There’s a hole in my sock.
I didn’t think it would bug me. But it did. How can a small hole bug me so much?
Whenever there’s something missing it bugs us.
It’s like not having the WiFi password. Or forgetting your phone. Or running out of milk.
That’s because we have a basic need for completeness. For everything to be in its right place.
When I played rugby for my university, I turned up to a game without my boots. I had to borrow someone else’s boots, but they didn’t fit me properly. This bugged me for the whole game. It affected me so badly that I played my worst game, all because I forgot my own boots.
The Universal Search for Completeness
We need completeness.
We look for this in our work and play. We chase qualifications. We go from job to job. Hobby to hobby. Romantic partner to romantic partner.
“We have a basic need for completeness. For everything to be in its right place.”
Michael Jordan, the world-famous basketball player, had everything he needed – fame, wealth, and championships. So he retired. But there was something missing. So he came out of retirement to do it all over again, and this time, he found more fame, wealth, and championships. So he retired again. But there was still something missing. So he came out of retirement. Again. But this time there were no further championships. I don’t think he found what he was looking for.
We look for completeness, but we never find it.
The Endless Pursuit of More
We see this on the world stage. Presidents want to be elected one more time. Leaders start wars to have more territory. Pop stars want one more hit song – no-one wants to be only a “one-hit wonder.” YouTubers want more clicks. If you have 100 clicks you want 1,000; and if you have 1000 clicks you want 10,000. On and on it goes.
Everyone is desperately looking for more. But until they find this, they are doomed to be forever restless, forever wandering, and forever grasping for more success, fame, and trophies.
But if the big players still need completeness, what chance do we little people have? How can we find what we’re looking for?
The Promise of Christmas
This is the promise of Christmas. That God will complete us. He will fill the vacuum in our life.
“This is the promise of Christmas. That God will complete us.”
On the original Christmas day, when Jesus was born 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, the Bible’s claim is that a crowd of angels announced:
“Peace to those on whom God’s favour rests.” (Luke 2:14)
which deliberately recalls an ancient blessing that the prophet Moses gave to God’s people thousands of years earlier:
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you
the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
Can you hear it? God’s gift to us at Christmas is peace.
The Peace That Completes Us
Through Jesus, God promises to fill the hole in our life. God will complete us. That’s because peace means more than the absence of conflict, stress, and anxiety. It does mean those things, but it also means so much more.
Peace also means we have everything in its right place. Everything as it should be. Even more importantly, you’re where you should be.
This is the completeness that we’re so desperately looking for. God does thus by “turning his face towards us”.
“Peace also means we have everything in its right place. Everything as it should be. Even more importantly, you’re where you should be.”
As an Asian-Australian, I understand the Asian culture. It’s all about face. If your parents turn their faces away, then you are covered in shame. But if they turn their faces toward you, then you are honoured.
But, at Christmas, God promises even more. He will “make his face shine” upon us. Somehow, if we put our trust and identity in Jesus, God will give us his love, delight, and presence—i.e., his favour!
More importantly, this is not “peace” in the sense of an instant end to wars, pain and poverty. Instead, it’s peace “to those on whom his favour rests”. When you know that Jesus has taken your sin so that you now enjoy God’s favour, then you can navigate the wars and pain and poverty and whatever else this broken world throws at you, and you can do it with a sense of peace because you’re at peace with God.
The Missing Peace Opt In
“Peace” is a real thing. I know because I have experienced it. But it’s not automatic. We have to opt in to have this peace. Our default position is to live without Jesus, trapped in our endless cycle of chasing likes, validation, and trophies.
But, this Christmas, we have a better choice. We can opt in to peace. We do this by receiving God’s Christmas gift of Jesus to us. In Jesus, we will have the “something more” that we’re looking for. We will taste and enjoy God’s presence. We will be where we belong. Under God’s delight and pleasure.
With God shining his face upon us.
