IN THE LIKENESS OF HUMANITY

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV)

Our earthly existence takes on new meaning when we remember that God [in Christ] chose to put on our humanity and chose to wear that humanity as an ordinary working man.

Our ordinary existence is not so ordinary when we remember that God chose this existence to give us a true picture of the divine. Therefore there are no unimportant moments in any lifetime.  All are precious gifts of opportunity to know and serve the One who made us and chose to stand with us and like us in the gift of life. 

-- Rueben P. Job in “A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God” (Nashville, Tenn.: Upper Room Books, 2003, Used with permission)

#5350

INCARNATION - THE DEPTH OF GOD’S LOVE

"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death -- even death on a cross! " (Philippians 2:5-8 NIV)

If New Testament Christianity is to reappear today with its power and joy and courage, [we] must recapture the basic conviction that this is a Visited planet.  It is not enough to express formal belief in the "Incarnation" or in the "Divinity of Christ"; the staggering truth must be accepted afresh -- that in this vast, mysterious universe, of which we are an almost infinitesimal part, the great Mystery, Whom we call God, has visited our planet in Person.  It is from this conviction that there springs unconquerable certainty and unquenchable faith and hope.  It is not enough to believe theoretically that Jesus was both God and Man; not enough to admire, respect, and even worship Him; it is not even enough to try to follow Him.  The reason for the insufficiency of these things is that the modern intelligent mind, which has had its horizons widened in dozens of different ways, has got to be shocked afresh by the audacious central Fact -- that, as a sober matter of history, God became one of us. 

-- J. B. Phillips in “New Testament Christianity”

#4845

REMEMBER JESUS

Can you still remember?  Are you still in love with Him?… Remember Jesus.  Before you remember anything, remember Him.  If you forget anything, don't forget Him.

Oh, but how quickly we forget.  So much happens through the years.  So many changes within.  So many alterations without.  And, somewhere, back there, we leave Him.  We don't turn away from Him… we just don't take Him with us.  Assignments come.  Promotions come.  Budgets are made.  Kids are born, and the Christ… the Christ is forgotten.

Has it been a while since you stared at the heavens in speechless amazement?  Has it been a while since you realized God's divinity and your carnality?

If it has, then you need to know something.  He is still there.  He hasn't left.  Under all those papers and books and reports and years.  In the midst of all those voices and faces and memories and pictures, He is still there.

-- Max Lucado in “Six Hours One Friday”


#4501

THE CLAIM OF JESUS TO BE GOD

Jesus said, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own; but the Father who dwells in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me;…" (John 14:10-11a NRSV)

We may with complete detachment study and form a judgment upon a religion, but we cannot maintain our detachment if the subject of our inquiry proves to be God Himself.  This is, of course, why many otherwise honest intellectual people will construct a neat by-pass around the claim of Jesus to be God. Being people of insight and imagination, they know perfectly well that once to accept such a claim as fact would mean a readjustment of their own purposes and values and affections which they may have no wish to make.  To call Jesus the greatest Figure in History or the finest Moral Teacher the world has ever seen commits no one to anything.  But once to allow the startled mind to accept as fact that this man is really… God, may commit anyone to anything!  There is every excuse for blundering in the dark, but in the light there is no cover from reality.  It is because we strongly sense this, and not merely because we feel that the evidence is ancient and scanty, that we shrink from committing ourselves to such a far-reaching belief as that Jesus Christ was really God.

-- J. B. Phillips, in Your God is Too Small


#3398