Today is our final day of discussing A Painted Advent devotional. Thanks so much for joining us. I hope during this final week of Christmas preparations that you are able to steal away for some quiet moments with our Savior.

Today’s painting is all about the molding, shaping, forming, and creating process—God to us.

As I look at this picture, I am reminded that painful times and hard circumstances do more to shape us into who we are than do the easy, joyous times of life.

I know that has certainly been true in my own life. God used the terrible pain of losing a child to develop in me strength and trust. He used a years-long illness in my mother to develop resilience and empathy and sacrificial love.

Lifeline of Hope

In the readings for today, 1 Peter 1:5 jumps out to me. It says, “Who are kept (emphasis mine) by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

This is a lifeline of hope to us when we are in the middle of the God-shaping-us process.

I’m not sure about you, but it’s hard to just look at the painting for today. The first word that popped into my mind when I saw it was pain. God knows that, and so this verse is a comfort. What it says to me is that in the midst, He is keeping us from losing ourselves: our hope, our salvation, our faith. It’s a promise to preserve us through this difficult time so that we emerge stronger and more like Jesus. And that’s what the shaping process is all about.

Jesus Is the Standard

Jesus is the standard of perfection that we are being molded to. The process starts here, now on earth, but it won’t be completed until we get to heaven. While it’s difficult to feel like a piece of clay or wood smack in the middle of a work session by the Creator, remember to hang on to God and look for the blessing. It will be there in the form of a stronger person who more closely resembles the Savior.

What spoke to you today? Share your thoughts below.

Merry Christmas!

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Welcome back to Day 4 of our discussion about the Painted Advent devotional from the Bible app. Today’s painting is called Good News.

You never know when it will happen.

You’re going about your daily work all things appearing normal when BAM! A chorus of angels lights up the night sky and scares you to death! At least that’s what happened to the shepherds in the Christmas story. What had been an ordinary day for them turned into an extraordinary one in a moment’s notice.

I wonder if the shepherds noticed anything different that evening.

I imagine all of heaven on the brink of a holy explosion—the angels barely containing their excitement. Was the night sky especially bright? Maybe a shooting star or two streaking across the sky in anticipation of what was about to happen? Or perhaps the air was charged with electricity, the impending fulfillment of ancient prophecy.

All we know is that one minute all was normal and the next it was not—the world forever changed.

The same can be true for us.

Within each day lies the potential for a Richter-scale change, for the glory of God to burst upon our everydayness with a power that takes our breath away.

What will that look like? It could be an angelic visitation (those things still happen today). But it could also be an invisible but just as mighty display of God’s power as evidenced by a changed heart, salvation for a loved one, a healed relationship, a new job, a sick person made well, a prodigal come home.

We go about our lives always praying for what God lays on our heart while watching for His displays of power. Today could be the day!

What do you think about living in holy expectancy? Share your thoughts below.

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The Painted Advent devotional for today is named Heaven’s Loss.

This title made me consider something I’ve never thought of before—how hard it must have been for the angels to watch Jesus go. Jesus coming into the world is a startling event, a heavenly invasion. We could not come to God, so He sent His Son to us.

A Polarizing Event

His birth was also a polarizing event. The night He was born, the only place Joseph could find for the birth was a stable. While the shepherds, three wise men, and possibly Herod recognized Him for who he was, most did not. By worldly standards, He was born into a dubious situation. The village where Mary and Joseph lived believed Jesus to be born out of wedlock, a calamity for sure.

Yet the Bible is clear about Him. John 1:4 tells us “In Him was life and the life was the light of men.” From the very beginning, evil tried to snuff out that life, that light.

New Life

The wonder of it all is that when we invite Jesus into our own lives, He suffuses our very being with new life, His life in the form of the Holy Spirit who leads us and lights our way. When we align our will with His, our life takes on an earthly and heavenly significance  and purpose we would never be able to match on our own.

Heaven’s temporary loss was our eternal gain!

How has Jesus been “your gain”?

 

 

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Welcome back to Day 2 of the Painted Advent devotional reading with the Bible app. Here is Day 1 if you missed it and want to catch up.

On to Day 2!

Day 2 Luke 1:39-80

My thoughts: I love how God brings together Mary and Elizabeth. I can imagine they were both reeling a bit from their secrets. How they would have been a support to each other during this time:

• Mary was figuring out how to handle her pregnancy in a time and culture when an unplanned pregnancy meant being ostracized from society. She also knew that there was a very real possibility that her fiancee Joseph would have every right to divorce her.
• On the other hand, Elizabeth was probably a bit stunned by her own late-in-life pregnancy, especially since she had been childless for her entire marriage.

I can imagine how these two must have enjoyed their months together, praying and dreaming and planning about their babies.

Waiting on God

The other thing that stands out to me from his passage is that even though God sometimes seems to be silent in our lives, He uses this quiet waiting time to birth His plan.

Four hundred years had passed from the end of the Old Testament to the beginning of the New Testament. During these years, God was completely quiet. No communication between God and the prophets. No messages for Israel.

Meanwhile, the culture had been changing. Greek and Roman influences were foisted upon the Jews. But during this time of God’s silence, He was orchestrating His ultimate plan of the birth of His Son.

Finally, the book of Luke begins with a flurry of holy activity — the visits of angels, the return of prophecy (after that quiet 400 years!), and the births of two long-prophesied babies.

How Does This Apply to Us?

We can use this as encouragement in our own lives. When we have been praying and waiting and God seems silent, we need to remember that plans take time. God’s time. During the waiting we continue to pray, to work, to seek, to watch — for our own flurry of holy activity.

Let me know your thoughts as you walk through this season of Advent.

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