But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Gal. 4:4–7 (ESV)
Lord Jesus, though the circumstances surrounding of your birth were less than ideal, everything happened just as the Father, you and the Holy Spirit planned. “Doing all things well” didn’t just start happening after your resurrection.
“When the time had fully come” you came—not a day early, and not a day late. As humbling as it was to be born under the ceiling of a stable, being born under the weight of the law was an incomparably greater burden. Yet that’s exactly why you came into the world—to fulfill every demand of the law for us, and to exhaust its judgment against us. You are our substitute to trust long before you are our model to follow. May we never forget.
Because you lived and died in our place, we’re no longer orphans or salves of sin, but daughters and sons of God. We’ve been perfectly forgiven and robed in your righteousness, sealed with the Spirit and given a new family; prayed for every moment and are inheritors of the new earth. And one Day—one blessed Day, we will see you as you are, Jesus, and we will be made like you. No abacus, group of accountants, or room full of computers can possibly calculate the riches of grace that we’ve been given in you.
Forgive us when our whining trumps our worship, our grumbling is more pronounced than our gratitude, and our awareness of what we don’t have is more compelling than what we do have. During the remainder of Advent, free us to worship as we’ve been blessed, forgive as we’ve been forgiven, and love as we are loved. So very Amen we pray, in your tender and triumphant name.