Advent Devotional – 12.2.2021
Dick Cook
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 KJV
The passage has been a personal verse for many years! It addresses one of the fundamental truths of our lives as Methodists and Christians: the Methodist Quadrilateral: scripture, tradition, reason & experience. Experience, to me, includes both prayer and waiting on the Holy Spirit. We need to incorporate study, prayer and waiting on the Holy Spirit (listening) in our lives and the advent season is an excellent time to get back to basics.
Our secular lives tend to overtake and overwhelm our lives during the year. We get wake-up calls from reminders of our eternal lives and mortality: a health scare or the funeral of an exemplary Christian friend or simply a change of church season.
To celebrate advent, we can take the opportunity to renew and revitalize our study of scripture: praying for illumination and insight before reading, reflecting on the content and then rereading the passage several times that day reflecting on the meaning of that scripture and the application of it into our lives.
This assumes we continue meeting in a small group and attending worship to support, enhance and keep us mindful of our spiritual lives.