(Our staff team meets for devotions and prayer each morning from Monday-Thursday, and this week I'm leading those devotions. I'm reflecting on some of the themes of Advent, and I thought I would share those reflections here.)

Scripture Reading: Luke 21:25-36

The season of Advent is both a time to look back and a time to look forward. One of the things we look back to is the faithful remnant of Israel living in exile, awaiting the coming of the Messiah to fulfil the covenant promises God had made to them. They lived their life looking forward to that day, confident in such promises as Jeremiah 33:14-16, that a Messiah would come to redeem them.

In our modern Western society, we're not very forward-thinking. We don't orient that way. Instead we are always focused on the here and now. The present is what is important.

But this is not how Jesus expected his disciples to live, as we see in this passage. No, he called them to look forward, to prepare themselves. He told them to look for certain signs, to always be on the lookout and ready for Christ's return. They needed to be constantly looking forward, preparing for that day. He also told them there would be all kinds of things to distract them, to turn their focus away so that they wouldn't be prepared.

How forward-thinking are we? We're quick to look to Jesus' redemptive work in the past, accomplished through his death and resurrection, and we're quick to look at his work in our own lives in the present. But how often do we look forward to the final redemption, when Christ will return and fully establish the Kingdom of God? Are we prepared and ready for that day? Do we long for the coming of the Messiah just as the remnant of Israel did?

It's also important to think about how we are preparing our congregation for this day. Many of them will be stressing about their jobs, or worried about their financial situation. They are weighed down by the troubles of this life, because we're all part of a culture that focuses on the here and now. If we're honest, we all live as though this current world order, this reality we know right now, is permanent. How, then, do we break free from this and begin to look forward?

We find the key in verse 33. Jesus says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." We need to keep going back to Scripture. We need to reflect on the story of redemption, of what God has accomplished in history through Jesus Christ. Like the faithful remnant of Israel, we must keep our focus on the promises of the covenant that were foreshadowed by Christ during his time on earth and that are guaranteed through his finished work on the cross. He will come again!

When we live in expectation of the day when Jesus will return, that will give shape to our perception of reality. Our longing for the Kingdom of God will replace the anxieties and troubles of life. As we look forward to the fullness of life in that Kingdom, we will seek to be holy and blameless. As the writer to the Hebrews says, we must "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).

Let us pray with confidence, "O come, O come, Emmanuel," knowing that because the Incarnate Christ already did come, he will come again to fulfil all of his promises to his people.