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When God’s words took on flesh, they became Christ.
Born of a virgin—originating his own life
Resurrected from the dead—taking up his own life again
Giver of life—raising others from the dead
Offering life abundant—presenting eternal life to the spiritually dead
If your words were to become flesh, what would they look like?
When the Creator created, He did it with a word.
His words gave life. His words became.
Flowers, elephants, stars and galaxies, you and me–
with a word, nothingness burst to life.
In His image, our words also become; yet, they don’t always bring life. Pivotal moments happen, where a single word can bring hurt or healing, failure or success, fear or courage.
When your words are spoken, do they become life or death to those who hear them?
Our words show the intentions of our hearts and the direction of our lives.
What words describe your home, your family, your life? Be honest and real with your answer.
Is that the intention or the direction you desire? If not, then change the words that define you. (James 3:3-4)
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.–1 Cor. 15:14
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.–Phil. 3:13-14
The start of a new week is sometimes a reality-check. It’s plunging head first back into the reality that you don’t have it all together, that life can still catch you off guard and unprepared, that last week’s miserable failures still have to be cleaned up. But if you don’t get anything else done today, do the one thing Paul recommended under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Reach forth–with both hands. Let go of the past sins and failings and regrets. And reach with both hands toward the prize.
For some of us, we’ve been holding on to the past so long we’ve forgotten what the prize is. It is God’s high calling. What has God called you to be? Christ-like, holy, a child of God. This calling is a high, heavenly calling that can only be obtained “in Christ Jesus.”
It can only be obtained through the “power of his resurrection,” through “the fellowship of his sufferings,” and by “being made conformable unto his death.” But to strive for any other goal is to mind earthly things. With both hands reaching toward the goal, toward Christ, we’ll discover that the work is not really our work at all. Your high calling is gained through the same power that subdues all things. The power that propels you to the finish line is the same power that subdued death itself.
It’s pointless to look back and hold on to regrets when the greatest power of all is ensuring that you make it to the finish line. Your only task is to keep that finish line in view.
Actually, he wasn’t praying for daily bread when the realization struck him. He wasn’t preparing for a harvest, and he wasn’t in need of clothes. When the realization of God’s provision struck him, he wasn’t in need of any of the things we typically ask for when we pray to Jehovah Jireh.
When Abraham first praised the One who provides, he was giving as much as he was receiving. The hands he held up in praise had, just moments before, held a knife over the throat of his beloved son. It wasn’t in the moment of his greatest emptiness that he felt God’s provision; it was the moment of Abraham’s greatest emptying–all that he loved and hoped for and dreamed about, placed on an altar of sacrifice.
That had to be a lonely moment, as he steeled himself for the harrowing act he faced. Before he truly knew and felt the sufficiency of God, he had to trust in it. But then–emptied of himself and all of his plans, with a knife raised in excruciating hope–God showed Himself and exceeded Abraham’s hopes and expectations.
How could Abraham take such a leap of faith? Because he understood that before God could provide all, He had to own all. In other words, Abraham knew that he had no right or claim on anything, not even his own child. As the rightful owner of Isaac, God could do and demand anything He pleased.
It’s really a terrifying thought. But Abraham already knew one thing about his God: Jehovah is good. And a good God who owns everything will provide everything. That is sufficiency.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose….to be conformed to the image of his Son.–Romans 8:28
I love to work puzzles, and I love to see how all those bizarre-looking pieces come together to make a beautiful picture. Each time I work a puzzle, the process amazes me. I’ll pick up an orange and black splotchy piece and wonder, “What is this? Is it a shadow over in this corner by the trees? Is it the sun’s reflection in this bubbling stream?” The piece, all by itself, looks like a mistake–a terrible, ugly extra that got thrown into the wrong puzzle box. But as each of those odd-shaped, peculiarly-colored pieces begin to connect, I’m able to see the bigger picture taking shape. Eventually, the orange/black splotch finds its home in a patch of wildflowers by the stream. And suddenly, what seemed like such an ugly mistake, adds unmistakable beauty to the finished picture.
Our lives are often the same way. We waste so much time analyzing the little pieces of our lives that don’t make sense, that we forget to look at the “picture on the box,” God’s Word. God has told us what the big picture will look like–why your loved one has cancer, why your child is going through a time of testing your authority, why that car did have to break down on this day of all days. The big picture that God is piecing together is the image of Christ. We don’t recognize how each of the trials and tests during a day is creating that image, but God promises it’s for our good. Each of those ugly splotches are fitting together to take your sin-wrecked life and craft it into the divine image of Christ.
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. –Isaiah 40:28-29
Everlasting God, Creation was only the beginning of your strength. The vastness of space is merely a shadow of your infiniteness. You have poured your eternal life into our very souls.
Yet we grasp for life, as if we could hold on to it; we fight for our desires as if we could satisfy; we scratch and scramble for our needs as if we could provide.
Hold me, strengthen me, sustain me with your very life–life that is eternal, that will never be exhausted. Help me today to pour my life out willingly, knowing that in you is life everlasting.
