God is Faithful: A Meditation on 1st Corinthians 1, for the First Sunday in Advent

As we enter the season of Advent, we return with the ancient people of God to a season of waiting and preparation.  Advent is the time when Christians shift their thinking and meditations toward the coming fulfillment of God’s promises in Jesus Christ, particularly as those promises are revealed in His Incarnation.  This marks the beginning of the Church year, as the Church returns in her heart to that time before the first Christmas, as God’s people waited and prepared for the coming of the Messiah.

But waiting and preparing are not particularly strong suits for most people.  Waiting and preparing, means to have patience and self denial—to put aside the desires of the moment, and look forward to something better on the horizon.  Waiting and preparing relies on faith, which believes that something is coming which is worthy of patience and present denial.  Why would anyone wait and prepare for something they didn’t think would really happen?  Even in a practical sense, we know the coming and going of seasons, the potential for natural and man-made disasters, and how many people even adequately prepare for those?  Perhaps we have a neglected coat closet for winter gear, or some canned food in the back of the pantry, but most people have a very difficult time waiting and preparing, even for the things they know are likely to come.

But this is part of our fallen condition, which prizes the self and the moment, over any future reality.  It is a predisposition toward unbelief, disregarding everything from logic, reason, history, natural law, and divine revelation, if it is inconvenient to the desires of the moment.  With little study, we can understand the laws of economics well enough, to know that if we don’t save any money during younger working years, we will have no resources for our older years when we cannot work.  With only a little reflection, we can understand human biology enough to know that one man and one woman produce children, and that such marriages produce the most stable form of family.  With a short contemplation of logic, we can acknowledge the necessary existence of God as the Creator of the Universe, unto whom the whole universe must remain accountable.  And as the list goes on and on, we find in every sphere of human life a kind of rebellion against the Word of God written in nature, in reason, in Holy Scripture, and even in our own consciousness.  It is a rebellion that refuses to wait and prepare for what God has spoken, and rather prefers to spend its resources on selfish and momentary pleasures.  Our inability to wait upon the Word of the Lord reveals our fundamental unbelief in the Word of the Lord, as the sin within us prompts us to reject God and worship ourselves.

And into this weak and sinful flesh of ours, God continues to speak, calling all people to faith and repentance—to waiting and preparation.  While the disciplines of the Church and her calendar year are human constructions, they wisely create for us a rhythm of returning to the things we all need as sinful human beings.  In this season, we are called to examine ourselves in the light of Christ and His Word, and to really believe what St. Paul taught the church at Corinth: 

That in everything ye are enriched by him,

in all utterance, and in all knowledge;

Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:

So that ye come behind in no gift;

waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 

Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be

blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of

his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (I Cor 1:5-9, KJV)

For the faith to believe in Christ, as Savior not only now but for eternity, comes through the hearing of His Word.  Such faith is not native in us anymore, having fallen into the depths of corruption that soil every human heart.  But by His Word, His Spirit works in us the ability to believe, to trust, to wait, and to prepare.  He creates in us a faith that turns from the dark things of this world, no matter how momentarily pleasurable they may be, so that we may cast our eyes upon the promises of His redemption.  By His Word, He makes of us a fellowship in Jesus Christ, which clings to His Gospel promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation.  By His faithful Word, we are brought to believe and to confess that He is faithful, sending His Only Begotten Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

As we enter once more into this season of waiting and preparing, hear the Word of the Lord which calls to you, and creates in you the faith which leads to a love far deeper than the world has ever offered.  Hear the Word which comes to give you life in Jesus Christ, that you may wait upon His promises, and prepare to receive Him as your Lord, your Savior, and your King.  Amen.