Advent 2025, Day 5
Day 5, December 4, 2025
Theme: Hope
Readings:
Reflections:
Like yesterday's reading, here the prophet Isaiah is building a vision of the wrongs being made right, and God's presence and salvation living with us. Take some time with each sentence, and try to imagine it coming true. What does it look like or mean to have salvation as the walls of the city we live in? Ah, the safety! We can just be who we are and who God intended us to be. This passage is a quintessential image of alignment. Everything is set right in Isaiah's vision; Jesus initiates and supports the vision (he grew up hearing it at synagogue).
In Matthew, Jesus is crystal clear... We must listen, grapple with, and obey His teaching to the very best of our ability. This is precisely what it means to "bring the kindgom". Bringing God's kingdom and seeking His kingdom first is not attending church events so much as it is living the teaching of Jesus. Bringing the kingdom effectively is fueled by desperately desiring and eagerly learning to live like Jesus did. We strive to become the kind of people who take Jesus very seriously in the secret and the public places of our lives. Pray to balance the beauty of Isaiah's visions with the hard work to bring our lives under the Lordship of Jesus for a lifetime. Pray for sanctification ongoing, for admiration of our big brother and our hero, Jesus, the Son of God, the Hope of Nations.
Song: Cornerstone, Will Morrison
Bonus! My Advent 2025 playlist is ready for you to listen to on Apple Music. It's diverse, and it was so much fun to put together as I read through the scriptures and wrote this series.
NOTE the songs are on Apple Music, which you can get for a month for free if you are new... I just didn't want an obnoxious YouTube Ad ruining your quiet time :-)
Feel free to share your reflection on today's devotional, below. A Gmail account is required to comment.
If you are looking for a nondenominational church in the Denver area, check out denverchurchofchrist.org
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