Prepare Him Room: Spiritual Readiness and Formation

The obedience of Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth to God’s law teaches us a great lesson this Advent season. Their obedience to the Law showed their love and devotion to God. But obedience does not just come in the form of following God’s commands. Obedience is also having faith and trust in God; faith is not just a feeling or a concept, faith is an action.

When Gabriel had a message from God that Zechariah and Elizabeth would have a son that would prepare the way for the Messiah, Zechariah did not initially respond in belief. Specifically, he did not have faith because of how old he and Elizabeth were. By not having faith, Zechariah’s unbelief was actually leading him to disobedience.

If we don’t obey in faith, then how are we going to be obedient in following Jesus’ commands? Being obedient in faith means keeping our eyes on Jesus, while unbelief comes when we look at ourselves or the circumstances around us, or follow our own feelings. Peter walked on water because of faith in Christ (Matthew 14:22-32). So, if we want to prepare him room this Advent season, let’s keep our eyes on Jesus and put our faith and trust in him, and in so doing, we will be obedient to his commands and what he has for us.