The other day I had one of those moments where I dwelled a bit on the whole idea of Jesus, Son of God, coming to Earth as a human. I’d been reading about the solar system with my five-year-old, and Christmas season was rapidly approaching. NASA had a rocket launch and a lunar eclipse was happening, so I had set an alarm to make sure I got up in time to see the orange-red moon. All of those things were swirling inside my head – our smallness, the vastness of the universe and what we claim is true about Christmas.
I let it simmer; I followed the train of thought for a while.
My conclusion: it’s absolutely ludicrous to say that the Creator of it all would come to Earth as a being He created, in full human form. To be that tiny, that arguably insignificant. The more I thought about it, the more farcical it seemed. Of course some nonbelievers think it’s a bit crazy that we celebrate a baby being born, and we claim that He is God himself. I get why it seems foolish.
Speaking of foolishness, I’ve been running into repeated sin patterns in my own life lately that I just can’t shake. I’ve confronted them, confessed them to God and to other believers, asked for God’s help, but still they creep up over and over.
Why is that?
Why do I do the things I don’t wanna do?
That phrase comes from a We The Kingdom song called SOS, which harkens to Romans 7 and Paul’s grappling of flesh and spirit, of sin and grace:
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[e] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
And this is when I’m reminded that as real as this world is, in all its beauty, culture, and people, there is a spiritual reality that we can’t see but also can’t truly deny. It is that truth that brings me back from the foolishness — yes, it’s wild that God came to Earth as a human, and it’s infuriating at times that I can’t kill certain sins for good. But looking at it all through the viewpoint of Scripture, God loves to do things that seem foolish to the world.
1 Corinthians 1: 20-25
20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. 22 It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. 23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.
24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles,[a] Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.
So as long as I am here on Earth I know I will continue to put to death the sins that are waging a war against my soul, knowing that God has ultimately already taken care of them by coming down to deal with them himself. Do I understand it all? No, but that’s ok.
As I recognize the repeating sins I need to put to death, I also have the power of God to put on a compassionate heart, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience – things very foreign to my typical inclinations.
So this Advent season, don’t be afraid to lean into the crazy -- the idea that Jesus really was the Son of God and really came to Earth as a baby and really did put to death once and for all the sins that so easily entangle us. Because that foolishness is wiser than the wisdom of the world. And that baby brought us power to overcome the wars waging within us. We might be fighting them every day until we die, or we might see victory over them quickly, but either way, we know that we don’t have to make sense of it all. We get to lean into the crazy.
ABOUT OUR BLOGGER
Originally from Georgia, Mary Beth Gombita is a lover of sweet tea, a proud Georgia Bulldog and an avid music fan. She works in public relations, running her own communications consulting business from home. Mary Beth and her husband, Stephen, have two young sons.
She is currently the editor of our Willowdale Women blog.