Have you
ever had an awesome idea, and you went into action to make it happen? You poured tons of energy, thought, and
care into this idea. It became a
part of you. And then...something
went wrong. It didn’t turn out the
way you planned...and hoped. In
fact, it took a nosedive, and ended up being the opposite of what you had
dreamed. What sacrifices would you
make to turn it around, and make it happen the way you had envisioned?
Our Father
God had an awesome idea—us! When
He supernaturally created us as human beings, we were perfect, and in a perfect
love relationship with Him.
Then...we blew it. We took
a nosedive and ended up in a broken relationship apart from Him. We tried all kinds of ways to repair
that break...but nothing worked...until...
“He (Jesus) had
equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling
to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time
came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave,
became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly
humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a
selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst
kind of death at that—a crucifixion...” to repair the break, and join us to Him once again. [Phil 2:6-8a (Message)]
Jesus loved us so much, that He left His home to come to us on earth. He limited Himself when He became
completely human. He took off His
divine attributes—like being able to see everything, know everything, and be
everywhere at once. He went
through the same process of humanity that we do—beginning with fertilization,
going through birth, and growing up with parents and multiple siblings
(brothers and sisters). He grew
from an infant to a toddler, to a young child, to a teenager, and finally to an
adult. He went to school, did
chores, played with friends in the neighborhood, may have had a pet, told funny
stories, laughed, ate good food, celebrated holidays and special occasions with
cousins and other family, had good days and bad days, and experienced loss (his
earthly dad died sometime when he was a child or young adult). He was fully human...from His first
breath to His last. He did not
give up on being human. He did not
change His mind and rely on His divine attributes. He lived completely human. Totally human.
Just like us. Because of
this, “our high priest (Jesus) is able to understand our weaknesses. He was
tempted in every way that we are, but he did not sin. Let us,
then, feel very sure that we can come before God’s throne where there is grace.
There we can receive mercy and grace to help us when we need it.” Hebrews 4:15-16 (NCV)
He knows what it’s like to be in our shoes, experiencing
everything we do, yet not giving in, or giving up. He has enough mercy and grace to help us when we need it.
As you go through your day, think of what it must have been
like for Jesus to grow up as a human.
He knew what we needed, so He became one of us, to be with us. How can we enter into our neighbor’s world to fully, humanly
love in the same way?
