Editor’s Note: This month we are blessed to have a special advent devotional by our guest writer, Josephine Wangerin! Although the focus is for young adults, the information is beneficial for any age group. God Bless!
Waiting – I’m sure you are very familiar with this word. We all are. Waiting seems to define the season of young adulthood, which can be frustrating when this same season is filled with the constant demand to make life changing decisions all the time. Can I tell you a secret? Waiting never goes away. In fact, our entire human existence is waiting. Whether it’s waiting for a grade, a job offer, or for your professor to stop droning on about his in-laws coming in for the holidays, we all wait on something.
The word advent is a Latin word that means “coming.” If you have spent some time in the church around December, you’re probably familiar with this word. Historically, the church celebrates the season of advent the four weeks leading up to Christmas. Each week the theme of hope, love, joy, and peace is celebrated. Each theme signifies a virtue that Jesus brought to the world in His coming. In the weeks we wait for Christmas, we are reminded through advent that in the coming there is waiting. That’s right, in order to fully embrace the joy that is coming we have to celebrate in the waiting.
Advent is celebrated year after year because it reminds us that in the midst of our waiting, we can experience hope, love, joy, and peace deeply because we have the best thing coming – Jesus Christ. Ultimately, our waiting here and now is for the Savior who was born to take our sins and bring us into everlasting life with Him and God the Father (John 17:2).
You might be waiting for the end of your semester, an interview for your dream job, or a text from that dreamy guy in your study group. Whatever it is that you’re waiting on this advent season, remember the promised hope, love, joy, and peace there is for those who wait for the coming of Christ.
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