ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
Jesus is Risen Savior – He was born in a manager. He lived in an obscure town as the son of a laborer. He performed miracles as signs to His divine nature. He died a criminal’s death and as He promised, He rose again proving Himself to be the son of God.
Colossians 1:18b
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
Adore Jesus the Risen Savior.
Praise Jesus because He proved that sin has been defeated by coming back to life. Praise Jesus because He is the one and only son of God.
CONFESSION: Confess your sins to God and receive his continued mercy.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
THANKSGIVING: Giving thanks to God for his specific blessings in our lives.
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100
SUPPLICATION: Bringing our requests to God.
- Bring your personal prayer requests to God.
- Pray for FCA at Friends University. Ask God to use that ministry to lead student athletes to walk with Jesus.
- Ask God to speak to you as you read the scriptures.
SCRIPTURE READING:
Colossians 2 English Standard Version
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
Alive in Christ
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Let No One Disqualify You
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
Wisdom is in the substance of God, not the shadow of God (v. 16-17)
The author of Hebrews tells us that the Law was a shadow of God, but it was never intended to be confused with the substance of God (Heb. 10:1, 9-10). The Law was given for a specific time and with a specific purpose, to be a temporary shadow until the substance of God would come to us in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:23-26).
What we celebrate at Advent is that, with the coming of Jesus, we no longer simply strain our eyes toward the shadow of God. We see Him clearly. And we even get to have union with Him through His Son.
Practicing the spiritual disciplines and living ethical lives are important parts of being a Christian. But we must not forget that the purpose of these things is to lead us into fellowship with God. We cannot confuse shadow and substance. Acknowledge God’s presence now. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you. Sit for a moment in silence with Him.