Who remembers receiving the sears cataloque in the mail. As kids we would turn to the toy section and take a pen or marker and circle the items that we hoped we would get for Christmas.
Today it’s the Amazon wish list or each store now has a online wish list.
Each day, leading up to December 25, I would look under the Christmas tree and hope that perhaps the thing I had been longing for would be wrapped and waiting to be opened. As a kid, I could not wait to create my wish list and hand it over to my parents to deliver to Santa or even mail it to him myself.
That was the beginning of hope being instilled in my young heart. But this hope that every child feels is pointing to something bigger, greater, and more meaningful than any earthly store can offer.
Today it’s the Amazon wish list or each store now has a online wish list.
Each day, leading up to December 25, I would look under the Christmas tree and hope that perhaps the thing I had been longing for would be wrapped and waiting to be opened. As a kid, I could not wait to create my wish list and hand it over to my parents to deliver to Santa or even mail it to him myself.
That was the beginning of hope being instilled in my young heart. But this hope that every child feels is pointing to something bigger, greater, and more meaningful than any earthly store can offer.
As fun as it was to make lists and wait to open presents during the holidays, the bigger picture behind this holiday is that because of Jesus’ birth, we have hope that our greater desires, beyond electronics, toys, and jewelry…things like purpose, meaning, significance, forgiveness, and wholeness are available to us. These are gifts that we don’t have to wait to open. When we place our faith in Jesus, they are ours, and that reality fills us with hope no matter what circumstance or situation we find ourselves in.
Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel”
God promised to give his people a sign for when the promised and anointed one would finally arrive. This was meant to give them something to wait for and to watch for, so that when they saw it, their hearts would be filled with hope.
May your heart been filled with hope today
