Elevation Point Church

We want to understand how things work. We desire to know how things work, why they work, and even why they don’t work. While that in and of itself is not bad, the Kingdom of God is different. It requires faith — which means it requires us to trust things that we may not be able to understand and/or explain. Because of this, we often stop short of seeing the completion of God’s plan in our lives. It is always tempting to quit things we cannot explain, or maybe to not even begin in the first place. However, freedom and growth is found in the moments we become ok with saying, “I don’t know.”

It’s easy for us to feel forgotten. It’s easy for us to feel unseen. Especially as we end another year, we can begin to feel as if what we’ve been believing for and working towards is in vain. Whenever we look back over another year that passed without us seeing a promise from God fulfilled, it’s natural to question if a) we misheard God or b) God has forgotten about us. Those questions often lead us to lose motivation, become lazy, or give up all together. However, continual faith and patience in the midst of those feelings of being forgotten is what brings about the desired end.

The Christmas story offers hope and joy — but it also offers important lessons. Each person that played a part in the story of Jesus’ birth was placed in a situation that did not make sense. They had reason after reason to doubt what was to take place, and they especially had reasons to doubt how they could be involved. We, too, often feel as if God’s plan for our lives is too impossible — too good to be true. We have our disqualifications, our misunderstandings, and our personal objections. Yet, while those may all be legitimate on the surface, God’s plan supersedes them all — just like what took place throughout the events in and around Jesus’ birth.

We tend to feel alone, when God is very much present. However, we miss Him for a variety of different reasons. We’re expecting something different, we’re wanting something different, we were told it would be something different. Yet, just because it’s not how we thought He’d show up, it doesn’t mean God didn’t show up. God is with you, but He may reveal Himself in different ways or places that you expected Him to.

It’s difficult to find rest when our lives appear to be in disarray. When the place we thought as safe, begins to take on water. When it’s too dark to see any signs of hope. When there are more reasons to worry than to trust. These moments can be discouraging — when we look at life and don’t see the pretty picture we hoped/believed for. It can seem like Jesus doesn’t care because we feel that He’s silent. But His silence, peace, and rest is not indifference — it’s trust. He knows that one bad picture doesn’t undo an entire story. Jesus has a way of refining even the worst of circumstances through His grace and power. It may not look picture perfect now, but the story isn’t finished yet.

With everything we face at times, it can feel overwhelming. Life can be overwhelming. Life can be painful. However, the solution isn’t to ignore it. The solution is to acknowledge that the difficulties are real, but God is stronger. And the easiest way to overcome feelings that seem overwhelming, is to focus on the times God delivered us from other times that felt insurmountable. It may seem like it’s too much to handle, as if we can’t deal. But as God has proven time and time again — with Him, we CAN deal.

There are times when we think we should feel connected with Jesus, but we feel disconnected. Because of all we’re doing for Him, we expect to feel close… but we still feel distant. Why? More often than not, it isn’t that we’ve lost connection with Him, it’s just that we’ve become so busy trying to check boxes that we’ve bogged down the connection and weakened the signal.

Life is busy. It’s full of things to do, reasons to worry, and problems to solve. We tend to get caught up in doing it all. Many of us even feel as if the more we’re doing, the more holy we are. But busyness does not equate holiness. In fact, the more tired we are from overexerting ourselves while trying to handle things we aren’t supposed to handle alone, the more we stray away from the way Jesus truly intended for it to be. Religion may say that the busier we are, the holier we are; however, Jesus never did. Instead, He volunteered Himself and said — when it seems to be too much to handle alone, pass it off to me.

The last year and a half has brought a lot of reasons to fear. Uncertainty, questions, unusual circumstances. The argument has been, “If you have faith, you’ll do this,” or, “If you have wisdom, you’ll do that.” However, as followers of Jesus, it’s not about having to choose between faith or wisdom. It’s about understanding that they work together.