Third Sunday in Advent

A Portrait of Loyalty

Any dog owner has witnessed loyalty. As I work in my home office to the background whisper of Silver Bells, my dog rests at my feet. If I watch a movie with my wife, my dog reclines against the base of the couch. The familiar warmth of his weight and grunt of his snoring alert me to his presence. If I stand and walk to the kitchen to snatch a warm Christmas cookie, he wakes up, rises, and follows on my heels. He stays with me wherever I go like a third shoe I don’t need. I say sit, he sits. I say go out, and he trots outside and rolls in the yard. Never gone for long, he saunters back inside, his coat speckled with dried yellow grass, and resumes his spot at my feet. What an unblemished portrait of loyalty! 

 Malachi brought an indictment about loyalty against Israel (2:10–16), raising three disputes. He charged his people with unfaithfulness to himself because they returned to idolatry; they betrayed loyalty to him; and they violated their commitment to their wives. Though they upheld their rituals to God, the Israelites’ hearts lay elsewhere. Foreign women and their idols teased them away from their devotion to God, their father (v. 10). They traded their covenant with God for the allure of the world. 

 And God took their actions personally. He detested their chasing after foreign deities. He despised their hypocritical reverence. He hated the abuse of their wives. 

 Israel broke faith with God. Their behavior toward him stood in stark contrast to his perpetual faithfulness to them. These habits warranted God’s judgment and still do today. God is serious about loyalty. 

 The distractions of Christmas easily interfere with the truth of our celebration. The rustling, ripping of wrapping paper sometimes overpowers basic hospitality. The cinnamon scent of wassail sometimes diverts us from noticing others’ needs. 

 So, let’s take a moment to look on the nativity and recall the faithfulness of God. May we ponder how he kept his promise in giving us the Messiah. And may it motivate us to stay faithful to our heavenly father. During this Christmas season, may our faith break forth with renewed faithfulness to God and his purposes. Let’s focus on him for his character and his work. Let’s stir the flames of authentic loyalty by obeying him.  —Andy Hudson

Prayer: 

Our Father and our God, thank you for who you are. Thank you for your faithfulness to your Word, even today. Forgive me for the times I have been unfaithful to you, for my insincere worship, disobedience, and mistreatment of others. Please point out to me areas where I am unfaithful to you, times when I disobey, and people I hurt. Please transform these areas in my life and make me more like your Son. In his name I pray, Amen. 

He will come again in glory

to judge the living and the dead

And his kingdom will have no end.

If you are doing an Advent wreath, the mother or senior woman present lights the two previously lit purple candles followed by the rose candle. The purple candles have symbolized the prayer, repentance, and preparation undertaken to prepare for the Lord’s arrival. The rose candle is lit on “Gaudete Sunday” (gaudium is Latin for “rejoice”), a day of “rejoicing,” because we have arrived at the midpoint of Advent, when the preparation time is now half over and we are close to Christmas. The progressive lighting of these candles symbolizes our expectation and the hope surrounding our Lord’s first coming into the world. With anticipation we also look toward his second coming to judge the living and the dead.

Photo credit: Juan Gomez on Unsplash