Advent Time

  

Read Luke 2:6

It’s nearly time. Time for Christmas. Time to rejoice and celebrate. It’s nearly time.

Every mother remembers that feeling when it’s nearly time. Baby’s head is engaged. Joints are feeling looser. Cramps are just stirring and your back is starting to ache. It’s nearly time.

Mary knew that feeling that first Advent. She and Joseph are staying in the strange town of Bethlehem. There’s no room at the inn. And her baby is coming. It’s nearly time.

Then, according to Luke, ‘while they were there, the time came’ (Lk 2:6) and the baby was born.

What time was it? It almost definitely wasn’t 25th December! (That was a date later adopted by Christians so that an annual celebration of Christ’s birth could take place). We don’t know the chronological time. But what we do know, is that it was just the right time.

St Paul, some 50 years or so later, is reflecting on all this as he writes to new disciples in Galatia and says that ‘when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman’ (Gal 4:4 KJV). God knew the time. And sent Christ ‘in the fullness of time’ – ie when everything was perfectly ready. At just the right time.

Business consultant and teacher of leadership Jim Collins says that ‘Not all time is equal. Life serves up some moments that count much more than other moments’. That’s why timing is important.

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is an expert at timing. Especially at big events that change the world. Few are bigger than the birth of his Son (apart from perhaps the death and resurrection of his Son – which Scripture similarly says took place ‘at just the right time’ [Rom 5:6].) 

That gives us confidence as we approach Christmas. 

There is much to be done but we don’t have to rush. We can enjoy our time. Savour time. Especially those significant moments that become precious memories. Because God is in charge of time. He is the ultimate Time Lord. So let’s not allow the phrase ‘God’s perfect timing’ to become a cliche, because it’s actually true. God knows the time.

This Christmas my you be able to say with the psalmist, ‘My times are in your hand’ (Ps 31:15) and trust him for your present and future. 

It’s nearly time.

Respond

ACTION: Look back on your life and think of two occasions when you can now see that things happened just at the right time. Write them down in your Notebook and why, with hindsight, the timing was perfect. People love telling stories at Christmas, so consider sharing these stories at a family occasion this Christmas.

PRAY: Give thanks to the Lord for his perfect timing in your life. And then be thankful for sending Jesus at just the right time. Pray for our world today – choosing a war-torn, troubled nation. Pray for peace; for good to come out of evil, and for God’s perfect timing in all this. Trust yourself, your loved ones, your community and our world into his hands today.