John 1:14 – The Word Became Flesh And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 ESV) Jesus, the Word, 100% God, steps out of heaven, takes on the flesh of humankind, and enters our world. With this huge step of becoming flesh, we see that Jesus willingly sets aside His divine rights. In a similar section of scripture the Apostle Paul writes: Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (Philippians 2:5-7 ESV) We can tell from the New Testament that Jesus does not suffer from any type of divine identity crisis. He was very clear on who He was and is. YET- Jesus did not hold onto this equality with God the Father but made himself nothing. Literally, He emptied himself of His divine rights- to take on the form of mankind. We know that minimally this means Jesus gave up his environment in heaven. He took on the limitations of space and time, and in some cases limitations of knowledge and power, so that he could identify with us. If Jesus set aside His divine rights, then we can rightly assume that as His followers we must be willing to give up our rights (whether real or perceived rights). We must be willing to give up our perceived rights. To follow Jesus, to experience God at work in and through us, WE MUST HAVE AN OPEN HAND WITH OUR RIGHTS. If we are not very very careful these rights will create a fence or a barrier to us following Jesus. They will become a weight that hold us back. One of the greatest tragedies of Western Christianity and especially American Christianity is that we allow God’s blessings to hold us back from following Him. If we look through the gospels we see Jesus challenging people who want to follow Him to give up specific “rights” or “blessings.” He asked them to set aside or leave behind… Family Occupations Homes Money Consistently: safety, security, comfort His challenge was clear. If you decide to follow Him, if you decide to become a part of His activity in this world, it could cost you everything. What are some of your perceived rights? What rights or blessings have the potential to hold you back from pursuing Jesus?
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 08:47:10 +0000
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