A Thrill of Hope
Tags: Christmas, Religion, Advent

Wow. I read these lyrics, a very familiar song to me, and they hit me in a new way. What a weary world we’re living in. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a world so beaten down, so exhausted, so so weary.

2020 began with so much optimism. Optimism that fast evaporated.

Coronavirus, social injustice, and political unrest dominated the news cycle, but that doesn’t scratch the surface of the hurt that plagued the heart of each individual.

But the thrill of hope… A thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices… This hope unlike the world had ever experienced before. Jesus came to save this world, not for one generation, but for generations to come. Not for one nation, but for all nations.

This thrill of hope means that even when years like 2020 feel too heavy to carry, we don’t have to carry them on our own shoulders. This yoke is not ours to bear alone.

This thrill of hope means that even when the challenges feel insurmountable, when the conflict feels overwhelming, we have a Prince of Peace who has already conquered the grave and saved us all.

This thrill of hope means that when we feel alone, isolated, too dark to even take another step, we have a Wonderful Counselor to take that step right next to us. To remind us we are not alone.

Long lay the world, in sin and error pining, til HE appeared, and the soul felt its worth.

I look in so many places to find worth. My job, my friends, my family, my name. My soul can’t find its worth there. Those things, even on a good day, are a mess. I need to rediscover this Jesus. The Jesus who flipped the paradigm and painted the clearest picture of our true selves — a picture of broken, hurting, imperfect individuals. But, instead of framing that picture in condemnation, he framed it in love, in redemption. The soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks, a new and glorious morn.

I don’t know if 2021 will be new and glorious. The issues we face aren’t going away just because we turn the calendar. But there is a new and glorious morn awaiting us.

We are weary and the world will bring challenges.

But the battle is already won. The story begins with a baby in a manger, but doesn’t end with a grave. It ends with a glorious morn — with an eternity that we can’t even begin to imagine.

Though the battle is won, I pray that in this advent season we don’t ignore or dismiss the causes of our weariness. I pray we don’t cover up injustice with platitudes but instead, turn to the One who came to stamp out all injustice, then do our part to combat it.

I pray, in this season and all seasons, that we seek out the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, the persecuted. That we be living proof of the new and glorious morn awaiting us on the other side of eternity.

I pray we be what the world can’t, what the world won’t. We show them this love… this indescribable, thrilling hope that Jesus entered the world to lay on the hearts of His people.

May the peace of Jesus cover you and your family this season. May the thrill of hope encourage you and motivate you through this season and the next. May we rejoice because of this Baby boy, this Emmanuel, born thousands of years ago, but with us even today.