25 Days of Advent: Forged for our Hope – Day 8

I pulled open the cupboard door and clutched a shiny clean glass. Making my way over to the refrigerator, I placed the glass beneath the water dispenser firmly pushing against the lever. Crisp cool water began to pour in the cup.

Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of my disheveled, hot mess of a reflection in the glossy microwave door. And apparently I paused far too long for soon enough I could hear the patter of water bouncing off the kitchen floor. Caught up in a moment of vanity, I allowed my focus to shift from what needed my attention to something that simply did not and, in the end, all I accomplished was making a mess.

More often than not, our disheveled hot mess is on the inside as opposed to the outside. And more often than not we allow the disheveled hot mess to cast a long dark shadow over our identity.

The Pharisees were able to cover these less-than-lovely flaws with robes of righteousness. By following in patterns of rules and regulations, they were able to feel a sense of control over what others witnessed on the outside. The Pharisees were deeply devoted to the God they loved, but they worked hard to present an image of one without sin. They worked hard to cover their internal mess. And by doing this, they allowed their rules and regulations to become their identity.

But because God deeply loved His people, He desired to release them from their false god of righteousness and vanity. So He would send a Messiah with whom they could identify: one who would bring the people to freedom, finding their identify in Him.

Isaiah 11:1, Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.

The scripture is referring to king David, the eighth son of Jesse of Bethlehem. God made a promise of a branch the people could cling to, bringing with it new life and new identity. Not one prophet but several prophets made reference to a coming Messiah who would come from a place largely despised by the Jews. Because Nazareth held the Roman army for the Northern areas of Galilee, the Jews would have very little to do with Nazareth and its people.

Though born in Bethlehem, God would have Joseph and Mary take Jesus and flee to Egypt to escape the infant slaughter direct by king Herod. After a brief time in Egypt, Joseph has his sights on going to Judea but the Lord directed them to go to Nazareth and raise Jesus as a Nazarene. This was the fulfillment of His promise:

Matthew 2:23, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

We are forged for our hope when we can let go of our vanity and submit unto the identity God desires for us. Though we may have been born into a family or life circumstance that isn’t ideal, causing us to struggle greatly with our identity, the circumstances of life do not define us. The forging happens in the struggle, our hope is in a Messiah that claims us as His own.

All that is within Christ’s character God desires to birth within our own character. We must be careful not to shift our focus upon the things that do not matter for when we do, we allow those things to shape who we think we are. But what we think and what Christ thinks are not of the same mind. Claiming our identity in the Messiah, clinging to the branch He offers, will birth forth life from our old, and sometimes rotten, roots.

Father, give me strength as I am forged to claim my identity in you. Nothing of this world should capture my attention as greatly as you can. May I not shift my focus onto myself in vanity, a false attempt of feeling worthy of your grace and mercy. In Jesus name, amen.