Jesus is holy. But is he smart? Many Christians say no…

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

This Christmas season, you’ll likely hear the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah in your church, mall, or on TV. Over the next four weeks, we’ll examine the four messianic titles sung in that glorious piece derived from Isaiah 9:6—Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace—and ask ourselves what it means for our work today that Jesus is all these things and more. 

We begin with Christ’s title of “Wonderful Counselor.” 

The best counselors have been where you’ve been—they feel your pain. That’s what makes Jesus a Wonderful Counselor: nobody understands your pain better than him. Hebrews 4:15 says, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”

And Christmas reminds us that Jesus can empathize with us even at work. In Jesus's day, children were bound to inherit the trade of their parents. And God could have placed Jesus in any home to learn any vocation. 

Given the trajectory of Jesus’s life, you might expect him to be born into the home of a priest or Pharisee where he’d spend the majority of his life doing “spiritual” work. But instead, God chose for his son to grow up in the home of Joseph, a small business owner, ensuring Jesus would spend most of his life working a seemingly secular but deeply sacred job as a carpenter (Mark 6:3).

Here are two ways to respond to that radical truth.

First, be encouraged that you are on the varsity team of the Kingdom of God. The next time someone implies you're on the junior varsity team because you're an entrepreneur, teacher, or barista instead of a pastor or missionary, remember the vocation of the newborn King.

Second, seek wonderful counsel from Christ in all things—not just obviously “spiritual” things. Pastor John Mark Comer points out that, “Many Christians don’t consider Jesus all that smart. Holy, sure. Kind, yes….But intelligent? Not really.” 

You trust Jesus for salvation. But do you also trust him for wisdom about your strategy, sales, and schedule? Pastor John Ortberg says, “To ‘trust Jesus’ in the Gospels simply means to think he is right—about everything—and therefore to be ready to do what he says…as the best advice from the wisest person possible.”

Take a minute right now to go to God in prayer. Ask him for wisdom about whatever you’re unsettled about in your work today. And trust that your Wonderful Counselor can empathize with your weakness and will answer.