I Will Come to You

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18

 Advent is the four week season of spiritual preparation leading up to the celebration of Christmas. It comes from the Latin word, Adventus, which means “coming”. During this season we focus on the coming of Christ in three ways:

First,  we look back to the birth of Christ in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago: “What Child is this who, laid to rest On Mary's lap is sleeping?”

Second, we look forward to the coming of Christ in glory at the end of time: “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!”

Third, we look to Christ's coming in the present. When Jesus said to his disciples, “I will come to you,” he wasn’t referring to the Second Coming, but to a many-splendored spiritual coming.

Among the ways he comes to us spiritually are the following: in providential events and deliverances, in answers to prayer, and in mysterious visitations of the Holy Spirit. He also comes disguised in the faces of the poor and needy (Matthew 25:40).

This Advent, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ in the past and focus our hope on the coming of Christ in the future, let us not neglect his spiritual coming here and now. For this is his promise: I will come to you.

Let us not neglect his spiritual coming here and now.