The Incarnation Is Meant to Continue.

Paul say’s Jesus’ Life, His love, and His labor were so the Incarnation could continue... in us!  “My dear children,” Paul calls the Galatians, “for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,” 4:19.  You picking this up?  Until this Man and His Life is formed in you.  Jesus’ humanity was formed in Mary’s womb; Jesus’ spirituality is now being formed in us!  The Word becomes flesh, once again.  Utterly phenomenal.  It is a truth unique to Christian spirituality, to the Faith of the Apostles and Prophets, and to the worship of the One True God.

Athanasius wrote, “Christ became what we are, so we might become what He is.”  Could this possibly be true?  Well, what do the Scriptures say?  Jesus is the Son of the Most High God; Paul, His apostle, said, “You are all Sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” {Gal. 3:26}.  Jesus is the sinless Son of God; 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us [‘in our place, on our behalf’], so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”  Or as Wycliffe Bible Commentary puts it, “The Sinless One became {by imputation} sin for the sinner, that the sinner might become {by imputation} sinless in the Sinless One!”  Jesus is the Heir of the Father’s Kingdom; Paul wrote, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s Children.  Now if we are children,” reasons the Apostle, “then we are heirs— Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Christ....” {Rom. 8:16-17b}.

Imagine this.  God set about in His Son the restoration of your humanity and the fallen image of Himself which lies buried in the deepest caverns of the heart.  To rescue and redeem, to heal and restore, that’s the Mission.  What could bring more hope to the faltering heart, more security to the souls of men, than this?  Most people cannot even imagine this, most of God’s Children have never even considered it.  “Yeah... I mean, it sounds good but.  Real life is working, striving, struggling, climbing the ladder of material success and making a mountain of money.  Cash, cold hard cash, is where my hope is.”  There is so much astoundingly bad theology in this, and so many false images of Abba crashing around in our heads, it’s staggering!  Literally.

But what if the very passion and personality of Jesus could be rebirthed in you?  What if His graciousness and generosity could spring forth in your actions and conversations?  They can.  And they must.  The Incarnation is meant to continue: in our lives today.  “God knew what He was doing from the very Beginning.  He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love Him along the same lines as the Life of His Son.  The Son stands first in the line of humanity He restored.  We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in Him.  After God made that decision of what His Children should be like, He followed it up by calling people by name.  After He called them by name, He set them on a solid basis with Himself.  And then, after getting them established, He stayed with them to the End, gloriously completing what He had begun” {Rom. 8:29-30 The Message}.

And so, on this day in which we’ve chosen to celebrate our Savior’s birth, the most mind-boggling act of humility the world will ever witness, the Creator becoming one of His very own creations, we can rejoice with hope renewed in those lines from ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem.

O Holy Child of Bethlehem

Descend to us, we pray

Cast out our sin and enter in

Be born to us today

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
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Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously