Tesla CEO Elon Musk's attempt at a "dad joke" didn't exactly hit comedy paydirt when delivered to a Saudi crowd in Riyadh on Tuesday, but his follow-up drew applause. The essence of a dad joke is that it has a silly pun or something else that may bring a smile...

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was shortly into his opening statement before a Senate committee Wednesday when protesters disrupted the hearing, screaming he was killing people. The scene would startle anyone, and certainly someone who was a 9-year-old boy when his uncle, President John F. Kennedy,...

In his days as a young monk, Martin Luther struggled to love God. His words looking back were, “Love God? I hated him!” This isn’t surprising, since all Luther had seen at that point was God’s severity; he’d yet to behold his kindness. It’s hard to love someone you think is unkind. Perhaps this is why Satan’s goal from the beginning has been to call God’s kindness into question. But that’s why chapters like 2 Samuel 9 are in the Bible. This is a story of David’s kindness. The words “show. . .kindness” appear three times (vv. 1, 3, 7), culminating with these comforting words: “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness.” But it’s more than just David’s kindness. Scripture tells us that David was “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14). This story explicitly recognizes the connection between David’s kindness and God’s (2 Sam. 9:3). So let’s look at four aspects of David’s kindness in this story, then consider how they reflect God’s heart to us. 1. Mephibosheth: Object of David’s Kindness The object of David’s kindness was Mephibosheth, a crippled member of a rival house. As Saul’s grandson, it’s no wonder Mephibosheth feared David (2 Sam. 9:7). Kindness from David must have been the last thing he expected. After all, it was common for new kings to kill off members of the previous dynasty. Mephibosheth’s lameness resulted from a fall—his nurse had dropped him when he was 5. She was fleeing at the news that Mephibosheth’s father had been killed in battle (4:4; 9:3, 13). So this young man now labored under a double curse. Not only was he the king’s enemy, but he had been crippled and was totally unable to help himself. This is the kind of person David chose to show kindness to: a member of his enemy’s house, rendered helpless by a fall. 2. Covenant: Origin of David’s Kindness Perhaps surprisingly, it wasn’t David’s love or pity for Mephibosheth that prompted this kindness—not originally. It was his love for someone else. There was one man in Saul’s house who had been his loyal friend. And that man was Mephibosheth’s father, Jonathan. It wasn’t David’s love or pity for Mephibosheth that prompted this kindness—not originally. It was his love for someone else. David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (9:1). If we want to find the origin of David’s kindness, we have to go beyond Mephibosheth, all the way back to an act of covenant-making love that existed between David and Mephibosheth’s father (1 Sam. 18:1–4). Even though David posed a threat to his own claim to the throne, Jonathan had loved David “as his own soul,” defended him against Saul’s murderous rage, and recognized David as the rightful heir. Eventually, he’d asked David to show “steadfast love” [Hebrew, chesed] to his house when David finally became king (20:13–17). It’s that oath-bound request that David is honoring now when he asks, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness [Hebrew, chesed] for Jonathan’s sake?” (2 Sam. 9:1). That’s the origin of David’s kindness. It wasn’t because Mephibosheth was worthy, or even because he was miserable. It was because of David’s love for Jonathan and the covenant that love had led them to make with each other. Mephibosheth was simply an unworthy and unfortunate sinner now reaping the blessings of a covenant love he had nothing to do with. 3. Lavishness: Demonstration of David’s Kindness David demonstrates his kindness to Mephibosheth in three ways. First, he calls him and welcomes him into his presence (vv. 5–7). Mephibosheth didn’t come on his own initiative—David sought and sent for him and then welcomed him with words of assurance (v. 7). Second, he restores Mephibosheth’s inheritance (vv. 7, 9–10). Everything his father had lost is now returned to him. The inheritance alone would have made Mephibosheth a wealthy man. He could have sat at his own table and eaten his own food. But it gets better. As a crowning act of kindness, David gives Mephibosheth a seat at the king’s table. Four times this is repeated (vv. 7, 10, 11, 13). It’s a permanent seat (three times we hear the word “always”; vv. 7, 10, 13). This isn’t a trial period; this is covenant security. Moreover, it’s a family seat. “Mephibosheth ate at David’s table, like one of the king’s sons” (v. 11). Should anyone ever reproach him for being Saul’s grandson, David would have his back. David’s rod and his staff would comfort him, and he would dwell in the house of David forever. 4. Gratitude: Response to David’s Kindness Only one question remains: How do you respond to kindness like that? Mephibosheth “paid homage and said, ‘What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?’” (v. 8). Such humility! He could’ve responded with bitterness—“You stole the crown from my father!” Or with pride—“I’m sorry, but I don’t accept charity!” Or with entitlement—“It’s the least you can do, since if it weren’t for you I might have been a king instead of a cripple!” Instead, he gladly receives this unspeakable gift, grateful that a great king like David would stoop to show kindness to a wretch like him. 5. Gospel: Beholding God’s Kindness to Us If all this sounds strangely familiar, it’s because you and I are Mephibosheth. This is more than a story of David’s kindness to Mephibosheth. It’s the story of God’s kindness to us in the gospel. If we ask, “Who are the objects of God’s kindness?” it’s not his friends but his enemies. Not the healthy but the sick (Mark 2:17). Not the strong but those crippled by the fall and unable to help themselves (Rom. 5:6, 10). This is more than a story of David’s kindness to Mephibosheth. It’s the story of God’s kindness to us in the gospel. If we ask, “Where does such kindness come from?” its roots don’t lie in us—they go much deeper. Ultimately, God doesn’t show us kindness for our sake but for the sake of Jesus and the covenant they made long before we were born. It’s an eternal covenant in which the Father agreed to send his Son, the Spirit agreed to help him, and the Son agreed to come and die for hell-deserving sinners like us. If we ask, “How does God demonstrate his kindness to us?” the gospel says that having delivered up his Son for us, he now calls us and welcomes us into his presence, restores our inheritance, and gives us a seat at his family table. Because of Jesus, we can now approach the throne of grace and expect to hear our Father say, “Do not fear, for I will show kindness to you” (see Heb. 4:16). If we ask, “How should we respond?” the answer is simple. We should see God loving us so much that we can’t help but cry out, “Who am I that a king would show kindness to a dead dog like me?” We know we’re not worthy of any of this. We didn’t even seek him out—he called us. But when the King wants to show you kindness, dead dogs don’t argue. Instead, we accept our inheritance, thank our new Father, and pull up a chair at his table, just like Mephibosheth did.

I don’t know where it came from, but now it seems to be everywhere. I hear it on podcasts and TV shows. I’ve seen it on T-shirts and social media graphics. A quick search for it on Amazon brings up hundreds of results, ranging from books for kids and adults to silver charm bracelets to hoodies of many colors to embroidered makeup cases to wall hangings and throw pillows and stickers to place on your rearview mirror. I’m talking about the simple, uplifting mantra for our times: “You are enough.” Surely you’ve seen this too. But have you stopped to consider why this phrase, in these settings, is so popular? I see at least two implications. Burden of Inadequacy Insecurity about our worth is a massive problem in our culture. I’m not just talking about how wide the problem must reach if this phrase pops up all over the place. I’m talking about how deep the problem must go. How low must my self-view be if I get a boost from a statement made by who knows who, about no one in particular, and mass-produced for sale at suburban HomeGoods megastores? This phrase’s popularity fits perfectly with what French sociologist Alain Ehrenberg argues in The Weariness of the Self, his history of depression among contemporary Western people. It’s not a book about how to cope with depression, all the mysterious factors that cause it, or how to get rid of it. It’s a book about what depressed people say about themselves, about how they describe their experience. He believes depression has spread the way it has, when and where it has, because of the cultural expectation that it’s up to each individual to define the meaning and value of his own life. The defining feature of modern depression, based on interviews of sufferers, is a suffocating sense of inadequacy. Here’s how Ehrenberg puts it: “Depression presents itself as an illness of responsibility in which the dominant feeling is that of failure. The depressed individual is unable to measure up; he is tired of having to become himself. . . . The depressed person is a person out of gas.” “You are enough” is a symptom of a deep and pervasive problem in our culture. Many people feel relentlessly, hopelessly inadequate and long for relief. Desire for Justification Many people feel relentlessly, hopelessly inadequate and long for relief. Humans have an inevitable craving for validation. We desperately want to measure up. We need to hear from someone else that we do. The theological category for the validation we crave is justification. Think of it like a courtroom where a judge gives a verdict on your standing before him. The biblical vocabulary word for a statement like “You are enough” is righteous. To be righteous is to have right standing before the proper authority, to have a life that measures up. It’s being exactly what you’re supposed to be. When you’re righteous, you’re enough. We aren’t wrong to crave justification. It’s supposed to matter to us whether we’re good enough. This is core to our humanity. But everything depends on where we look for this validation, on what basis, and when. The only person authorized to tell us we’re enough is the God who gave us our lives in the first place. Right at the heart of the gospel is the promise that God already sees us as righteous because of Jesus’s righteousness received through faith. Paul says in Romans that “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:1). That means there’s “now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (8:1). Justification is something we already have if we’re in Christ, a guarantee of our righteous standing before God that we must remember and rest in every day. And yet the gospel also looks forward. “By faith,” Paul writes, “we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness” (Gal. 5:5). Like so much of what God has promised us, justification has an “already” and a “not yet” dimension. Already by faith we’re righteous in God’s sight because of Jesus. But we’re waiting for righteousness too. We desperately want to measure up. We need to hear from someone else that we do. We don’t yet see ourselves as God sees us. For now, we walk by faith and not by sight. With painful clarity we see our failures, not the spotless righteousness in which Jesus wraps us. On the day of judgment, we’ll trade our faith for sight once and for all. We’ll stand before God and receive publicly, unmistakably, and irrevocably what he has promised us already—his pronouncement of our righteousness in Christ. We’ll know from experience that we’re enough not because of what we’ve done with our lives but because of what Jesus has done with his. On that day, and only on that day, will we be finished wondering whether or not we measure up.

Melissa Kruger and Courtney Doctor talk with Trillia Newbell about the depth and richness of Romans 8. They explain how to understand Romans 8 in the context of the previous chapters, why there’s no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, how to let that truth make a difference in your life, and how to respond to the question “If there’s no condemnation for me, why am I suffering?” We hope you’ll open your Bibles and dive in. Recommended Resources: If God Is For Us by Trillia Newbell In View of God’s Mercies by Courtney Doctor Celebrating Around the Table by Trillia Newbell Related Content: Living in the Hope of Liberation from Bondage The Good News of Romans 8 If God Is for Us: Standing Accused with Romans 8 Discussion Questions: 1. Romans 8:1 says there’s no condemnation for those in Christ. How does this verse reshape your thinking about areas of guilt or shame in your life? 2. What’s one area of your life where you need to intentionally walk in the Spirit rather than in the flesh? What’s one step you can take this week to move in that direction? 3. How does the truth of Romans 8:18 (“The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us”) bring hope to seasons of waiting or hardship? How have you personally experienced this hope? 4. How did this conversation help you understand what “good” means in the context of Romans 8:28 (“All things work together for good”)? How can this shift your expectations when life doesn’t go as planned? 5. Reflecting on Romans 8:35–39, which truths are most meaningful to you in combating the lie that God doesn’t love you? 6. How would you encourage another woman who’s struggling to believe she’s more than a conqueror through Christ (8:37)?

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