When we think of Christmas preparations, we think of trees, cards, presents, cookies, and candles. However, the Bible speaks of a different kind of preparation. To prepare the way of the Lord, we must turn a desert wasteland into "a highway for our God" (Is 40:3). This means bulldozers, earthmovers, dynamite, a fleet of dump trucks, and the Army Corps of Engineers. It would take all that to lay low mountains and hills and use them as fill dirt for valleys (Is 40:4).
It's a big operation to take crooked, rough, winding ways and make them straight and smooth. Yet this is the picture the Bible presents about preparing for Christ's coming. This Advent time of preparation requires a heavy-duty job of deep repentance, conversion, soul-searching, and healing. It can be heart-wrenching, painful, convicting, and tearful. However, the end product is a clear and straight road for the Christmas Jesus to enter into our hearts.
What will it be — superficialities, worldly desires, and mere customs, or a real Advent preparing for a real relationship with Jesus?
| PRAYER: | Jesus, bring in the bulldozer. All I've got to lose is my sin and selfishness. |
| PROMISE: | "It is no part of your heavenly Father's plan that a single one of these little ones shall ever come to grief." –Mt 18:14 |
| PRAISE: | Thomas prepared for Christmas by leading his family to Confession. |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College