He Chose to Walk Among Us
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John 1:10-14
10. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. 11. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. 12. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; 13. who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
I think these verses are so beautifully lyrical. They somehow capture the power and might, yet grace and beauty of Jesus, the person and the mystery of Jesus as God. It is inconceivable to me that God would cast aside heaven itself to walk among us. Moses talked with God face-to-face often, but that was the “God of Heaven.” Jesus was the “God of Earth.” I know, they’re one in the same, but not really!
Jesus existed in time and space and eternity with God, because he was/is God. And yet he is a separate entity—the part that God loves the most, because he became one of us—his beloved creations, made in his image and likeness. Identical triplets come to mind, or braided hair—they began as one but are made greater together. Jesus walked among those who he knew since creation. He knew what he was in for, yet I think it was more than even he had imagined!
He had existed as God, and though God created humans, until He entered into the form and shape of man, he really didn’t know how confined and limited he would be—and how frail and small and constricted man is—until he took our form. How difficult it must have been to live like that! And yet, even after he had experienced flesh and bone, he opted to continue with the plan.
He laid aside heaven, he set aside divinity. He cast off heaven for a time to be like us. He did it not only out of love, but so that we could accept and believe that he understands. He knows. He’s been there, done that. He has been like us, yet perfect. He has had our thoughts, yet shut them out through prayer. He has felt our pain, and embraced it and made it his own.
He was/is full of grace and truth. The grace God made available to us after he became like us—or rather, we became more because of Christ! The truth—revealed and personified through Christ. The truth that sets us free to claim our own divinity! The truth that God waits for us with Christ in eternity!
And the Holy Spirit is our helper and counselor. The triune God knows us intimately and personally. He became like us to show that he understood. He raises us up to be more than we could be without His grace. He released us from the bondage of sin. He waits for us in heaven. He was in the world, and we were able to talk with Him face-to-face—the God of Heaven and Earth—a better God than that of Moses. The God who fulfilled the prophecies of old, the God who lives within us and through us today.
I am so filled up with awe and wonder and gratitude to be loved by a God who walked among us, lived as one of us, chose to die as a man. And I am even more filled with gratitude and awe that He rose on the third day, so that I could have the promise of a “better God.”
I hope you, “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God,” spend your day reflecting God’s glory to everyone you meet and reveling in a love so strong He chose to walk among us.
Mary
