FREEDOM AT THE CROSS

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”  (John 8:36 NIV)

In the midst of our hectic schedules, we need to come before God in prayer.  What was supposed to give us more time seems to take more time to run.  What was supposed to free us up seems to imprison us.  And there are times when the only stability in the world is the Cross of Christ.  So to that Cross we turn, praying that God would give us the courage to do only what needs to be done in His eyes, through His power.

-- adapted from Max Lucado

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ADVENT LISTENING AND LOOKING

I once saw a quote -- maybe it was on a bumper sticker -- that went something like this: “If you feel distant from God, just ask yourself, ‘Who moved?’” If God seems hidden to us, maybe it is because we have stopped looking for God in the midst of our daily lives. In the Scriptures, heaven is not a far away place “way beyond the blue” as the old song says; but rather it is God’s realm, God’s dwelling, and it is quite near to us. All we need to do is put down the mirror and open a window in the relationship God wants to share with us. Rather than a booming shout from the clouds, God more often is revealed in the “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12 KJV). We can hear if we are focused enough to listen.

Advent reminds us, too, that if we want to see the face of the hidden God, we do not do so by looking up for a heavenly sound or light spectacular. Rather, we find it by looking into the dark recesses of a stable and into the eyes of a humble, helpless child.

-- Robert Kaylor in Come to the Manger

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