Advent Devotional

ADVENT? you ask.

Yes, our congregation does an advent devotional book for our community each year. A few members of each of the churches in our area writes two devotionals, with an assigned passage. Then the book is published with a devotional for each day of Advent.

Deadline is tomorrow, so I started working on mine.

Thought I'd share them, not necessarily because you want to read them, but because it gives me satisfaction in having them completed when I know that someone else is reading them.

Just finished the first one:

The Long Kept Secret

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages 
but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith -- 
to the only wise God be glory for evermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. 
 Romans 16:25-27


Authors, producers, directors, filmmakers, actors, actresses . . . and the list goes on of folks who have made a living because so many of us love a good mystery. We sit through an hour or two of a movie, or spend a longer time reading a book, to find out how it is going to end. There is a secret in there somewhere and we anxiously await the discovery we know we will be rewarded with in the end. The longer it takes to reveal the secret, and the harder it is to solve the mystery, the more we enjoy the book or the movie.

Through the message of the prophets, God hinted that there was a secret – a mystery that would some day be revealed. For hundreds of years, faithful followers of God looked forward to the day that Messiah would come. They hoped it would happen in their lifetime and they anxiously awaited the revealing of this mystery.

The challenge for us is to capture the wonder of this revelation. After all, for us it was not a secret nor a mystery – as the revelation took place before we are born. But if we put ourselves in the place of those living under the tyranny of the law, maybe we can get a glimpse of the wonder they experienced having finally discovering the long kept secret and understanding the mystery of salvation.

Does life sometimes seem a mystery to you? Do you have challenges and problems that need solved that seem to have no answer? At this time of Advent, let us stop and ponder this mystery that was promised by the prophets and fulfilled in the coming of Jesus, the Messiah that was promised so long ago. This Messiah not only was the revelation of a secret and the conclusion of a mystery in ages past, but He can be the same solution to each of the struggles we face today.

Lord, reveal the secret of your salvation to me in a new way this Advent season. Amen.