St Croix Reformed Church members volunteer at the the St Croix Animal and Welfare Center the first Saturday of each month.  Come join the fun!

Friday, December 4

Philippians 1:9-11

My prayers this time of year are usually pleas for sanity in the midst of a chaotic season, for grace toward family members (and their grace toward me!), and for enough soul-peace to greet my Savior well. If I’m feeling especially others-centered, you might hear a prayer for folks in frigid climates who don’t have homes or who can’t afford heat.

But I’ve never prayed for someone’s love to overflow with knowledge and insight. Nor have I asked God to help that person determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ she may be pure and blameless.

But what better thing to pray as we approach Christmas? It’s a season chock-full of opportunities to determine what is “best.” We must decide where to spend money, how to fill our time, and with whom to share that time. This means there are also plenty of opportunities for missteps that put our purity and blamelessness at risk.

We have to discern how a tradition of gift-giving can be practiced in a way that brings glory to God. We must take notice of the stranger and the outcast in a season that’s overwhelmingly family-oriented. We can’t let the Christmas lights blind us to God’s demand that we be righteous in all ways—personally and corporately.

Ultimately, these verses are Paul’s prayer that God’s people would live a gospel life until the day of Christ, including during the Advent season. It’s a prayer that they’d increase in love, in knowledge, and in wisdom, so that they can stand before Christ in righteousness and confidence.

As we anticipate Christ’s return, may our love overflow.

Prayer: Lord, may our love overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help us to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ we may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.