A Finished Work: Looking to Jesus When We’re Overwhelmed
With twin granddaughters down for naps, I raced to the laundry room, eager to stain-zap and start a load of laundry. Two shirts down and a basketful to go, wails from the nursery rang over the tumbling dryer. In light of their “nap-shorts,” the stains were going to have to wait. This, and a bazillion scenes like it with our eleven grandchildren, reminds me of my own “little years” with their lingering cloud of seeming unproductivity. The daily, pressure-filled question resounded: “Will I get anything done today?”
Done. Finished. Completed. These proclamations often elude us in motherhood, lost among multiplying demands and interruptions. But when we struggle to finish any and everything from a sentence to meal prep to a mammoth project, we can take heart in our Savior who finished.
John 19:30 points us to the cross: “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (emphasis mine). Our gospel hope hinges on these powerful words: “It is finished.” Where we didn’t finish, Christ did. Where we can’t get it done, he can. Where we won’t be able to, he will.
Hebrews 12:1-2 further heartens: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (emphasis mine).
It is in “looking to Jesus”—the finisher of our faith—that our eyes and minds can veer off the temporal and onto the eternal. Here are three ways his work on the cross brings hope to our overwhelm:
1. Hope in Jesus’s completed mission.
Our long-awaited Deliverer came for an unrivaled assignment—the salvation of our souls. Jesus knew his task: “‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work’” (John 4:34). Where the law, mortal priests, sacrifices, and our good works could not save us, Jesus could.[1] He was the final and ultimate answer to the greatest need of the entire world.
Even with this laser focus, however, Jesus tended to the constant barrage of needs along the way to his finish line. He fed the hungry, healed, engaged in critical conversations, paused and paid attention, and served.[2] (Further, what we know of his life in the Gospels is only a fraction of all he did during his time on earth.[3])
Yet none of this unraveled him or thwarted his mission. Where we often become sidetracked by the world, Jesus demonstrated how to be pulled aside without getting derailed. Jesus’s obedience welcomed interruptions that aligned with the two greatest commandments—to “love the Lord your God” and “love your neighbor” (Mark 12:30-31). He showed us how we can keep our eyes fixated on the Lord yet tend to the onslaught of disruptions.
In “looking to Jesus”—above the scattered messes and needs staring us in the face—our hearts can be at peace knowing the most important work is done. Our salvation has been paid for through Christ’s blood and we have eternal hope through his resurrection. We’re now clothed in the righteousness of Christ—so we can live with a little unfolded laundry.[4]
2. Hope in Jesus’s “one and done.”
Jesus’s atonement for our sins will never be undone or bear repeating—contrary to motherhood. On loop, we often repeat our mom-days: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack, “be kind to your brother,” bedtime, clean-up, repeat. And, if repetition alone weren’t defeating, it’s compounded by the undone; picked-up toys are strewn about; vacuumed floors accumulate crumbs; packed suitcase contents are tossed out. Nothing seems to last.
Hebrews 10:11 points to a similar incompleteness and repetitiveness —in the pre-Messiah sacrificial system: “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” But enter Jesus: “When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:12-14, emphasis mine).
When our “done” is all too quickly undone and labors of love are repeated over and over, our discouraged hearts can rejoice in Jesus’s single, for-all-time, lasting sacrifice.
3. Hope for finishing our own race.
The unfinished business of today may very well be tomorrow’s finished business. As Christ-following moms, we hope, like Paul, to one day say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). Finishing our race, ironically, might mean leaving some things unfinished. In un-finishing, we may actually be finishing.
Rebekah willingly left her home to marry Isaac. The shepherds left their fields to find the newborn King. The disciples chose to forgo any fishing quota and left their nets to follow Jesus. Mary left her chores to come and sit at Jesus’s feet.[5] In dropping what they were doing to heed God’s call, they were on the path toward finishing their faith race.
Similarly, when, out of love, we set aside our planned for the unplanned, we can be at peace that we’re not missing what God has for us. We might not achieve the goals we’re striving for, but we can trust that these sovereignly ordained needs and interruptions are God’s better portion for us.
Yes, slaying the day is invigorating. A checked-off list feels victorious. Adrenaline-fueled productivity can be good. Our work matters. It matters greatly. But in the seasons when unproductivity lingers like a haze of discouragement, a thirty-minute task stretches to three days, and our enemy whispers that we’re a failure, Christ’s defeat of sin and death frees us to finish what’s most important. His perfect finish supersedes our perceived failure and allows us to focus on intangibles while allowing many tangibles to plummet in priority.
If, after our last breath, our family finds lists unchecked, projects half-done, and our cup of cold coffee waiting in the microwave, may they still say amongst themselves, “She truly finished. She finished the race and kept the faith.”
[1] Hebrews 10:1; Hebrews 7:11-28; Hosea 6:6; Ephesians 2:8-9
[2] Luke 9:10-17; Matthew 8:14-17; Mark 10:35-45; John 4:1-26; John 13:1-17
[3] John 21:25
[4] 2 Corinthians 5:21
[5] Genesis 24; Luke 2:8-20; Matthew 4:18-22; Luke 10:38-42
