Advent Devotional from our DS's wife Robbie Craker

Saturday, First Week of Advent

Colossians 1:15 (The Message)-

We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.

On this final day of the first week of Advent we remember that Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end. He is the exact representation of God. When your heart is breaking, when your soul is dry, when your mind is questioning – remember Jesus. He has such great love for us that He set aside the splendor and glory of heaven to enter our world face to face with us – to show us the Father.

John 14:9

Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?” --NIV

"You've been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don't understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, 'Where is the Father?'” --CEV

“Philip, I have been with you for a long time. Don't you know who I am? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. How can you ask me to show you the Father?” –The Message

Father, Thank you for giving us Your Son, and for filling us with Your Spirit. In Your holiness You have become intimate with us. Help us, as we have been touched by You, to reach out and touch those around us who need to know You. We want to be Your hands and feet to our world. Amen

“O to be like Thee”…

O to be like Thee, full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wand’ring sinner to find.

O to be like Thee, oh to be like Thee,
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.