What season are you in and what’s the purpose for it? Maybe you’re working full time with little kids. It can feel overwhelming, but it’s a season. Some people are taking on new jobs and there may be seasons where they have to make sacrifices for the family. Some people are starting new companies and going through seasons of sacrifice to get it off the ground. Others may be in a place of retirement, but we still have to manage it. Just do your best to recognize the season and make room to breathe in it. How do we do that? Take a day of rest each week. No matter the season, the Biblical principle of the Sabbath, or a day of rest and worship, was important. Say no to the good so you can say yes to the best. Sometimes you have to say no to good things in one season to give yourself to the best things for that season. Create a stop doing list. It’s so helpful once a year or so to stop and create of list of things you need to stop doing so you can give yourself to the most important things. Fight to get some margin in your life so you don’t lose perspective. 

I hope God restores the old wound you’re carrying. I hope God answers all of your prayers for healing. Your life will never be right until you’re right with God. He has already initiated the process. Just like Jesus in the crowd, He’s looking, He’s calling out your name. There are a lot of people in this world. We might feel like a face in the crowd, but are we going to come forward and speak to Jesus face-to-face? When we reach out, He seeks us out. C.S. Lewis once said, “Man’s search for God is like the mouse’s search for the cat.” We think we’re the ones firing it up, but it’s something He initiated a long time ago. Because God wants a restored relationship with us, and He’s already paid the price to make things right.

A lot of things in life can make you feel like a face in the crowd. You go to a place like the DMV and you literally become a number. You try to go to restaurant at 7 on a Friday night without reservations...good luck. Prepare to be one in the crowd. People can even bring this mindset to God thinking that He’s too busy to listen to our little concerns. He’s too important to be bothered. Or, how could He ever give personal attention to me when there are hundreds of millions of people praying right now? But God can pick you out of a crowd. You’re not a number to God—you’re a person. You will not be overlooked. You will not be ignored. You will be noticed even if you don’t want to be.  

Some of us have that thing in our lives we want to stay hidden. Maybe it’s an addiction, a behavior you keep secret, a weakness, a stronghold of sin, a thing that’s bleeding you dry and draining your life away…the thing that is getting worse and worse. We may think the worst thing in our lives is if someone found out. The real worst thing is not bringing it to Jesus and seeking His healing. Some of us are seeking solutions everywhere; we’re trying to handle it on our own. We need to bring our troubles to Jesus. Maybe you’re doubting, you’re scared, you don’t know about God, you think He’s mad, you think He doesn’t care, or you think He’ll judge you. Listen, we can’t be stubborn when we have a nail in our heart. Instead we need to go to our nail-scarred Savior and He will begin to restore us. That’s why we have a motto around Central Church: it’s okay to not be okay. Without God, no one is okay. Everyone comes to God in a full-on, NOT okay state. With His grace and action within us, He can turn old wounds we want to hide into a new story of restoration we want to share. Jesus meets people at their worst to offer His best.

In my wife Lori’s book, My Name is Victorious, she writes about the Japanese art of Kintsugi, meaning “to patch with gold.” When using the Kintsugi technique, the artist takes broken ceramics or pottery and reassembles the pieces in an unusual way. Typically, restoration of damage is done so breaks are hidden and concealed, making the item as good as new. Kintsugi, however, uses precious metals such as gold and copper to reattach the shards and highlight the breaks instead of hiding them. The pottery becomes artistically better than new and can even become more valuable. Kintsugi is an art making broken things more beautiful than before they were broken. Isn’t that just like God? He’s in the business of healing hurts. He is the master at taking the broken pieces of our lives, restoring them, and making them even more beautiful than they’ve ever been. He loves restoring broken people and turning the damaged areas into gold. God can make your brokenness beautiful.

We’re not alone in our struggle. God has not abandoned us. He has passion for us. He longs to restore us. He wants to know us. He wants us to know Him. We may desperately want God to restore our body. We may desperately want God to restore a relationship in our lives. We may desperately want God to restore our finances, to restore a dream we have, to restore a place—where we feel wounded, broken, and damaged. I hope and pray He will, but God is desperate to restore your broken relationship with Him. God is desperate to call you daughter. God is desperate to call you son. Then, and only then, do you get to “go in peace,” (see Mark 5:34).

No matter what excuse you bring to God as to why you cannot be used by Him, the answer is always the same—I’ll be with you. God, I’m too weak morally, spiritually, physically. I’ll be with you. God, I have no skills or talents—I’m totally unqualified. I’ll be with you. God, I’m not smart and I never did good in school. I’ve never met a test I could not bomb. I’ll be with you. God, I’m not a brave person. I am not bold. I’m a total introvert who makes everything awkward. I’ll be with you. God, I am totally overwhelmed and tired. I’ll be with you. God, I don’t know if I can handle it. I’ll be with you. God, I am totally unqualified! I’ll be with you. He does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called. 

We’ve all had moments from our past we’d like to forget. Lots of pictures we’d like to burn. Not just embarrassing stuff, but painful stuff. Hurtful things people have said or done. Ways we’ve hurt others. Words we’d like to take back. Our pasts are filled with things that can work against us in the present. The Bible calls them sin. Sin just means to miss the mark. To fall short. And if we’re all honest, we’ve all had moments when we have fallen short, and the past has this power to take your mistakes and failures and beat you over the head with them. The past can rob us of joy in the present and rob us of hope in the future. That’s why I love what the Bible says about what Jesus did for us on the Cross. 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 (NLT): “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus has solved the problem of our sin—our past. Through faith in Jesus, we have the victory. Death is not the end, doubts are not the end, and difficulties are not the end. Through faith in Jesus we receive forgiveness from our past and a new life in Him. Thankful for that truth.

God has done so much for us. He wants to give us a new name and a new identity that says we’re a winner in Jesus Christ. We share in His victory. We share in His accomplishments. We’re forgiven because of what He did. We can begin to walk in faith, following him–each day of our life. We’re qualified because God qualifies those He calls. We just need to recover our real name: a forgiven child of God. We need to go with the strength we have and remember who is with us—the God who draws straight lines with crooked sticks. We just need to have faith. 

If you struggle with your past, I want to challenge you with this: Be more concerned with what God has done in the past than what you have done in the past. If you are going to look to the past, you might as well look past your own past and into the life that Jesus lived on earth. Here is God in the flesh, and what do you see Him doing? He heals the sick. He gives sight to the blind. He has compassion for people at the end of their rope. He hangs out with prostitutes and tax collectors and other notorious sinners. He becomes good friends with them. Enlists them in a new future. When Jesus was nailed to the cross by your sins and my sins, you know what He said? “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.” Jesus died to save you from your past, not to condemn you for your past. He died to forgive you and make your past history. He died to give you a new story. He died to give you a new hope and full life. Never forget that. Your past does not determine your potential. God’s grace determines your potential. Put your faith in Him.

Give in to God, but don’t give up. Don’t give up because it’s tough. Don’t give up when your family or friends hurt you. Don’t give up when you’re loved ones don’t back you. Don’t give up when your life flips upside down. Don’t give up when your plan goes from clear to crazy. Don’t give up when people kick you while you’re down. Don’t give up when you can’t see a way out. Don’t give up when you can’t see a way up. Don’t give up when you can’t see hope. Don’t give up when you can’t see the dream anymore. Don’t give up when you can’t see God anymore. Don’t give up when you don’t feel strong enough. Don’t give up when you don’t feel talented enough. Don’t give up when you don’t feel qualified. Don’t give up when you don’t feel like you have what it takes. Don’t give up when you don’t think you can. Don’t give up when circumstances are insurmountable. Don’t give up when difficulties seem overwhelming. Don’t give up when you are denied opportunities because of your background, or your mistakes, or your gender, or your race or your faith. Don’t give up when you see others quit. Don’t give up when you see others blame. Don’t give up when you see others reach their dreams. Don’t give up when you see others move ahead of you. Don’t give up when others get promoted over you. Don’t give up when others seem so much happier than you (on social media, don’t worry – they’re not!) Don’t give up when it hurts. Don’t give up when you’re tired. Don’t give up when it’s hard. Don’t give up when you fail. Don’t give up when it’s impossible, when it’s inevitable, when it’s unlikely, when it’s unpopular. Don’t give up because at just the right time you will receive a harvest of blessing. Don’t give up! Don’t give up, but do surrender to God.

How do we break through the labels and live up to God’s potential? By recovering our real name and utilizing the strengths we have. We may not feel like a hero, but the Bible says, “Mighty hero! The Lord is with you!” (Judges 6:12). We may not feel like His forgiven and beloved child, but that is what He has named us. We may not feel like someone who’s empowered by the Holy Spirit, but with faith we can embrace that identity. What others call you is not reality. The name God calls you IS reality. It supersedes all other names, even the ones you call yourself. Recover your new name and who God made you to be. Embrace your new identity through faith.

Expectations usually don’t match reality. And one expectation people have is that the more God loves us the fewer problems we’ll face. Because if God is for us, who can be against us? He’s all powerful. He’s all loving. We’re friends. We’re all good. We’re tempted to see God’s love through the lens of our life situation. When life is good, God is good. But when life is bad, God is mad, or distant. Instead, see your situation through faith. Choose to see your situation from the angle of God’s love, rather than see God’s love from the angle of your situation.

God has spoken clearly about who you are as a person. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world.” If you are a part of the world, God loves you. Verse 17 goes on to say, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.“ God desires everyone to be saved. The baseline for you as a person is that you’re loved and deemed worthy of saving. Has anyone ever told you that? Next the Bible says that by the simple act of believing Jesus is the sinless Son of God who gave His life for yours, you become a child of God. That means you have God’s special attention and blessing. It means you’re part of this new, amazing thing He is doing called the Kingdom of Heaven. It means you’re gifted with God-given abilities to make a difference in the lives of others. It means you have an eternal inheritance awaiting you as a part of God’s family forever. It means God’s own spirit is living inside of you, helping you grow and recover your new identity.

How do we hope again? Reject your rejections. Remember that God knows you and He chose you for blessing, protection, growth and joy. See God’s hand in your hardships. When suffering increases in your life don’t buy the myths that God doesn’t care and that the suffering will never end. Everything has a season, and God uses those seasons to purify your faith to trust in Him. Lastly, go to the ultimate source. God offers the solid hope that you can build every other hope upon. We are right to expect great things from a great God who has great plans and always—and by always I mean always—keeps His promises. As Peter said, “So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead.”

Every time you find yourself complaining, switch to the gratitude line. Use that moment to thank God for something. If your knee hurts, give thanks that you can walk. Being able to walk is a gift. If your car needs a repair, and you find yourself getting angry, give thanks to God that you have a car to take you places. Having a car is a gift. When your kids will not give you any personal space, give thanks that are not yet teenagers who never come out of their rooms. And when they are teens in their room, give thanks that they are home, and not off living their own life yet. And when they are living their own life, give thanks you all made it through their teen years without killing anyone. When you wake up and need to go to work for another week, give thanks that God provides. If you’re struggling to find work, thank God for the time and the rest as you pray for work. Work and rest are both gifts. It’s really tempting to get in that complaints line even going to church. But instead thank God there is a place to come and focus on the reason for the season. 

One of my favorite pieces is from a sermon by Pastor S.M. Lockridge.  It’s called “That’s My King.” Lockridge says, “My King was born King. He’s the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He’s enduringly strong and entirely sincere. He’s eternally steadfast. He's immortally graceful. He's imperially powerful. He's impartially merciful. He's God's Son. He's the sinner's savior. He's the centerpiece of civilization. He's honest. He's unique. He's unparalleled. He's unprecedented. He's supreme. He's pre-eminent. He's the grandest idea in literature. He's the highest personality in philosophy. He's the miracle of the age. He's the superlative of everything good that you choose to call Him. He supplies strength for the weak. He's available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and He saves. He's the Almighty God who guides and keeps all his people. He heals the sick. He cleanses the lepers. He forgives sinners. He discharged debtors. He delivers the captives. He defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards the aged. He rewards the diligent and He beautifies the meek.  That’s my King.” Lockridge says, “Do you know him?  He’s the master of the mighty. He’s the captain of the conquerors.  He’s the head of the heroes of the overcomers. He's the leader of the legislatures. He's the governor of governors. He's the prince of princes. He's the King of kings and He's the Lord of lords. That's my King. His office is manifold. His promise is sure. His light is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His Word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is righteous. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He’s always been and always will be. I'm talking about the fact that He had no predecessor and He'll have no successor. There's nobody before Him and there'll be nobody after Him. That's my King!”

The Christmas story is about the fact that even in the midst of the hassle and the difficulty, God has come near to you so that you can come near to Him. You can come near to Him in the middle of a health situation. In the middle of a tough work situation. In the middle of a hard family situation. You can come near to Him no matter what you are facing or what you are going through in your life.  We have to experience it more than just a surface acknowledgement that Jesus was born.  We have to come to a place where through faith, we begin to allow that to change our perspective. Jesus himself said this: “I am the light of the world.  If you follow me you won’t have to walk in darkness because you will have the light that leads to life.” When you are in the darkness of loneliness, depression, addiction or pain – He is the light that can not only lead you out, but can also lead you to life. 

This holiday season, spend and give in honor of the One who spent all He had to give you all you need. Invest that extra time and effort in honor of celebrating Jesus. Resist all the temptations to just meet expectations, rather than share the joy of the holiday. Share God’s love with an ever-growing family, making room for their faults and room for the forgotten, because Jesus came to this messy, crowded world to save us from our sins and love us all the way to heaven.

Christmas means you are inherently loved and valued because God says you were worth fighting and dying for. Christmas means you are not alone in your challenges; that God shows up to comfort you in suffering and works His good in all things. Christmas means you are never trapped and condemned by your shortcomings or all the bad things you've done. You don't have to pay for your mistakes at God's feet. Jesus already has. Grace, hope, forgiveness and true love: it was all born Christmas day. That is good news. Receive it—really receive it—and Christmas will start to come to life in you despite the mess. It’s not about a having the perfect Christmas; it’s about celebrating the perfect Savior.