Christmas is such a joyful (and equally crazy) time of year. As Christians, we need to step back from the chaos and the to-do lists to spend time treasuring the Reason for the season. This time of treasuring is often referred to as Advent. And in this fastly approaching Advent season, I want to give you four ways to do your own Advent Bible study. It’s immensely important to take personal time worshipping the Lord during this (and every) Christmas season… not just for our sake, but because He deserves it.
Let me quickly explain what Advent is before I give you a few ways to do your own Advent Bible study.
What is Advent?
Technically, Advent season starts 4 Sundays before Christmas. Maybe you’ve seen your church light a candle every week or have heard sermons centered around hope, love, joy, and peace. Whether you’ve actively participated in it before or not, I want you to see it as more than just a tradition or religious practice. Simply put, Advent is faith filled, Jesus focused anticipation.
Christmas is a time to truly treasure Christ’s birth. It’s a season to joyfully celebrate God’s unfolding plan told since the beginning of time. The time leading up to Christmas (Advent) is a time to worship the Lord for His beautiful plan of redemption, for fixing your eyes on the One who saves, for giving thanks for what He has done, and for anticipating the rest of God’s glorious plan.
Why do an Advent Bible study?
It’s difficult to escape the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. But if we’re not careful, Christmas will become a distraction rather than a time of worship. Our enemy is working hard to use Christmas as a means to turn our attention away from the Lord. We need to equip our heart and mind by immersing ourselves in God’s Word (remember, it’s sharper than a two-edged sword).
By doing an Advent Bible study, you’re choosing to keep your eyes fixed on the importance of Christmas before spending time on the festivities. We all need to spend time in the Word, meditating on the height and the depth and the width of God’s plan for our salvation through Jesus Christ. To be in the anticipation of Jesus is the best place we can be.
Four Ways to Do Your Own Advent Bible Study
#1: Stick to tradition
Traditionally, each of the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas is focused on one of the four themes: hope, love, joy, and peace. This is a perfect landing spot for your own Advent Bible study. Spend one week studying each word. Look up verses that contain the word. Cross-reference them with other verses in scripture. Find a Bible story about the word and study that passage. Look up the definitions. Study the times when God displayed these words (both in the Old and New Testament). Pray and think about how you can apply that word to your own life. All you need is your Bible, a notebook, and pen (maybe some highlighters if you want to get fancy).
#2: Take the classic Christmas route
It’s more than okay to want to focus on Christ’s birth, the ultimate Christmas story. Find the passages in the gospel books (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and study them. Read them, then read them again, and again. Look up words that don’t make sense to you. Write down things that stand out to you, things you never noticed before. Maybe do a handful of Bible character studies on people like Joseph, Mary, Gabriel (the angel), etc. Compare the different accounts. There are so many ways to study the Bible. Don’t get caught up in the ‘how,’ just get caught up in His Word.
#3: Admire and treasure who He is
Advent is Jesus focused. So spend time admiring who Jesus is. Go through Psalms and find some of His attributes. Or read some stories in the New Testament and write down the attributes of Jesus you find. Spend some time thanking Him for who He is. Spend a day or week on one attribute. Look up the definition for it. Find other verses in scripture that talk about this specific attribute. Write down a prayer as you praise Him.
#4: Find the fulfilled prophecies
Start in the New Testament in the gospel books. Go through the stories on the birth of Jesus and see if you can find in the Old Testament the prophecies written about this amazing moment of time. Jesus’s birth, more importantly His reason for coming, has never been a secret to us. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, God revealed to us that Jesus will come to bring us salvation. It’s important for us to see that all of scripture ties together, that God keeps His promises, and that there has been a plan all along. Use your cross reference tool in your Bible and notice the quotations mid passage to help you find potential prophecies.
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Whether you missed the sale of some good Advent Bible studies out there (like I did) or simply need some ideas of how to spend time in your Bible this Christmas, I hope these 4 options will help you focus on the Reason for the season.
Advent is about keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus rather than the festivities. It’s faith filled, Jesus focused anticipation. Joyfully look forward to Christmas day and all that it entails. But let that joy well up from the excitement of celebrating Jesus’ birth as well as His second coming. Live in the joyful anticipation of seeing God’s plan unfolding. Have fun with Christmas, but have even more fun treasuring Jesus.
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