The world rushes forward, lighting up screens and decking out storefronts in a mad sprint toward the next thing, but Advent pulls us back.
In Scripture, laments are raw expressions of grief, but they always point to hope. What if our culture’s obsession with holiday lights is an unconscious way of crying out, “We need good news, and we need it now”?
Below is an excerpt from the personal devotional included in this year’s 1517 Advent Resources.

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Tim wanted everyone to know to the deepest part of their being that they were justified by Christ alone.
To believe God is love and thus loves you is a miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit.
The nefarious thing about idolatry is that just about anything can become your idol: career, family, fame, wealth, status, spouse, you name it, any good thing can become a ‘god-thing” with ease. 
The love mentioned in 1 John 4:15-21 fourteen times (!) is a love that needs no apology but is determined at all times to sacrifice for the other.
What we are asked to believe as we ponder the birth of this child is that in his coming, a new creation has dawned.
Just like in the previous interview, I had to rewind to make sure I was hearing all this right. Yeah, that's actually what he said.
But the biggest problem with the Pharisee’s prayer is that he judges himself compared to other people, rather than to God. Our natural tendency is to do just this.
The grace of God does not save us at the beginning only in order to keep ourselves in his good graces by our good enough readiness.
God invites you to confess the skeletons in your closet so that he might bury them in the grave for good.
God daily broadsides us with his abundant power and glory as we observe nature around us. And yet, as glorious as this book of nature is, it is not enough.
Though envy whispers to us that peace can only be found by “keeping up,” Jesus whispers to us a better word: “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”
Jesus is coming again to renew all things. It may seem somewhat hidden right now, but make no mistake, hope abides.