THE WORD BECAME FLESH

“In the beginning was the Word.” (John 1:1)

The words “in the beginning” take us to the beginning. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) The baby Mary held was connected to the dawn of time. He saw the first ray of sunlight and heard the first crash of a wave. The baby was born, but the Word never was.

“All things were made through Him.” (1 Corinthians 8:6 NCV) Not by Him, but through Him. Jesus didn’t fashion the world out of raw material He found. He created all things out of nothing.

Jesus: the Genesis Word, “the firstborn over all creation.” (Colossians 1:15) He is the “one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.” (1 Corinthians 8:6 NLT)

And then, what no theologian conceived, what no rabbi dared to dream, God did. “The Word became flesh.” (John 1:14)… The Word of God entered the world with the cry of a baby.

-- Max Lucado in “God’s Story Your Story”


#4735

FLESH AND SPIRIT

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."  (John 3:6 ESV)

Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody of East Northfield, is dead.  Don't you believe a word of it!  At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal -- a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto His glorious body.

I was born of the flesh in 1837.  I was born of the Spirit in 1856.  That which is born of the flesh may die.  That which is born of the Spirit will live forever.

-- Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899) 


#4582

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  (John 1:1 & 14 NIV)

The Word did not become a philosophy, a theory, or a concept to be discussed, debated, or pondered. But the Word became a person to be followed, enjoyed, and loved!

-- DaySpring Cards


#4243

FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

God became [human] that [we] might learn to live in a Godlike way.  He took residence on the earth that earth might be more like heaven.  He showed us in His own Son that flesh need not be a devilish thing, but full of grace and truth.

This historic event is the symbol of a process.  It is ever God's purpose that the Word shall be made flesh, that the physical shall be filled with His glory, that truth shall connect with life, that virtue shall get into action and conduct, that the world shall be a continual incarnation of spiritual forces in human form.  God writes His truth not in flaming letters on the sky, nor does He cast them in bronze or chisel them in marble for the guidance of the race.  He writes His truth in human life.

-- Cynthia Pearl Maus in Christ and the Fine Arts

#3790

THE PATH TO PEACE

"For those who live according to the flesh are concerned with the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit with the things of the Spirit. The concern for the flesh is death, but the concern of the Spirit is life and peace."   (Romans 8:5-6)

When your heart and mind are set on the flesh and on the world, there is nothing but unrest and strife. There is no peace. Your heart is unsettled, and your relationships are too. But set your mind on the Spirit and on the things of God, and soon your heart finds peace and life itself.

Remember the simple prayer of Saint Augustine: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in You, O Lord."

-- Allen R. Hunt in Nine Words

#3762

YOUR BODY A TEMPLE

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?" (1 Corinthians 6:19 NRSV)

Flannery O’Connor’s short story "A Temple of the Holy Ghost" tells of a precocious twelve-year-old girl and two country boys who have come to court her visiting cousins.  The girl overhears her teenage cousins mock a nun, Sister Perpetua, who has suggested a formula to use in fending off fresh young men in the back seats of cars. "Stop sir!  I am a Temple of the Holy Ghost!" the nun taught the girls to say.  The cousins think such advice is hilarious.  The twelve-year-old girl, however, is moved.  The news that she is the dwelling place of God makes her feel as if somebody has given her a present.  She takes it seriously.

The nun’s formula comes from a passage, 1 Corinthians 6, that is among Paul's strongest and most strange.  In trying to shock the Corinthians out of their wild behavior, Paul uses this astonishing argument: "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ Himself?  Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute?  Never!  Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, 'The two will become one flesh.'"

-- Philip Yancey in Rumors of Another World


#3450

THE WORD MADE FLESH

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

God became man that men might learn to live in a Godlike way. He took residence on the earth that earth might be more like heaven. He showed us in His own Son that flesh need not be a devilish thing, but full of grace and truth.

This historic event is the symbol of a process. It is ever God's purpose that the Word shall be made flesh, that the physical shall be filled with His glory, that truth shall connect with life, that virtue shall get into action and conduct, that the world shall be a continual incarnation of spiritual forces in human form. God writes His truth not in flaming letters on the sky, nor does He cast them in bronze or chisel them in marble for the guidance of the race. He writes His truth in human life.

-- Cynthia Pearl Maus in Christ and the Fine Arts


#2226