“Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction.” This Advent Season, our Lord encourages us by His own words to not lose heart but to take courage, and keep watch over your thoughts, feelings, and desires and to be vigilant and to pray with unwavering hope and joyful expectation of His return. “That by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” and joyfully anticipate with great longing the Advent of our Lord and the welcoming of his glorious and eternal kingdom into our hearts, our lives, and into our death and our life eternal. Scripture is not merely words on a page or a document written to capture what history wishes to say or tell us. Scripture is not simply a manuscript highlighting ancient biblical events, or a book sharing a family’s ancestral heritage or an explanation of ancestral traditions or the capturing of prophetic utterings. Scripture is so much more. Scripture is alive with angelic songs and hymns. It breathes and whispers God’s Word into our ears, into our hearts and into our imagination. This Word cries out for our attention, our love, and our salvation. This Word heals, lifts, forms, informs, teaches, and educates. The Word of God reminds us of an ancient love so old beyond words, description or telling. Scripture is a faith-filled and faithful person. It is a prayer, a heavenly encounter, a necessity and need. Scripture is ever so holy, so pure. It is a deep personal and intimate friendship, an eternal relationship with the Word of God. Scripture was written for you, lived for you, fulfilled for you, gathered for you, recalled for you, proclaimed for you, captured so that you may always remember, be reminded and never forget that Scripture has saved you and promised you an undying life in eternal splendor with God and all the holy people of God. Are you ready Scripture asks? Are you truly ready if the Advent of Christ was today, tomorrow, the next day? Can you say with absolute certainty, you are good and that all is truly well with your soul? That your heart is pure, ready, and fit for a king and not just any king but the Lord of lords and the King of kings! Scripture invites you to pay close attention this Advent Season. The prophets of old, the saints of yesteryear, the evangelizers and gospel writers all encourage and inspire you to be ready, to be attentive to the words spoken and proclaimed: “Prepare the way of the Lord.”
