salvation

  • Living Between Two Advents

    ByLauren Christian, Christmas, Grace & Truth Link Up, Holy Spirit, Jesus, joy, salvation
    10 Comments

    adventAdvent – the arrival of a notable person, thing or event.  In its original language, advent means “to come”.  So advent is about waiting.  Today, we buy advent calendars to denote the days until Christmas.  Over two thousand years ago, the Jewish people waited for the Messiah.  And today, we wait for Him again.

     

    Jesus came, was born as a baby in order to die in our place – a substitutionary death to pay for our sins.  This is the “coming” that we celebrate at Christmas time.

    Much of the world dedicates an entire month to advent – whether they understand why or not.  And it is a joyous celebration of an amazing gift.  But there is an advent still to come.

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    By coming to earth and following God’s plan, Jesus made a way for us to be forgiven and have relationship with God.  But He has not yet taken his rightful place as ruler of this world.  We live in the time between the rejection of the king and His second coming.  We as believers wait.

     

    There is tension in this waiting.  We celebrate His coming.  We know the joy of forgiveness and the hope of our future with Him forever.  And yet we feel the pain of the havoc rained down on us by the prince of this world.  That’s why we can thank God for sending our Savior into the world and also ask Him to come back quickly for His people.

     

    As believers, we hold both joy and pain.  Contentment and longing.  But we aren’t left to deal with it alone.

     

    Jesus Came

    The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  John 1:14 

     

    Jesus Left the Holy Spirit for Us

     

    These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  John 14:25-26 

     

    In This Time We Are

     

    Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,  Titus 2:13

    Jesus Will Come Again

     

    So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin [He already did this with His death on the cross] but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.  Hebrews 9:28

     

    May we praise God this Christmas for what He has done, His presence here with us now, and all that He promises will come.

     

    And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

     

     

    Although it’s not a Christmassy post, the topic is timely nonetheless.  Does Tolerance Always = Loving Others? by Donna Reidland should be required reading for every believer.  The deceiver has been working overtime in this area and we need to be reminded of the truth of God’s Word.  It will always be the most loving thing.

    1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

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    MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
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    LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
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    TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
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    Sharing means caring! If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

     

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  • What is a Gift Worth?

    ByLauren Christian, Christmas, family, Grace & Truth Link Up, Jesus, salvation
    12 Comments

    giftOne Christmas during the teenage years, my sisters and I decided to make presents for our parents.  Lacking the money or the talent (well, this doesn’t apply to my younger sister) to do anything significant, we put our brains together and came up with a plan – boxer shorts.  I know.  My parents are so lucky to have us!

     

    We went to WalMart (or it could have been K-Mart back then) and bought a package of cheap men’s boxer shorts in baby blue.   Some leftover fabric from my mom’s sewing supplies provided the inspiration for decoration.  It had penguins and other winter themed designs that we cut out.  Using needles and thread that also belonged to my mom, we hand-stitched embellishments all over the shorts.

     

    Despite my mom’s efforts to teach us the craft, seamstresses we were not.  Without a sewing machine or any skill, this project took hours.  We holed up in our room – imagining the cute and comfy pajama shorts on their recipients.  I’ll pause here to tell you that I have no idea why we thought my parents needed or wanted boxers.  But they would get them.  One with Mama and another with Papa in letters cut out of coordinating material.

     

    The sheer amount of time we spent on these gifts intrigued my folks.  And if they were disappointed by them on Christmas morning, we would never know.  In fact, I remember my dad wearing his on repeat.  Even after the sad little penguins and letters started to fall off.  My mom and dad appreciated their gifts because of the sacrifice of time and effort my sisters and I made to provide them.

     

    A More Important Gift

     

    We celebrate Christmas because Jesus came to give us the greatest gift of all.  As hard as it is to believe, even better than boxer shorts. 

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    In the midst of presents, decorations, parties and Hallmark movies, we often forget what makes this holiday special.

     

    Jesus gave up heaven for a time.  He became human, being born as a baby, and lived a perfect life despite temptations.  He died an excruciatingly painful and humiliating death on a cross to take the punishment for our sins.  And because of this, we are forgiven.  Redeemed from sin.  Made white and clean as Christmas snow (if you live somewhere that snow actually happens).

     

    The feeding trough in your nativity set (we call it a manger) is only special because of the sacrifices made by the baby Mary and Joseph placed in it.  These sacrifices give us salvation.  And our salvation is a priceless gift.  He is worthy!

     

    And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

     

    I am so pleased to share a post from my fellow link up host Tammy Kennington today.  She wrote so beautifully in Advent and the Arrival of Christ – and even taught me something about Advent that I didn’t know.  This time of year I am so aware that we live in the already and not yet, and Tammy encouraged me so much.

     

     

    1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

    2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

    3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

    Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

    We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

    MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
    Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

    LAUREN SPARKS
    Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

    LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
    Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

    TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
    Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

    Now Let’s Link Up!

     

    You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

    Click here to enter

     

    Sharing is caring! If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

     

    To find some great places where I might be sharing this post, click here.