Jesus is All You Have and All You Need
Read Isaiah 9:6-7
Today’s Truth
Jesus is all we have.
The words of the prophet in Isaiah today are often interpreted as promise, but in their original setting they must have been words of hope. There would be a day when God will send a ruler, just and faithful, restoring joy and justice and reestablish the nation as it was under David. Isaiah’s vision was not spiritual but tangible and physical in a broken world.
When the early Christians thought about the work of Jesus, his healing and feeding, driving out demons, and eating with all sorts of excluded people, they believed they saw a fulfillment of the prophet’s vision. God’s renewal of Israel was, has always been, a renewal of this world. They also knew that Jesus was the embodiment of this hope of the restoration of God’s world. And they knew that Jesus called and empowered them, the disciples, to embody this hope, in his name, in this world.
Embodying Jesus’s presence with our lives. Jesus is all they had, all we have, and it is enough.
At times seems we struggle to believe that God truly wants the transformation of the world. We look at the world and it’s hard to believe it could ever change. But the words and hope of Isaiah still ring true for us today. Jesus is enough for that change. Jesus is all we have. Jesus is all we are given. And it is enough. Enough to change our lives. Enough for God to change the world.
That’s the story of Christmas, of the Incarnation, isn’t it? Jesus is all we are given.
Discussion Questions
- Which name and character trait of Jesus are you clinging to from the promises of Isaiah? Why?
- Describe how Jesus is all you have, and Jesus is all you need.
Application
Empower me with your Holy Spirit and help me to trust that the promises and hope found in Isaiah are still true for our world today. You are enough, Jesus.
