Happy New Year!
I’m not much on New Year’s resolutions but do you ever choose a word for the year? Not like how demure was chosen by Dictionary.com as the word of the year 2024. This word gained viral fame on TikTok and before you knew it, it was everywhere. Well, I’m not sure I am demure, and I’m not talking about that kind of word of the year. I’m talking about choosing a word that is a theme for your year. In 2024, my word was PAUSE. Although I made vast improvements in this area in the past year, I still have a very long way to go. For 2025, I am thinking about making my word Maranatha. “What?!” you say. Let me explain.
Maranatha is an Aramaic word meaning “Come, Lord Jesus.” It is one of the earliest recorded prayers. We have just celebrated the season of Advent which is all about waiting for the coming of Christ. In fact, the Latin word adventus means come. There is real beauty in the spirit of expectancy that surrounds Advent, and I was wondering what it would be like to focus on that this year.
Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th century monk, said that Christ comes in three different ways:
In Bethlehem (at Christmas)
At the end of the age (Second coming)
In the lives of believers every single day.
Many of us don’t consider the fact that Jesus promised to return. In fact, I heard someone say at Bible study that she had never learned that He was coming again. Admittedly, it has been a long wait, but after studying the book of Matthew this semester, I was reminded that God’s slow return is for our benefit. He is long suffering in waiting for us to turn to Him. He pursues us, He woos us, He wants to be in relationship with us. One of my favorite verses is 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” God is patiently waiting for the optimal time in history to come again.
When I say Maranatha this year, I want to look expectantly to the Second Coming of Christ! I want to remember that He will come again, not as a helpless baby but as a victorious King, enthroned in power and riding on a cloud. He will come to make wrong things right.
In the meantime, I want to apply Maranatha expectancy to my everyday life; living a life that demonstrates that Christ is in me. I want to wait well, being steadfast and not losing hope. I want to believe that He is working even when I don’t see it. I want to wait with anticipation for Him to work in my life and the life of those I love.
Recently I have been practicing inviting Jesus into the daily circumstances and trials of my life. I pause and take a breath and say, “Jesus, I invite you into this situation.” This calls my attention to His presence in whatever I am going through at that moment. Sometimes, I forget that He is with me, and I try to handle everything in my own power. When I invite Him in, I recognize He is in control. Maranatha, Come, Lord Jesus Come.
Perhaps implicit in Maranatha is hope! If I believe Jesus will come again, I have to have hope. I have mentioned in previous blogs that I am a woman with “as yet, unanswered prayers” that bring real heartbreak for me. This season has been a blessing of reminders that God does what He does in His own timing.
There were many of what must have seemed like “unanswered prayers” around the time of Jesus' incarnation. (I don’t say birth because Jesus wasn’t actually born when He came to earth. He has always been!) God had been silent for over 400 years when Jesus came to Bethlehem. People must have given up hope. They must have felt God was not hearing their prayers. Or consider the aging Zechariah and Elizabeth (John the Baptizer’s parents found in Luke 1. John was Jesus’ cousin and the one who prepared the way for Him.) Imagine how many times they had prayed for a baby with no answer. When all hope was lost, when Elizabeth was well advanced in years, God gave her a child. Now I see it wasn’t that God wasn’t listening (and loving), it’s just that He does what He does in His own timing.
For 2025, I’m claiming Maranatha as a cry of hope. I think I will make Romans 15:13 the accompanying verse: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” There is so much HOPE in that verse and the result is He fills us with joy and peace.
That is my prayer for you in 2025. MARANATHA! May your year be filled with hope, joy and peace!
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
ABOUT OUR BLOGGER
Bonnie Kotler and her husband Mitch have two daughters, three sons, seven grandchildren and three grand-puppies. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years before re-entering the workforce after receiving her M.S. in Counseling and Human Relations from Villanova University. She is a licensed professional counselor at The Peacemaker Center and her own private practice, True North Counseling. Bonnie has been on the Willowdale women’s ministry teaching team since 2012. Bible studies have played a key role in her walk as a believer, and in turn, she loves to help other women find their peace with God and grow in their faith. She enjoys writing Bible study materials, reading fiction, spending time with family and doing anything in the sunshine. Bonnie loves to laugh and considers laughter as the best medicine. Psalm 126:2