ADVENT - “Revealing Truth to the Ordinary”

Happy Monday, and welcome back to our Advent Meditation devotional series, where we're spending the days leading up to Christmas reflecting on Jesus Christ and the hope His arrival and eventual return brings us. This week, our time together will focus on the prayers of Jesus and how they give us profound insight into the things that occupied His mind and burdened His heart. They reveal what matters most to Him. Prayers put to words the emotions, thoughts, and concerns rumbling deep in our souls. So, with this in mind, before we begin, I want to provide space for you to pray over the things you feel burdened about, asking God for wisdom, humility, and guidance.

Matthew 11 opens up with a familiar scene - Jesus rebuking the Pharisees for their hypocritical and misguided nature. Jesus often reserved His sharpest criticism for the religious teachers blinded by legalism and control. They knew the law inside and out but repeatedly missed the point and distorted the truth. Pride kept them from experiencing godly wisdom and embracing Jesus' teaching.

At this moment, Jesus looks over at His ragtag group of disciples and the following crowd. Touched by their humility, faith, and devotion, Jesus utters a prayer of thanksgiving to God in Matthew 11:25-26 that says:

25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do."

Rather than calling the wise, Jesus sought the unwise. Instead of the strong, He intentionally chose the weak. The disciples having "ordinary" jobs was a telling sign. It meant they couldn't cut it in religious circles. All the other rabbis overlooked them. They weren't religious scholars, scribes, or Pharisees. Yet, these individuals helped spur on a movement that has impacted this world like nothing else. And let's take it a step further. Not only did Jesus call ordinary people to be part of His inner circle, but He also had compassion for the broken, outcast, overlooked, and marginalized. They were the people He called his friends.

That same calling applies to you. God welcomes you to be part of His Church. Not only does God invite you, but also He sees YOU as a critical piece of the puzzle of making His name known. 1 Corinthians 1:27 says, "God chooses the weak things of the world to shame the strong."

Jesus wants us to trust Him because He understands that trust paves the way to obedience and worship. When we obey His truth because we believe His heart, our willingness becomes a response to worth. God doesn't want compliant robots but rather trustful children. So we work to understand not just the rules but the relationship and the One who is asking us to trust Him. We do this by recognizing that God's truth is relational. If we remove truth from trust, we reduce it. It becomes something less, and we become something less.

Often, our justifications for sitting on the sidelines are because "I don't know enough," "I'm not talented enough," or "I don't have it all together." My response to those excuses would be: welcome to the club. None of us have it all together. Each one of us stumbles and fails. God didn't choose you because you are perfect but because you are His son or daughter. Living out of the security leads to a willingness to trust bravely, serve humbly, and be used faithfully. So, today embrace being an ordinary individual, but one who carries the message of the extraordinary love of Christ.

REFLECT

Before we wrap up our time together, we want to provide you some space to respond to what we read and maybe to what God is trying to say to you. First, take a moment to process this question…How can you embrace God’s wisdom with humility and faith?

Another question to consider is this…What would it look like for Christ's strength to be seen in your weakness? 

PRAYER

Father God, may I turn my eyes towards You, listen to You, and learn from You. I don't want just knowledge of You; instead, I desire to know Your heart. May the depth of my relationship with You cause a change in my character. I yearn to learn more about You to trust and obey. In Your name, Jesus. Amen.