“6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” – Isaiah 9:6-7
Have you ever gone through a period of your life where it felt like nothing was working? Like you’ve worked so hard on something – and in the span of about 6-minutes it all just fell apart?
In the past 6-weeks, I’ve had major breakdowns all over the place in my life. I’ve had a major car repair, a computer that needed to be replaced, a garage door that broke, and several other high-ticket items that have just gone bad/wrong/broke or busted. And after a while, it just feels like… Well… So much for my financial New Year’s Resolutions! 2025 hasn’t even started yet and it’s already 4th and long over here!
The thing of it is, everything that has broken is all just stuff. All of it can be fixed or replaced. What do you do when the things that aren’t working are things like your marriage? Or your battle against your addiction? Or your depression? Or the insecurity in you that’s driving your internal need for acceptance and validation? What if what’s broken is your relationship with your kids? Or your family? What if the things that aren’t working are things that can’t be replaced – because they have to do with who you are, or people in your life?
By far, the thing that broke that had me the most worried in the last month was a hard drive that went bad. It was a hard drive had 10-years of my photographs on it – both personal and professional. I couldn’t even think about the idea of losing all of that without getting sick to my stomach.
I took it to a data recovery company and thankfully they were able to recover the photographs and all the files on it. Finding that out was a gigantic relief that just melted me inside. It was such a weight off.
I also found out how much they’re going to charge me for this service. And you know how I felt about that? …Who cares?
How much are your memories worth to you? How much are your family photos and everything they represent worth? For most people, the photo albums are the first thing they’ll grab when their house is on fire. And there’s a good reason for it – they can’t be replicated or replaced!
In the Garden of Eden, God didn’t lose the memories and the pictures associated with His kids, He lost his actual kids. He lost the people themselves. So when He came up with a plan to get us back, what do you think his response was to the price?
I paid a stupid amount of money to get my pictures back. You think God wouldn’t pay infinitely more than that to get YOU back? It was part of His backup plan! It was God saying, “They’re going to need a counselor. They’re going to need my strength and might. They’re going to need me to be to show them what a father is and what a father does. And they’re going to need me to provide the peace that only my plan for bringing them back can bring!”
God knows you’re waiting this Christmas. And He knows you’re longing. And He met us in a manger to let us know – “My plan is in place – but I just need one thing from you: I need you to trust me enough to do your part in helping me restore what’s been lost with others. I’m so glad I’ve got you back – there’s no price I wouldn’t pay to get you back. But now I need you to step up and help me bring back someone else.”
Sometimes we get so caught up in what we’re waiting for that we kind of forget – we kind of lose sight – we kind of get blind to the fact that maybe the reason we’re still waiting for what we’re waiting for isn’t because we have to keep waiting. It’s because God is still waiting on us. You are made in the image of God – Jesus was the fullness of God’s image. That’s what the Bible says. And that means that we become more of what we’re supposed to become when we start putting faith into action and doing what we’re supposed to do.
This passage from Isaiah 9 isn’t God sitting around hoping, wishing, and praying on a Christmas miracle. This is God saying, “I’m going to get up and do something about this darkness. I’m going to do something about what’s been lost. I’m going to pay the price. I’m going to take on their flesh. I’m going to show them what it means – not just so they can sit around and feel a bunch of warm fuzzies – but so they know that their faith in me needs to be an action oriented kind of faith.”
I know you’re waiting for counsel. You’re waiting on some wisdom. It’s time to take some action and get to church regularly and into God’s Word daily.
I know you’re waiting for strength in areas you feel weak – it’s time to take some action in your relationships, in your marriage, in your work, in your character so you can exercise some spiritual muscle and get stronger in Him and weaker in your dependence on yourself.
I know you’re longing for unconditional love. It’s time to commit to finding that in Jesus and not on Tinder.
I know you’re longing for peace – it’s time to talk to a pastor, or a therapist, and stop longing for it and start getting to the root of what’s holding you back from it.
I know you’re longing for a world that’s better, and warmer, and healthier. Isn’t it time to stop talking about it and start putting your hands, and feet, and checkbook, and resources, and energy, and focus into putting your faith into action so that can get done? Isn’t that what Christmas is? It’s God taking action and saying, “This is my plan for the darkness.” And part of His plan is your participatin. It’s you putting hands and feet to your faith.
At Christmas, we’re reminded that the plan was never to just receive the gift. It was that those who receive it would be a part of restoring what was lost in other people. Restoring the image of God in even the least, the last, and the lost. Because that’s what God did for us…
There’s a level of faith, a level of joy, and a level of peace that’s only available when we realize that everything we’re longing for is already here and available. That’s the good news of Christmas. The plan has been executed. You’ve been restored. What was lost has been found. Which means that we’re not waiting on God for the plan. He’s waiting… on us.