The Long Game
I wanted to share a quick little post this Christmas season.
A couple of years ago I listened to the song Seasons by Hillsong. This song is incredible for so many reasons, and I cannot recommend giving it a listen enough. I think particularly in Winter, it is easy to feel darkness slip in. Once Christmas is over, the long cold months can seem like they linger on. This song, and the story of Christ, reminds us that it can be okay to grieve and there are seasons of difficulty. However, even through those seasons we can have hope.
Which brings me to the title of this post.
One of the lines in the song that has meant so much to me was “You could have saved us in a second, instead you sent… a child”.
And honestly, the first time I heard that I was floored. I had never really thought about that. God could have easily just shown up on the scene as a 30 year old and gotten to work. I mean, it would have been easy!
But what did he do instead?
He came as a baby. He lived 30 years, experienced life for 30 years, before really even starting his ministry.
This is honestly kind of puzzling to me, and I can’t tell you why He did this exactly. But to me it is so deeply part of the wonder and mystery of God. That he plays the long game. He knows that on Earth things aren’t always instant. They can be (I mean, He’s God), but it isn’t always that way.
I hope you can dwell and think about that reality this season. I believe we learn about what God is like when we recognize that Jesus was fully man and fully God. We know that God can work in a moment. He can call order to chaos in a second. He can change water into wine in a second. Heal a man with one word.
But we learn that also… some things take time.
Jesus came to Earth as a baby and with Mary and Joseph, he experienced life. And it took 30 years before He did what most people consider the primary part of his ministry.
I hope this Christmas, wherever you are with your emotions, mental health, relationships, addictions, finances, or hopes…. that God can work in a second - but he also plays the long game. And sometimes those long seasons yield the most amazing things.
