I have said that the universe was created so that Jesus could be born into in. Was it hard for God to create the universe? One may think so, and say that the greatest work of God was that he created. But I say that while Jesus was on earth, if he had sneezed in the wrong way he would have destroyed and recreated the universe several times over.
When we say that Mohammed Ali was a great boxer, we don't point to his fight with Joe Schmoe as the proof of this statement, we point to his match with Joe Frazier. We do so because that fight not only had great boxing in it, but because it was so difficult for Mohammed Ali. Because Ali was pushed to his limits before his victory.
What, then, was hard for God? What achievement of his could we point to and say, "this is the full measure of his strength"? About what has he said, "wow, this is going to be tough. I almost wish I didn't have to do it", or "Let this cup pass from me"? How hard was it for Jesus to go to the cross?
So was it hard for God to create the universe? Physically, no. It was trivial. Insofar as "creation of the universe" only means setting up the laws of physics and making the electrons and quarks ex nihilo and setting those things to whizz around, I think it was easy for God. But what if, in creating the universe, he had to invest himself into its fleshly creatures, incarnate himself as one of them, sunder his own being to take on their weaknesses, and forsake his only son to save sinners? How difficult was that for God?
That is what I mean when I say that God is mighty to save. It means that God did something that's not only impossible for us (after all - many things, which are not really that remarkable, are impossible for us), but also difficult for him. That God, because of his great love for us, had to exert all of his omnipotence in order to save sinners like us. Therefore, because he invested all of his being into our salvation, we can point to that salvation and truly say, "To God be the glory", and "we are the righteousness of God".
For God so loved the world, that Christ - who is God Incarnate and Creator of the universe - came into the world he created, and gave for us everything he had, to save us sinners. That is the central message of Christianity. We call it the Gospel: Christ saves sinners.
You may next want to read:
For Christmas: the Incarnation
Jesus is like these things in his incarnate nature:
Another post, from the table of contents
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