I write to you, most excellent Theophilus … so you may know certainly… Luke 1:3-4
There’s an amazing promise for you and me right in the opening of Luke:
Because we’re looking, WE WILL SEE GOD. Not just read about him; not just learn facts: We are going to encounter him!
What a way to start Advent: this is going to be an amazing journey and God is CERTAINLY going to meet us.
As Luke sat down to write, he was imagining this moment - when you and I pick up his book and begin to look: “I am writing for you”, he says. And Luke, like the doctor he is, naturally investigates thoroughly (the Passion uses the word forensic): this was the testimony of the early disciples and of the early church members - “He appeared to me also”.
Just opening the book of Luke puts us in prestigious company: Andrew runs to tell Simon, Phillip runs to tell Nathanael, Mary runs to tell the disciples: I have seen our saviour. The woman who meets Jesus at the well runs and tells her whole town and they run to meet him too. Soon the whole town declares, “we no longer need your testimony alone, we’ve seen him too.” All of these encounters and so many others Luke has gathered together to say, this tug on your heart to look for him - that’s from God. Like each person who encounters Jesus, God sees you and will show himself to you.
Now, as we read this, some of us may have doubts arise: Maybe Luke was thinking of other readers? Maybe I’m just accidentally reading this? Maybe this promise doesn’t apply to people like me? … Let me assure us as we start:
God is not playing hide and seek from us - He’s seeking us. Even if we were hesitant or hiding, Jesus is seeking us. Luke knows this. Just the fact that you are opening his book marks you as a most excellent Theo Philus (lover of God). There’s a stirring in you that comes from God seeking you. He’s nudging, working, moving to show himself to you. That’s who nudged you to read this devotional - God! And like those prestigious others who ran to meet him, as you read Luke, their testimony will lead you closer and closer to seeing him face to face: We will say, “We’ve seen him too!”.
Let’s Pray: God, I want to see you, not just know about you. As I read your word and our congregation’s reflections this advent, open my eyes to see you; my ears to hear you; my heart to be changed by you.”
Here’s some declarations to make as we start this advent journey:
God calls me a lover of God
Jesus is going to appear to me too!
Here’s a promise the disciples, those who encounters Jesus in every generation, and you and I can declare:
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13
Shared by Rev. Drew Maxwell