Advent Devotion, 12/3/22
ISAIAH 53:1-6
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
My first car was a 1979 Honda Accord hatchback. It was an off-yellow color that made you think it had been sitting in the sun for too long. The car was an automatic, but it only had 1st and 2nd, so you had to shift it to go above 30 miles an hour. Needless to say, the car didn’t last very long.
It was the first in a long line of cars that were not worth thousands of dollars, but rather tens of dollars. What does this have to do with our passage today? Well, at the first church I worked, we had an amazing volunteer named Kim. I was between cars, and on a random Sunday morning, I told Kim about my latest car trouble. Without hesitation, she threw me her keys and said “you can have my car.” Kim had wanted to buy a new car and this was her sign that it was time. I was blown away by her level of sacrifice. That car lasted longer than any other car I had.
Every time I got in it, I was reminded of Kim’s gift.
REFLECT
On a much more significant level, think of the sacrifice that Christ made for us. As we wait for Christ to come in this Advent season, may we never forget why He came. In God’s great love for us, the divine became flesh and endured the cross for our sake. What an amazing gift that is. What a loving God we serve.
PRAY
God, thank you for your relentless and sacrificial pursuit of us. Lord, may we see the world in the same way your son Jesus did. God, create in us a passion to serve and sacrifice for your name in a world that needs your love and mercy now more than ever. We love you, God, Amen.
ADVENT PLAYLIST SONG
“Jesus Come With Clouds Descending,” Holy City Hymns, “Advent, No. 2”
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