The Seventh Day of Advent

Saturday, December 7, 2019

The Wonder of What God Has Done Through His Son:

An Advent Devotional Guide

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast. 
Ephesians 2:8

I have planted bulbs in the yards of every house where we have ever lived – until we came to Florida, that is, where the weather here never gets cold enough for the bulbs to winter. Every spring, I would see the little sprouts beginning to pop through the ground, and I’d want to hurry them along. Of course, if I tried to do that, I would destroy the flower that was growing, but how I longed to see the color and shape of the tulips and jonquils that were popping through the ground, sometimes through the snow!

I’ve learned that my desire for a growing faith in myself or someone else is like that. I want to speed it along, to pull it through, to make it grow! But that just won’t work! Faith is God’s gift to those who seek him. The closer we get to him, the more we desire to know of him, and the more we desire to grow quickly! But he gives us faith as he sees fit. He won’t be hurried.

Just as I cannot pull the flowers through the snow to speed their growth, we cannot make our faith increase. No amount of straining can cause that to be. The Bible says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” (Romans 10:17) If our desire is really for more faith, for greater faith, that desire will only be reached if we dedicate ourselves to learning all God will teach us from his Word. As we read what he says and believe him, faith miraculously happens! It’s a spiritual law!

Father, cause us to hunger for faith and then take us to the source of faith, your Word, so that we may grow spiritually. 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