Preparing for Advent

The dictionary defines the word advent as “the arrival of a notable person, thing or event.”

Advent has its roots in the Latin word adventus which means “coming”.

The Season of Advent in the Christian calendar includes the four Sundays preceding Christmas and this Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent.

Though we celebrate the earthly birth of Christ on December 25, Advent marks the time in which we prepare our hearts for that day.

As there are four Sundays in Advent prior to Christmas, I thought I would select four passages of Scripture to help me in preparing my heart.

Isaiah 9:6 (KJV) - For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah’s words preceded Christ by centuries.

This reminds me that God’s promise is true and that He provided for our salvation through Christ who came to live among us.

Luke 1:31 (KJV) - And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name, JESUS.

These were the angel’s words to Mary.

God sent the angel to Mary to tell her that she would bear the Son who saves mankind.

He even told her the name chosen for Him, Jesus.

Matthew 2:2 (KJV) - Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

This reminds me that men anticipated His arrival and understood the appropriate response was to seek Him out and worship Him.

Matthew 3:17 (KJV) - And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

This reminds me that God Himself told the world that this was indeed His Son and that He loved Him.

These are the verses that I have chosen for myself for this Season of Advent to help me prepare my heart to celebrate His birth.

They will serve to remind me that His coming into the world was foretold by the prophets and ordained by God.

They will remind me to seek Him out and worship Him.

They will remind me that there can be absolutely no doubt as to who Jesus is.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The  Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, December 5, 2014.

I’ll be back here on Friday, December 12, 2014

Myth Conceptions

I am an avid reader.

Right now I am in the process of reading The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer.

You may be asking why a Christian would bother reading mythology.

Mythology reminds me that everyone needs to believe in something or someone that is greater than himself.

The ancient Greeks felt that need.

They looked at the natural world around them and recognized that there was an order in the way things were.

Unlike us, they had neither the benefit of Christianity nor the wisdom that comes only from scripture.

So, they simply did the best they could.

They took stock of everything they could sense and invented various gods and goddesses to whom they assigned control of things.

They also assigned them human attributes including very human character flaws.

When disaster struck, they then incorrectly interpreted that these events were likely the result of these invented gods and goddesses struggling with one another for control.

A handful of gods was insufficient, so they also invented a host of lesser gods to fill in the gaps.

One more thing they did was create some human heroes who were able to contend with their deities.

The ancients took delight in stories in which these heroes were able to outwit the gods and defeat them at their own game.

Christianity of course is radically different.

Through the benefit of scripture and His grace, we know that there is only one true God.

It was He that created the universe and everything in it by speaking them into existence.

He also takes a very active and personal role in our lives.

Another critical difference is that God is all knowing and we cannot hide anything from Him.

It is impossible for us to deceive Him.

I must admit that I did learn a valuable lesson from this reading of Homer

The Iliad is about struggle.

It tells a story about a war between the Greeks and the Trojans.

Their gods took a very active role in this war and although they could not be killed by humans they could be wounded by them.

As I read the account I remember thinking that we could never wound God.

I now do not believe that to be entirely true.

I now believe that we can and do wound God on a certain level.

We do this when we refuse to obey Him.

We also do this when we mistreat others because they, like us, were made in His image.

We certainly do that when we reject His most precious gift to us.

That gift is His only Son, Jesus, who paid the price for our salvation.

Where The Iliad is about struggle and conflict, The Odyssey is a myth about the struggle and desire to go home.

We, as Christians, feel a similar need and desire to go home.

The home we desire is our heavenly home.

It is a home that has been prepared for us by Jesus.

John 14:2 (NET) – There are many dwelling places in My Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you.

That is certainly no myth.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The  Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, November 21, 2014.

I’ll be back here on Friday, November 28, 2014