For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Romans 15:4-7
“that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope”
The lady with the pushcart, the one who seems to always be muttering to herself about things no one fully understands, was found deceased in a back alley on a Saturday afternoon. She was homeless and destitute. She frequented the same three or four city blocks every day, year-round. She always dressed in the same clothing. She had an unpleasant smell. She never did anything objectively wrong, she was just a poor person who lived on the streets.
Or, so everyone assumed.
She never engaged anyone in conversation. She steered clear of people in general even while somehow managing to be a constant presence in the neighborhood. Everyone knew who she was, but no one knew her.
As it turned out, she was an heiress to a large fortune! It was true. She had an enormous fortune to her name in banks and other investment accounts. She had access to a luxurious lifestyle. She certainly had no reason to spend her days and nights on the streets, steering a pushcart that contained all her worldly possessions. She was wealthy beyond imagination but lived in poverty. She had access to vast material resources but lived like she had nothing.
We often do the same thing.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul admonishes the church in Rome to find in the Bible:
- Instruction
- Encouragement
- Hope
In fact, one powerful spiritual practice the Bible advocates for is for every Christian to ‘hope in His word’ (Psalm 119:114). Paul starts this passage by reminding the Church in Rome that things had been written from former times for our instruction, for our encouragement, and to give us hope.
Pslam 119:114 even has the beautiful turn of a phrase, “to hope in his Word.” As though hope were a verb. A practice. An activity we had at our disposal. A resource for daily living.
In the psalms, and elsewhere, including this text from Romans, the Bible gifts us with the wisdom to encounter God’s word (the Bible) in such a way that we experience hope.
But like the woman who was heiress to a fortune but seldom utilize it, we too, often go about in poverty. The Bible is everywhere in society. We can even have a copy on our phones! And yet, for many Christians, a regular, dare I say, daily encounter with God’s Word is a foreign experience. Voluntary fasting from the very Word of God.
It can be actually quite healthy to fast from food and other things we tend to over-indulge in. But the very Word of God?
So, in our self-selected spiritual poverty, we go on with our lives, facing struggles with our own resources, under our own power, and by means of our sin-tainted ‘wisdom.’ When right there, often at our fingertips and in our pockets, is an opportunity to ‘hope in His word’.
This Advent Season is an opportunity to restart a bible reading habit. If you are friendly with technology, the Bible App is available and has numerous plans already laid out. The NALC also has a devotion guide (click HERE) .
Also, there is one other option that I invite you to consider:
Reading Luke through December! Several of you have mentioned this recently.
The Gospel of Luke has twenty-four chapters. The twenty-fourth day of December brings us to Christmas Eve. What an amazing way to spend December. Re-discovering God’s word as we journey through Advent toward the celebration of Christ’s birth.
Here’s how you can help:
- Commit to joining me this December.
- Invite someone to do this with you.
- Invite them to Church on December 24th.
Pastor Mark
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