Enter In

To be perfectly honest, we’ve been facing some tough times lately. It’s not the first difficult place we’ve been in, and I’m certain it won’t be the last. Sometimes the hardship has been financial, and other times relational, emotional, or spiritual. The source of the challenge doesn’t really matter. My go-to response is to try to rise above. I want to be better than my circumstances. I don’t want the nitty-gritty to get all over me. I get frustrated when I’m in the middle of the muck of a sin-tainted world.

I blame it on the Renaissance painters. You know, those paintings of Jesus where there’s a little space between Him and everyone else and He has a faint halo around His head and a serene expression on His face. Isn’t this what being a Christian looks like?

My life isn’t like that. The people in my life bump against me and make me spill my drink. Other times I stumble and fall and drop my stuff all over them. My life comes with a mess guarantee.

But because of Christ, my life comes with another guarantee, too. And it’s the guaranteed goodness of God, His unfailing love and faithfulness (Psalm 100:5). It cancels out the mess and makes something beautiful out of it.

Those painters got it wrong. Jesus didn’t live above difficult circumstances. He came right down into the middle of them. He entered in. He left His throne in heaven for a barn in Bethlehem. He didn’t make His headquarters a palace – He lived in the midst of the people and their problems. He touched them, listened to them, ate and drank with them. He wept. He laughed. He died. He got the full experience.

And in doing so He brought the light of heaven into the darkness of our mess. He brought redemption, forgiveness, righteousness, healing and hope. He brought everything that we longed for, that we were desperate for, right to our door.

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.” Revelation 3:20

This is grace. This is freedom. I don’t have to somehow pull myself up by my bootstraps. I don’t have to pretend that I’ve got it all together, that the challenges and hurts and obstacles in my life don’t bother me. I just need to open the door and let Jesus enter in. Then I get the reassuring presence of Christ. And He never comes empty-handed. He always brings all His transformative power and goodness with Him.

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.  Psalm 40:1-3