Confidence in Jesus

My youngest son is having hernia surgery today.  I was chuckling a bit about it the other day because I wasn't worried about it or him.  I wasn't worried that he was scared about it or anything.  Why?  Because my youngest had 6 surgeries by the time he was 5 years old.  I have had 13 surgeries, 12 of which I had by the time I was 19 years old.  In other words we have both been there and done that.

Now as a parent you hate to see your kids suffer much.  (OK, I have to admit that when my oldest son was first learning to walk and he fell down and got his first bloody lip I was so excited because now he was a real boy!)  But at the same time hopefully we have also taught them things like mental toughness and that some suffering is part of life so suck it up and deal with it.  All things like this that get in our way are minor in the greater scheme of things, keep your eyes focused on the goal. 

Now I have to say that all three of my kids have learned these lessons hands down.  I remember one time when I was refereeing my daughters soccer match.  One of her teammates got kicked in the thigh and was crying so I had to stop the match.  Later in the game my daughter got kicked and you could see her looking at me with tears in her eyes like "come on Dad, aren't you going to stop the game?" 

I just told her "Mental toughness Sweetie, play on".  I wasn't trying to be mean.  It's just that I saw how hard she had been kicked and I had every confidence that she had the toughness to play through it, which she did by scoring a short time later.  Just like I had every confidence that my oldest was tough enough to deal with a bloody lip when he was a toddler.  Just as I have every confidence that my youngest will deal with his hernia surgery today as well as his recovery,  no big deal!

Which brings me to my point today. 

Can you imagine?  If you have ever been a parent, can you imagine what it must have been like for God when Jesus was born?  As a parent we want the best for our kids.  We don't want them to get hurt.  We don't want them to suffer.  And when they do hurt or suffer, we hurt right along with them. 

So imagine how God must have felt when Jesus was born.  Knowing ahead of time what Jesus was going to have to go through must have been really tough on God.  How do we know?  Because we are made in Gods image and you know how almost any parent would feel if they were in that same position.

But what I want to focus on here is God's confidence in Jesus!  While God knew Jesus was going to suffer, no big deal, God had every confidence that Jesus would deal with it with flying colors. 

But wasn't the outcome preordained?  I don't believe so.  We are told that when Jesus came to earth he was like all men in every way.  If that is the case then Jesus as man also had free will.  He could have walked away at any time.       

But God had every confidence that Jesus would come through!  And if God had that much confidence in Jesus, then don't you think we can have just as much confidence in Him?  If you haven't asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life yet, give yourself a great Christmas gift this year by doing so right now.  Just pray "Dear Jesus, I believe that you died and were raised from the dead for my sins.  Please be the Lord of my life.  I don't understand it all right now but if God had that much confidence in you then I do too!  Amen"

Merry Christmas!