Jesus could have descended into space and time fully grown. As the last Adam, God could have formed him like the first Adam and breathed life into his nostrils (see Genesis 2:7).
He could have.
But he didn’t.
Jesus entered human history as you did. He was an embryo, baby, child, and teenager. He lived for decades as a poor, small-town boy. He didn’t accomplish anything of significance. He was only known by a few dozen people before his public ministry around the age of 30.
The 3rd-century church father Tertullian in his Letter on Patience wrote that in the incarnation we see that “Patience is the very nature of God.” He says impatience was “the original sin in the eyes of the Lord”. God answered the emergency of humanity’s lostness, but he wasn’t in a hurry.
One of the key challenges to every leader is exercising patience in an impatient world. I remember hearing Dallas Willard’s wisdom of ruthlessly eliminating hurry from one’s life. He said that was the antidote to every problem leaders face.
I am in a season of developing patience. Perhaps there is a circumstance in your life that is calling for patience. May Christmas remind you of this key characteristic of who God is. Be thankful for his patience toward you.
