The Eleventh Day of Advent

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

The Wonder of What God Has Done Through His Son:

An Advent Devotional Guide

But sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.

I Peter 3:15

If there is one thing that many of us Americans likes to do it is to get involved in a good discussion, often discussions that turn into arguments! And if we are verbal about our faith, often those discussions are related to faith and position of faith. Well, the Scripture above tells us that we should be ready to defend who we are and what we are; however, it also clearly says that that should be done carefully – even reverently. So how do we do this? There’s a clear directive in this little verse.

First, Christ has to be set apart as absolute Lord. That’s the biblical understanding of “sanctify” – to set something / someone apart as holy. In fact, the Scripture tells us that Christ has set us apart, sanctified us, though most of us don’t feel or act very sanctified a lot of the time.

As we set Christ as absolute Lord, then we can become prepared to say why we have done so and why we have hope for whatever the future holds. And as we do this gently and reverently, the Holy Spirit uses our words to woo another to Christ. We have the best news the world has ever heard, and our hope can be so attractive that others will want to enjoy it. That’s how we win others to Christ. It’s called evangelism! And I’m afraid we often do it poorly.

Father, Give us the courage to so completely and finally set hope in Christ as Lord of our lives that we will indeed be appealing and speak favorably about a relationship with Christ! Amen

The Wonder of What God Has Done Through His Son:

An Advent Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church of Homosassa, Florida
Winter 2009
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator