Expecting the Daylight on Its Way to Meet Us

Fleda and I experienced the joy of expectation while we were at her mother’s house in Easley, South Carolina on Thanksgiving Day. Christa and Matthew are expecting a baby in January. Matthew is our nephew, Fleda’s sister Mary’s son. I had the happy privilege of officiating at their wedding summer before last. Christa showed us the ultrasound picture of the girl she is carrying. We wait to see her face to face when she comes to greet us in the New Year.

Waiting in expectation is a powerful experience.

Christmas is coming and we wait together, expecting God to give us light and love. Paul writes about our expectations of God, "Brothers and sisters ... the moment is here for you to stop sleeping and wake up, because by now our salvation is nearer than when we first began to believe. The night is nearly over, daylight is on the way; so let us throw off everything that belongs to the darkness and equip ourselves for the light" (Romans 13:11-12). Expecting the daylight that is on the way to us means “throwing off what belongs to the darkness and equipping ourselves for the light?” How are we going to do that?

Throwing off what belongs to the darkness includes giving up these four things: trying to get people to like us, trying to control people with anger, withdrawing from relationships instead of working to make them more loving, and covering up pain with shallow pleasures.

Equipping ourselves for the light involves receiving God’s love so that we have it to give. If we are to live in the light of God’s love, we must find ways to receive God’s love and feel it. Then we become able to love as Jesus has loved us. John said, “Those who love their fellow believers live in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble” (1John2:10). There can be nothing more important for us to do here at New Hope than to learn how to love each other. That is how we will be equipped for the light.

As you plan how to use your time this Christmas season, please include time to be with your fellow believers at New Hope. Plan how you will receive and give love to them by listening, by showing that you care, by refusing to criticize, and by showing your joy in being together in Christ.