How are you feeling? How are you enduring? How are you processing your faith, your emotions, your energy? Today, I'm reminded of a thanksgiving in the past when I felt completely exhausted and inadequate. Maybe that's how you feel today, too. In that exhaustion and inadequacy, I find an incomparable thankfulness that Jesus--even when things seem so bleak--is more than enough to bring abundant life.
A few years ago, I ran a 5K on Thanksgiving with my whole family—three kids and two strollers. As we crossed the finish line the announcer said, “Welcome the stroller team!” The race was through the heart of the city of Portland and over two of the prominent bridges that connect that city. As I pushed my daughter and trudged along through the rain and wind, my legs grew tired. They ached, and I kept pushing forward, but I slowed down. Then, I realized my “jog” was the same speed as my walking. My daughter shouted, “Go like a rocket ship!” But I was spent. I stopped and let her run alongside my wife, and I walked a few hundred yards across the bridge before picking up my jog again and finishing out strong alongside Mirela.
I wasn’t strong enough to make it the whole way. I didn’t have the endurance to push my daughter the entire way. I was weak. In those two hundred yards on the bridge, I looked out over the city, our city, and in that moment I prayed, “God, I’m not strong enough to save this city, to help it, to endure, or to push people to you.” This prayer is evidence of God’s grace. So much of my time in Portland was spent running hard, pushing, striving, and attempting to be enough. The sin of this is not simply the delusion, but the rebellious stealing glory from God and proclaiming the “gospel of Brad.” Repentance began on that bridge with me praying, “I’m not enough; You are.”
This is the expectant prayer of all who serve Jesus as King. It brings us to the point of recognition that we are not enough. We know our world is in need of peace, hope, and love, and yet it is revealed to us that we are not enough to bring it to ourselves, let alone our families, let alone our city.
As we turn our hearts toward Advent, remember: Jesus, even as a baby, was more than enough for the world. This is the power of the incarnation. The story of God becoming a baby is also the story of God becoming King. John’s incarnation narrative, John 1:1-14, differs from Luke and Matthew. In it he simply writes, The Word was made flesh.
Jesus was born into this world with nothing to prove. He was born the King of kings and the Prince of peace. The invitation to the shepherds that night was to come and behold the promised one and salvation of God reaching into our world. This is the same invitation to all who become citizens of that kingdom: behold the King!
God’s first coming transforms us from refugee to citizen of the kingdom of God. We were once bound to the kingdom of darkness, alienated and estranged from God. Now have been transferred into the kingdom of glorious light. No longer do we scavenge for a place in this world. No longer are we resigned to being our own king. No longer do we establish earthly kingdoms. Instead, Christmas reminds us we have found our home in Jesus our King, and our lives are shaped by life in His kingdom of compassion, grace, forgiveness, love, and hope.
Today, I'm thankful for the king who came to make all things new!
Preparing Room
This 25 Day Devotional Leading Up to Christmas is a great resource for individuals and families to process through. You can also listen to each day on Spotify.