Verse of the Day for December 27

Paul reaches back to Isaiah: There shall be a root of Jesse. Jesse was David's father, and a root is what is left after a tree has been cut down. It is an Advent picture, life coming up from a stump.

Then the prayer. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. The title is unusual. God of hope. And the joy comes in believing, not in seeing. It is poured into people who still have questions.

The next verse is honest in a way that surprises. Paul tells the Romans they are able also to admonish one another. Joy and correction in neighbouring sentences. A joyful church is not one where nobody says anything hard.

Sometimes the most joyful thing a friend can do is give you the honest answer. Not the flattering one, not the safe one, but the true one, spoken by someone who believes God is still at work in you.

If someone asks you this week how you really are, at the gate after church or over suya in the evening, tell them. And if a friend needs a loving word of correction, give it gently. Hope can hold the truth.

Joy and honesty can live in the same friendship.

The God of hope fills people who are still believing, not yet seeing.