Hope in the Season of Christmas

Scripture — Titus 3:4-7 (NRSV)

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Devotion

Correction: This devotion was written by Mark Roberts but is wrongfully attributed to Inés Velásquez-McBryde in the Advent Guide. We apologize we did not catch this error prior to releasing the guide.

Merry Christmas!

Advent is over. We are now in the third day of Christmastide, the 12-day season of Christmas recognized by many Christians throughout the world. Though our major celebrations may be over, we are still invited in this season to reflect on the wonder of God’s love in sending the Son of God to be one of us. We continue to rejoice over the birth of Jesus.

In Paul’s letter to his colleague Titus, he obliquely mentions the birth of Jesus: “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us. . .” (3:4). God’s goodness and loving kindness appeared among us in human form in the person of Jesus. His birth was the beginning of this revelation. Of course, we understand that the birth of Jesus, though necessary for our salvation, was not what finally saved us. Our salvation was secured through the death and resurrection of Jesus, which was only possible because God the Son had been born as a human being. Christmas makes salvation possible.

In Paul’s summary for Titus of God’s saving work through Christ, he mentions the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Usually, we associate the gift of the Spirit with the birth of the church and the empowerment of disciples for ministry . . . and rightly so. But, interestingly, in Titus, Paul makes an additional point. God poured the Spirit upon us richly “so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (3:7).

We may wonder how the Holy Spirit enables us to “become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” We find one answer to this question in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. He writes this to the Christian recipients of his letter: “In [Christ] you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this_ _is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory” (1:13-14). The Holy Spirit is the “pledge” of our inheritance. We might say that the Spirit is a down payment of our inheritance. The presence of the Spirit in our lives makes real the promise of our future with God. Because we have the Spirit now, we can have confident “hope of eternal life,” to use the language of the letter to Titus.

I’m focusing on hope here even though the season of Advent, a season centered on hope, has passed. I’m doing this to remind us that hope, however central to Advent, isn’t irrelevant during the rest of the year. Again and again, in many seasons of the year, Scripture reminds us of the hope we have in Christ, hope for the fullness of life in the age to come, hope that is instilled and confirmed by the Holy Spirit.

Let me close with a verse from Paul’s letter to the Romans, a verse that ties together hope, the Holy Spirit, and love. Roman 5:5 says that “hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Once again, we see a close connection between the Holy Spirit and hope. But now Paul adds another element . . . love! The Holy Spirit inspires and strengthens our hope by filling our hearts with God’s love.

So, in the season of Christmas, we celebrate God’s love for us in Christ. This celebration is not merely a human affair, however. It is energized by the presence of the Holy Spirit who pours God’s love into our hearts. As we experience the reassuring and transforming love of God, confident hope grows within us. We know that in God’s time, God will make right what is wrong with the world . . . including us. God will unite all things in Christ, mending what is broken and restoring creation to what God meant it to be from the beginning. This hope can seem pretty theoretical, even unrealistic. But the Holy Spirit reassures us, stirring up the flame of hope within us. Thus, we are people of hope, not just in Advent, but also throughout the year.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Titus: Working for Good Deeds.