Advent Devotional Resource - San Francisco Theological Seminary

Saturday, December 5Jude 17-25Fire. It’s a racer’s greatest fear—or at least ranks in the top three. Race car drivers and builders alwaysprep for the worst. They live on this fine line, pushing the envelope of safety. They build cars to gofast, but as they get faster, they also try to build them safer, encasing themselves in metal, foam, andrubber. They calculate where weaknesses may be and where breaks may occur, and then force themto occur where the cars may fall apart, but the driver is left intact. They build everything to keep thedriver in, secure and safe, to roll (sometimes literally) with the punches, except when it comes to fire.When it comes to fire, racers want to get out as quickly as possible. Fire is unpredictable, fierce, fastmoving, all consuming, and destructive. All of the safeties drivers put around them to keep them safewill only destroy them in the site of fire. They have to get out, leave them (their safeties) all behind toescape that which will consume them to the end.We are the same. In this race we call life, we ride in the fast lane. We pursue our pleasures and ourresponsibilities at breakneck speed. We try to “protect” ourselves with insurance and financial security.We cushion ourselves with family, friends, hobbies, and recreations of all varieties. Yet, this is allvulnerable to the fire that would consume us to the end. None of these things will protect us from it.On the contrary, they often bind us in place so that we can’t escape.Enter Christ, baby warrior, to protect the masses. Where the Jews looked for a victorious conqueror,God sent a sacrificial surrender of the heart. When they sought protection and deliverance in the fleshin the present, God gave it in the spiritual, the eternal and everlasting. God called them and us to laydown their/our conventional safeguards and run to true safety—run to Him.In this Advent season, let us not become trapped by our comforts, presuppositions, or rituals, but findfreedom in the relationship, in God’s presence.“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence withoutfault and with great joy!” (24)Ms. Tina KollmannSFTS staffDirector, Raceway Ministries of California, Bay Area