A Walk in the Heart: When God Became a Man

I'm having one of those days when I so want to express but I don't know how.

I found this wonderful article today that I would like to share an excerpt from that help a little. It talks about God becoming a man and what that means. Then I'm going to ramble a bit and let it all come out. :)

When God Became a Man

Greg Laurie

When God Became a Man... article cont'd

"It has been rightly said that the history of the world hinges on a stable door in Bethlehem. The birth of Jesus in a little stable in Bethlehem forever changed the history of the world. Jesus was God with skin on, walking among us and showing us what God is like. He was not a man who became God, which is impossible, but God who became a man.

I LOVE how he says "Jesus was God with skin on!" When I think about that; how God HIMSELF came into this world and took on a human body so that He could show us the way out, it just humbles me to no end. He came as Jesus, to show us what God is like, NOT to show us how to "be like God." Jesus was not a man who became God, He was God who became a man.

It's amazing to me how I used to think of it the other way around, that I, myself was "God in a bod." So many of the things I used to believe had, at their core, the concept that I was on an even level with the Creator of the Universe! That I WAS that Creator. Which, in the long run, really diminishes God all together, if you really think about it. Because I don't care who you are, no one can never think of themselves well enough to even come close to matching their highest image of God. So my "highest thought" of "who I was" absolutely paled in comparison to Who God Really Is. (argg..words!).

Think about it: Even on one's BEST day, when life is flowing and everything is effortless and you feel peaceful and joyful and God-like, it is still so lacking. You will still get tired by the end of the day, or painfully stub your toe, or an angry person will shove you sideways if you are in their way. That's being God? Seriously? God is only as grand as that? Like the singer (forget who) says, "What if God were one of us? Just a slob like one of us?"

WHY would ANYONE want to reduce God to something as mundane as that? How could anyone feel COMFORTABLE with that and how, pray tell, would one ever have any hope that life could ever get better if God was no better than us? Why would they want to reduce God to their level? So they can feel better about themselves? What would there to look forward to? Will God (ie: themselves) somehow magically improve themselves beyond just "experiencing all" and begin creating grander things? Well, if they are God, why wouldn't they create those things right now! What's stopping them?

Yes, what is stopping them? That IS the question.

Why is it so hard for people to believe that God could be much grander and greater than they can ever even imagine? Why are people so afraid to ACCEPT a God that glorious, instead, reducing Him to just their limited highest thought they have about themselves? What if, God really IS that grand? Imagine it....all of the things you've heard or imagined in your life about a God who is Almighty, All Powerful, gloriously Loving, so huge and so absolutely awe inspiring that you become utterly speechless in His presence. Think of the movies or pictures you've seen that depict this where people fall on their knees in amazement and wonder. Imagine yourself before this God. Would you feel equal to Him? Would you feel worthy to be standing there? How would you feel in your gut? Close your eyes and seriously think about that. There's a reason that instinctively and intrinsically you would not feel like you had a right to be there. No matter how much you may deny you would feel that way, in your heart of hearts, you know that you would. Could this be why people make God in their image instead?

Now, what if that same God, still wanted you to BE with Him, so much, that He would lower Himself into human form to FIND you. That He would SACRIFICE a part of Himself on your behalf and create a doorway just so that you could be together, because He loved you that much. And then, once you walk through that doorway, He would send another part of Himself to dwell within you to TEACH you how to get closer to Him so that you could truly know that "you are never alone." How could you not accept a gift like that?

The irony for me is, the journey I thought I was on before to "connect with Divinity," "become Christ-like" "purify" etc... well, I still am!! BUT: I'm doing so under the proper tutelage of the One that God sent to teach me. And my lesson book is the bible. All this time, there was already a plan in place for this process. It's called Sanctification. And it requires a lot more than what most people are willing to do, beginning with humbling yourself in full surrender of your will to God's will and becoming as vulnerable as a newborn baby (hmmmm.......).