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Advent Devotional for Monday, December 14
• Psalm 145
The season of Advent is one of joy and gladness for Christians all over the world. It is a time when we look with hopeful anticipation to the coming of Jesus Christ, our redeemer and sustainer. It is a reenactment of the anticipation that Mary and Joseph felt more than two thousand years ago as they awaited the birth of their first child, a child who would bring about amazing change in the world.
Perhaps what is even more amazing is that we are still celebrating this event more than two thousand years later. Despite the rise and fall of empires and kingdoms, the changing languages of the people, the continuous wars and destruction, and the loss of the majority of the scrolls and books from that time, we still come together every winter to tell the story of how God came to be one of us for a short time.
The reason we still tell this story is because we have seen, time and again, the power that God has had in our lives and the lives of believers who have come before us. As the Psalmist said, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.” It is our desire to praise and celebrate the goodness and glory of God that leads us back to the Advent story.
It is sometimes difficult for us to remember in our consumer culture that we still tell the Advent story because each generation has made time to share the story, and with it the works and mighty acts of God, with the next generation. Many of us are blessed during this season with family, food, and gifts, but we must also remember the psalmist’s call to praise God’s name forever and ever, especially with our families and those whom we love.
O Lord, I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name. Great are you, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; your greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall laud your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. Amen.
Andrew Young
MDIV Student from Austin, Texas
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.
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