Saturday, November 26, 2016

One Hundred Envelopes of Hope


Hebrews 11:1

 

The fabric of Christmas is hope.

 

When I was a little boy I was always the first one up on Christmas morning. One time I got up and opened not just my gifts, but everybody’s gifts. Being the youngest of four, as cute as Joey was, he was not very popular that year.

 

My brother is 12 years older than I am. When he was in college and living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, he didn’t have much money for himself let alone for his little brother’s Christmas gift. But he was very creative.

 

One Christmas I was up first, as usual. When I came downstairs it was still dark. All I could see was a pile of gifts under and around the tree, but there was also something that caught my eye. It looked like there were stalactites hanging from our living room ceiling.

 

When I turned the lights on, I discovered they weren’t stalactites at all, but several links of envelopes taped together, end to end. Eventually, I discovered that there were one hundred envelopes. The reason I know this is that each envelope had a shiny new penny in it. My brother had given me one dollar for Christmas, but it was one of the most memorable gifts I ever got.

 

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”.             Hebrews 11:1

 

As a little boy that Christmas coming down the steps, I had no idea what I was going to see around the corner. But I hoped that there would be great gifts waiting for me; and there was.

 

Christmas is full of hope in what we cannot see. However, it’s not just wishful thinking like that of a little boy coming down the stairs. It is being “certain of what we do not see”. For God sent His one and only son to die for us so that we might live.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We couldn’t hope for a better gift than that.

 

 
(If God has spoken to you through this devotional, please feel free to share it with others.)

 


 

 

 


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