It seems to be a phrase you hear fairly often. In fact, it often seems like you hear it in groups of two or three. It is a phrase people use to let you know they are going to have a baby. They're words of good news people share with their friends and relatives that a new life is coming in the person of a new son or daughter. These same words can be used in our lives during this season also. We are expecting! We are waiting with great expectation to celebrate the day that our Savior Jesus was born. The Son of God came into the world as a child. All of creation had been expecting Him and waiting for Him. What had been promised finally arrived. What had been prophesied finally was fulfilled.
The expectation doesn't end though in His birth. We are still expecting and not in groups of two or three, but rather as one Christian Church. Just as people have expectations for the futures of their own children, we wait with expectation for a future in Jesus Christ as well, because together with Christ, we are the sons and daughters of God. We are heirs because we have been joined together with Him through His death and resurrection. We wait in expectation for His return because in Him we will be recreated and renewed. We will be brought together once again with those brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone before us. The promise and hope we live in gives us the assurance that He will return to bring us home to our Father forever. We wait eagerly with great anticipation for the day when our expecting is over and He comes to us again.
THE PRAYER: Most gracious God, we thank You for the amazing gift of Your Son Jesus Christ. Send us with Your Holy Spirit so we may be filled with the joy that comes in the expectation of His humble birth and His glorious return. Amen.
Written by Pastor Brad Brown
Grace Lutheran Church
DeWitt, Iowa
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