Word Made Flesh--God's Flesh

commons.wikimedia.org

God has done a lot of awesome moves in the bible, both Old and New Testament times. But the greatest he did was when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among men. The spoken Word that the patriarchs and prophets heard and which did signs and wonders--even created the universe and the world--was made flesh, given human form, and dwelt among men, the poor, weak, and despised in particular.

God literally emptied himself! No power on earth or in space can do that except the power of God. There's not a powerful man on earth who has ever done that, not even Gandhi or Mother Teresa. They humbled themselves, but not from a position of great and awesome power.

"..he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." [Philippians 2.7]

I love the New Living Translation:

"Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form."

Gave up his divine privileges. I love that.

That changed the whole course of the world. I always marvel at the fact how Jesus could choose to be a mere slave. Why not a law teacher or a Pharisee? Or at least a respected business man or even a decent employee? God showed us how the only way to really topple the gigantic world system is Word-made-flesh, or giving up everything and be a slave, everything from an extremely and radically humble standpoint. 

The least is the greatest in the Kingdom, he stressed once. But no one got the idea. Today, even believers want to achieve greatness through material possessions, influence, power, titles--things approved by the world. No one wants to give up anything and assume meekness in the form of a slave. They all understand power from the viewpoint of the world.

Word made flesh doesn't stop with Jesus. The principle should live on in the daily lives of all true believers. The Word should be made flesh in us, given form by our person, given meaning by our lives. Reading "Christ in you" [Colossians 1.27] is powerful. But actually living it, realizing that the very Jesus Christ is 100 percent in you, and letting the Jesus LIFE manifest in you, is awesome. It is more powerful than 100 nuclear bombs exploding at the same time.

Word made flesh is what we should focus on, not church programs, activities or even "church planting," and it is what we should share with others. It is the Good News of Salvation and growing in ever-increasing glory, from glory to glory, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ!