Tag Archives: Scripture

The Miracle and Mystery of the Incarnation

It began well over a month ago with lyrics from a choral piece, “The Mind of Christ”, based on Philippians 2:5-11:

“He laid aside his crown, from glory He came down. Divinity within a human soul. God in the form of a man.”

Words that gripped my every emotion, words that prompted intense theological discourse within me, words that registered in the depths of my soul.

It came softly … yet it was all-consuming in the way that only Truth can be … until it overwhelmed every song, every Scripture, every message. It hasn’t been far from my mind ever since.

A recognition that this Truth should have even deeper roots, should be even more significant, should have an even greater impact on everyday life.

Then after reading this post written by Melissa with a translation of The Mystery of the Incarnation: A Scriptural Tapestry of Jesus as Man and God by Gregory of Nazianzus on the Living Proof Ministries Blog, the beauty and the weight of this Truth was fully exposed:

The miracle and the mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ, the only Son of God (John 3:16) and God Himself (John 1:1), became incarnate man (John 1:14). The promised one (Matt. 1:22-23). Fully man, yet fully God.

Jesus Christ became man for us. To be Emmanuel, God with us. To be love in our hatred. To be light in our darkness. To be peace in our chaos. To be strength in our weakness. To be rest in our weariness. To be Savior in our sinfulness.

Jesus Christ became man in the form a baby, humbly born in Bethlehem. He grew and lived and walked among us, yet He was sinless … perfect and blameless … so that He could humbly and obediently approach the cross to be our Salvation.

And this Truth about the Incarnation, this gift of God becoming man in the person of Jesus Christ … for humanity, for us … though it seems to be most often remembered and most eagerly discussed at this time every year, it’s Truth eternal.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” – Isaiah 9:6 (ESV)

Let us worship Christ, the Lord! Merry Christmas!

For When the Words Don’t Come

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I sit and stare at a blank screen, distraction free, all white space except for the two light gray words in the bottom right hand corner encouraging me to “just write.”

I have thoughts and ideas suitable for full-length and substantial posts.

But the words just don’t come.

Moving from thoughts and ideas to coherent and well-written sentences seems impossible, burdensome, heavy.

I love the process of writing. The release that it brings. I enjoy the experience of blogging.

But I feel weighed down by the practical issues and responsibilities of life this side of the computer screen. Somehow unable to reawaken the creative energy necessary to keep going, to press on, to continue when the blank screen stares back.

I have even uttered five of the saddest words to my soul, “I want to quit blogging.”

But I don’t really want to quit. I simply feel uninspired, unmotivated and exhausted. I’m in a lull of sorts.

And while picking up and heading to the beach – allowing the expanse of the ocean, the peacefulness of the shore to restore my perspective – sounds close to the perfect solution, that is simply not a possibility at the moment.

One of my dearest friends suggests that I should read. Anything. Finally taking her up on that advice, I read something relatively easy and mindless. And it feels good. Refreshing even.

Yet I still find myself coming up short in the words department.

My mom suggests that I should focus my thoughts on gratitude. So I begin a list of the small, trivial, forgotten and everyday things for which I’m grateful. I quickly list 25 items in a matter of moments.

Knowing I have been blessed far beyond what I deserve and saddened by the reality that I fail to acknowledge it far too often, I purposefully and intentionally seek opportunities to get out of myself. To serve others. Even when all I want to do is retreat. To fold in rather than reach out.

I take action and make commitments. Some of them relatively easy, others seemingly big and life-changing.

And I give myself a break from the guilt that so often wears me down. Of not doing enough. Of doing too much. Of lacking proper balance.

My thoughts turn to Scripture, so I read John 6:22-71.

“Jesus answered them…’Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal…For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to this world…I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst…It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.’”

- John 6:26, 27, 33, 35, 63 (ESV – emphasis added)

And I am reminded that Jesus is the bread of life.

When my words just. don’t. come.

His words are life.

Jesus is [More Than] Enough

I could literally burst with excitement about this message!

But I’m trying to contain myself enough to at least form a handful of coherent sentences. (You can thank me later…)

Here’s the thing: a title like I chose for this post could go A LOT of different ways. And where I’m going with it may seem a little “off the beaten path”, but I am choosing to trust the Holy Spirit on this one and to roll with it.

You see, I had a completely different devo post in mind for this week. But I’ve spent the last two days praying over my half-written post because it just. wasn’t. working.

[At least not yet.]

And maybe it was because the Lord had something better.

For me and for you.

I am fairly confident that I have mentioned a time or two (or a hundred) that I’m taking Koine Greek as part of my seminary studies. Well, tonight (and tomorrow) began a new semester of said Greek studies, and at the end of class we were reading and discussing John 4:7-14 in the Greek (which actually has very little to do with this post, but I would encourage you to go read it for context anyways).

As we were reading, I was struck with a [what I have always deemed to be sacrilegious] thought that has plagued me before:

“Conversations in Scripture (even between Jesus and others) often seem to be abbreviated and/or poeticized…perhaps to reflect the nature and direction of a given conversation in order to emphasize the important elements rather than a word-for-word recording of said conversation.”

Maybe I’m the only one who thinks this? It’s just that I tend to be wordy (shocking, right?) and detailed in my conversations, and rarely do I have conversations as succinct as they appear in Scripture. And it’s not like they walked around with voice recorders back in those days…

But tonight, as I was processing this thought, I was promptly reminded of the following:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God
and profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, and for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may be competent,
equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16 (English Standard Version)

If “all Scripture is breathed out by God” (which I firmly believe that it is), then whether or not conversations throughout its pages are “word-for-word recordings” is irrelevant.

Why?

Because the words that ARE recorded are what matters.

Because the words that ARE recorded are the important elements.

Because the words that ARE recorded are the exact parts of the conversations that we were intended to read about and know.

ESPECIALLY when it comes to the words of Jesus.

And as my professor had to use no less than four or five English words (words including “fountain, bubbling, and overflowing”) to define and describe the phrase “welling up” as it occurs in John 4:14…

“The water that I will give him
will become in him a spring of water
welling up to eternal life.”
(ESV – emphasis added)

…I was made keenly aware that as an example for how my conversations with others should go, as an example for sharing the gospel, as an example of how life is to be lived, and as the essence of life itself…

Jesus’ words are enough.

Jesus is enough.

Jesus is MORE THAN enough.

Deuteronomy and The Source

“But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes

across ahead of you like a devouring fire…It is not because of your

righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of

their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations,

the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish

what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

Deuteronomy 9:3,5 (New International Version)

Over the past couple of months, I have been slowly making my way through The Source, a novel by James A. Michener about a modern archaeological dig and the site’s significance in Jewish history . . . geographically, politically, and religiously.

I am quite fond of Michener novels. His books are long (this one happens to be just over 900 pages…and that’s with tiny print, y’all!) and extremely detailed, tend to span thousands of years, are packed with accurate historical data (he must have had quite the team of researchers!), and his stories of intertwined generations are wonderfully written.

The fact that I’ve been reading this one “slowly” is in no way a reflection on the quality of the novel; I simply have a severe lack of time to engage in what I tend to label “reading for pleasure.” So it has been nice to have a couple of weeks where life has slowed down enough to pick-up the reading pace.

Thus last week, I came to a place in the story where Dr. Cullinane (an archaeologist from America) asked Dr. Eliav (a Jewish archeologist from Israel) about new material to read in order to better understand the Jews. And after Eliav first mentioned several Jewish scholars that Cullinane had already read, the conversation took this turn:

Eliav:              There’s one better.

Cullinane:      What?

Eliav:              Read Deuteronomy five times.

Cullinane:      Are you kidding?

Eliav:              No. Deuteronomy. Five times.

Cullinane:      What’s your thought?

Eliav:              It’s the greatest central book of the Jews and if you

                          master it you’ll understand us.

Cullinane:      But is it worth five readings?

Eliav:              Yes…

Ultimately, following this exchange, Cullinane did read Deuteronomy five times. In various translations. Including a translation by Jewish scholars.

In the process of reading Deuteronomy over the next few days, and as the history began to come alive for Cullinane, these two central characters discussed certain aspects and details of Deuteronomy.

Details that I had forgotten.

Details that I had never really learned.

Details that were of questionable accuracy.

And it was that last one that made me stop and think:

“If a fictional character such as Cullinane can read Deuteronomy five times in varying translations for mostly academic purposes, shouldn’t I take a moment to at least check the accuracy of this particular element to really KNOW what’s in GOD’S WORD?”

Nevermindthefact that it was already late in the evening, I set about to check a few facts . . . and [save for a couple of chapters which I had read earlier in the day] ended up reading the ENTIRE book in one sitting!

Unfortunately, to best check the questionable elements, I still need to read the translation by Jewish scholars, which I fully intend to do, but just as it had for Cullinane, the book of Deuteronomy, which is [quite literally] the “second law”, or a re-statement of the law given to Moses, came very much alive that evening.

In one simple and rather fast-paced reading, I was struck by the following:

The Lord our God very much wants to bless His people/children.

Disobedience (aka: sin) is serious business.

The Lord our God demands that we be faithful to His standards (and although we are no longer “under the Old Testament law”, this truth remains).

The Lord our God is faithful…even when I am not.

And so I introduce you to my Deuteronomy Challenge 2011 (on 1/11/11, no less…):

Regardless of the context (whether it be in a novel, in a movie, or even in church), whenever (and yes. I truly mean that. in every sense of the word.) a situation arises in which the accuracy of Scripture is called into question OR the memory of Scripture is insufficient/incomplete . . . commit to going straight to the source, the Word of God.

And trust that through this commitment to testing and knowing Scripture, God will be faithful and reveal truth through His Word . . . every. single. time.

“Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you

or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have

to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it

and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’

No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth

and in you heart so you may obey it.”

Deuteronomy 29:11-14 (NIV)

Merry Christmas

“And the angel said to them,

‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy

that will be for all the people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David

a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you:

you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths

lying in a manger.’

And suddenly there was with the angel

a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

‘Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’”

Luke 2:10-14 (English Standard Version – emphasis added)

Merry Christmas!

Moment of Praise

“Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts!

Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.

Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word!

Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Beasts and livestock, creeping things and flying birds! Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! Young men and maidens together, old men and children!

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven. He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the LORD!”

Psalm 148 (English Standard Version)

The Inner Harbor

Where God is evidenced. Where my soul is anchored. Where my heart is filled.