Fourth Week of Advent - 2025

Week 4 | Patient Hope | Romans 12:9-13

Hope is relational. It changes the way we live with others. Our present situation might not be all we want it to be, but still, we pursue prayer, personal holiness, and patience for the people in our lives. Patient hope keeps us from bitterness and empowers us to be healthy people.

December 21 • Grieving Properly

Experiencing loss is painful and bitter. Whether it’s an idea, opportunity, relationship, or person, we grieve when it is taken from us. We mourn a broken reality. Grieve for them, but grieve properly, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. [1 Thessalonians 4:13] 

Some dreams must die, so that God’s reality may come into being. The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. [Proverbs 16:9] Give up false hope and improper expectations. Be patient for God’s vision, because it will come to pass. Jesus’ disciples were without hope until Sunday morning, when they found the tomb empty. Those who were praying for Peter’s freedom from prison told the woman, “You are out of your mind” [Acts 12:15] when she said he was at the door. 

Joy is coming. Things are hard now, and we don’t know how long it will last. But, like a child waiting to open a present, we know where this leads. We know how this ends. “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” [John 16:20] There is a gift waiting for you. There is life and joy on the other side. There is resurrection and life. We have a promise that “weeping may last for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” [Psalm 30:5] 

December 22 • Arriving at Joy

Happiness is elusive. We try to lay hold of the feeling of pleasure and satisfaction, but it comes and goes. God designed it to be like this. Happiness doesn’t last long, but joy does. Joy is seeing the enduring value of the present moment. Joy is finding the beauty in every situation, the purpose in every interaction, the blessing in every person.

There is a reason to rejoice always [1 Thessalonians 5]. Our lives are filled with good things, and it is not consuming them that leaves us with joy. It is something much deeper and richer. It is communion- united together, held together, experienced together.

Even waiting is meant to be joyful.  A time of relationship and deepening of trust. Don’t waste it by wondering how long you’ll be here. You are here right now, so seek God here. Stay with us, for it is evening, and the day is almost over. [Luke 24:29] Enjoy this moment you have with your God, because you can be certain that God does.

The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, who hope in his steadfast love. [Psalm 147:11]

December 23 • Speaking in Hope

Sharing why our lives are filled with hope is one of the most meaningful things we can do. For some reason, it’s easier to share abstract thoughts, ideas, and arguments about faith or God. It’s more comfortable to share things that aren’t so close to our hearts. But people don’t really need more ideas. People need hope.

This world is overrun by thoughts. Talk is cheap. Hope is costly. Your experience of God’s presence and power is what people need. People are seeking healing and forgiveness and deep love. Give that to them. The freedom you’ve found. The peace you have. The moments of joy, even in the face of pain. 

Maybe you haven’t experienced hope as deeply as you’d like, and you yourself need that encouragement. Remind yourself of what God has done for you. Ask others about their lives and what they have endured. Seek deeper relationships, and you will find hope. 

Don’t get caught up trying to prove or disprove anything. Hope is the proof we need. We keep on waking up and facing each day, trusting that there is more, and life is worth living. And even those who refuse to acknowledge it are living in unrealized hope, because they are still living. We know the reason they’re still living. It’s our reason, too. 

Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. [1 Peter 3]

I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise of God. [Acts 26]

December 24 • Believing to See

We’re not supposed to see our way through everything. Sometimes, we must walk despite how things appear. When life is confusing, when thoughts are heavy, when it feels like our souls are spinning, we can seek an easier road, a direction that isn’t going to give us such a hard time. But you know, in your heart, that the way forward is through the difficulties. We walk by faith, and not by sight. [2 Corinthians 5:7]

To make our way through the big decisions and dark days, we hold fast to the bigger picture. Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us [Ephesians 1:18-19] This is the bigger picture: your flesh, the structures of this world, and spiritual forces are working against you. But the power of God is working for you. The God who can do anything is on your side. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it. [John 1:5]

We make our way by faith, by seeing with our hearts and not just the things before our eyes. Our good God sees us and guides us. Our good God has more in store. Better than we can ask, bigger than we can imagine, brighter than our eyes can see. 

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. [John 20:29]

December 25 • Unwrapping the Gift

Life is a gift. We didn’t create it or choose it. But it is ours to open and experience. A meal with people you love, elbow to elbow, passing plates, sharing life together. A walk in the quiet of the morning, before the birds start singing, just you and the stars. This is God’s grace, the gift of joy and peace in the quiet and the loud.

God has wrapped his gift of love in flesh and bone and placed it in a broken and hurting world. The infant Jesus was placed in a feeding trough, showing just how far God will go for us. God has put his love into our flesh and bones and placed us in the perfect place to be an extension of that gift. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. [Ephesians 2:8-10] You are hand-crafted by God and handed over to be a gift of love and joy where you are.

The gift of grace sustains us through all seasons because we can celebrate that we are loved, chosen, and safe. Whatever you’re going through today, you have hope. You have a gift. And you are the gift of God’s love to others. So open it and see what God has for you to experience today.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. [Romans 15:13]