Day 30 - Hope Holds On

Child of Hope: An Advent Devotional

Monday, December 29, 2008

Hope Holds On

Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future.
But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house.
And we are His house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
Hebrews 3:5-6

God is like a patriarch, looking out over the clan that bears His name, overseeing the construction of a house that they will all call “home.” The clan is a household of faith. We call it “the Church.”

At the time of the Highland Clearance in Scotland, in the mid-eighteenth century, many of the noble Scots families began to disintegrate as emigration to the New World turned into a flood. The crofting system of farming, not far removed from subsistence feudalism, was abolished. Thousands of people were forced to leave the land as it was enclosed to form larger farms. Without a connection to the land, or to the laird to whom they had owed allegiance, many Scots found themselves crowding into cities. Only in their surnames did they retain their clan. Before long, the household to which they had belonged became little more than a memory. Within a few generations the clan system had all but disappeared.

It takes courage and hope to hold on to the household of God. On God’s part it requires His sovereign choice; on our part it requires that we remember to whom we belong. But what a privilege it is to know that we belong. We could almost boast of it, except that we have done nothing to deserve it. Like living stones we are being built into a house fit for a king. Like honored guests we know that we receive a welcome. It is not our surname that entitles us to call this house our home. We have that privilege only because, by grace, we bear the name of Christ. Hold on to this hope; don’t take it for granted; and don’t forget it. Through faith in Christ, we know that we belong to Him.

Prayer for the Day
Gracious God,
thank You for the inestimable privilege
of calling You our Father;
thank You for inviting us to share in Your bounty,
and for preparing a place just for us.
May we live forever within Your house.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.