Shadows to Substance...
It is a time of busyness.
Parties. Socials. Crafts. Cookies. Lights. Presents.
Every week something to anticipate and look forward to.
Counting down the days on the advent calendar.
Marking time until Christmas.
Graciously blessing those closest to us.
Preparing our hearts to celebrate.
Bowing low to humbly adore Him.
Yet, in the midst of these festivities we are still surrounded by darkness...
A fallen world. A world blinded to their need for a Savior. A world pervaded with evil and darkness.
As much as we want to "let loose" and celebrate with all abandonment we are still tethered bodily to the disappointment, grief, and sadness surrounding us.
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the SUBSTANCE belongs to CHRIST.
Colossians 2:6-8 & 17
We have received Christ.
We therefore should be walking in Him, rooted and built up in HIM.
Are you established in Him? Finding your hope securely in Him?
It is easy to become taken captive by the philosophy and empty deceit of this world.
To get lost in the presents, the lights, the fallacy of Christmas "cheer".
We want it to be beautiful...exciting...perfect.
We build up the DAY of Christmas...rather then the substance behind it.
Our expectations take hold and when not met - disappointment seeps in and robs us of our joy.
The stress of having everything "just perfect" skews our perception.
And yet, it is merely a shadow of the things to come...
The greatest celebration is still to come.
Not on December 25th.
But...
our hope is resting in an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven...though now for a little while we have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of our faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire -may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
I Peter 1:4-7
Through the busyness of this next week...the excitement...the disappointments...
the presents...the anticipation...the joy...the grief...
may you move from the shadows...to the substance.
Which is CHRIST.
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