Advent 2018 – Day 1

Each year for over three decades, our family has celebrated a season called Advent. We follow a devotional theme every day for the 24 days leading up to Christmas. Please join us in this latest journey here at my website!

Advent is about waiting for things about to come; it looks to the future. With that in mind, the theme for Advent 2018 is: God’s ‘I WILL’ promises.

I want to begin with an ‘I WILL’ promise that lays a strong foundation for all the other promises that we will look at in the days ahead. Ironically, instead of being an “I will,” this first promise is an ‘I will NOT.’ In scripture, God repeatedly makes promises about things he will do, but in Psalm 89:33,34, God says,

I will never stop loving [David]

Nor let my promise to him fail.

I will not break my covenant,

I will not take back a single word I said.

Promises are only as good as the person making them. If the person will not carry through and fulfill those promises, the oaths are worthless. But we have a God who does not change his mind according to his mood and whimsy. He is not capricious. Our God keeps his word. As one of his prophets once said, “God is not man that he should lie. He is not human, that he should change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried through?” (Num. 23:19)

We can rely on our heavenly Father to make good on every one of his promises. As you prepare for Christmas during this new Advent season, please pause and remember to rest on this solid foundation: God has promised he will never to stop loving us. That is a promise he will keep forever!