Advent FLASHLIGHT: linkHOPE

So often we think of preparing for Christmas in all of the rightfully fun, memorable, and joyful ways - hanging lights and greenery, decorating Christmas trees, making gingerbread houses and delightful cookies, buying gifts and preparing feasts. These things can be good and remind us of the joy of our Savior's birth. But Advent is a time of preparation - a time when we ask God to refine us with His holy fire to remind us of our sin and need for a Savior in the first place. This is also a time to get in touch with why we so very much need saving, and then to confess and repent of that sin, and only then to finally enter into the fullest of celebration of God's love in Jesus! If you invest some time and energy into this discipline, your Advent and Christmas season will be richer for it.