Reflection: “We light this 5th advent candle, the candle of faithfulness, to draw attention to God’s trustworthiness. The Lord is all-powerful and able to do anything, yet He relies not upon His power or might to draw humanity to Himself, but rather shows them His goodness, His power put into purpose. He made a covenant, a holy agreement, with Noah and his descendants, and symbolized His goodness in a rainbow. Later, God sharpened His focus and extended a covenant to the people He would set free from slavery and call His own, Israel. Although God is Lord and Master over every people group on the planet, He took this nation Israel for His own to receive His law so that they would show Him and His ways to all. Sadly, Israel as a whole nation and with few exceptions, would neglect this great responsibility as God’s chosen people. Yet, while Israel and all of humanity show faithlessness and failure, God’s faithfulness is greater. He not only says to Israel through the prophet Isaiah that He will restore them, but that His new covenant will include not only Israel but all people who call upon His name. God’s goodness does not shut the gates and leave us out in the cold just because we may not come from a certain tribe, have a certain amount of wealth, or look a certain way. Rather, He looks into the heart of a man, the heart He created, to judge whether that person truly loves Him and desires to keep His ways. It is not a matter of race, rich, poor, any other way we tend to divide people that truly matters to God. Rather, He is looking and gathering those would love Him and keep His ways. God is faithful in His promises to humanity, and in the birth of Jesus Christ, God is saying to the world, “behold my promise is being kept to the fullest in My begotten Son”.

It is through this Son of God and in a relationship with Him, that Ezekiel’s words come true. God does not simply expect us to be good on our own strength. Instead, He gives us a new heart, a heart of flesh that would love Him. He imprints His ways into our lives so that instead of trying on our own gumption only to fail again and again, we would simply submit and let Jesus Christ have the control in our lives He has rightfully earned. God is trustworthy in every covenant, every agreement, every promise He has ever made, from Adam to Noah, from Abraham to His nation Israel, and the greatest proof of this is in His Son Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate this Christmas. It is the same Jesus placed in a manger, that seeks those who would place Him in the manger of their hearts and lives.

Prayer: Faithful and True God, thank you for never turning your back on us even when our wrongs made us deserve it. Grant us your hope, your peace, your love, and your joy, all based on your faithfulness to us because you love and cherish us and have proven that to all by sending your Son Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.