Fully God, Fully Human

[Jesus] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

(Philippians 2:6-8)

Meditation

Jesus could have stayed within the heavenly realms and enjoyed a blissful paradise we cannot even imagine. In heaven, he would have been surrounded by angels worshiping him day and night. As the creator, Jesus would have been within his right to come to earth as a conquering king. Just as some earthly kings have done, he could have killed everyone who wouldn’t submit to his authority. Instead, he put aside his deity and came as a servant to all mankind. Instead of using his power to rule man, he used it to serve man. No other religion makes that claim. No other religion claims their deity was born as a human and served the very same beings he created. With every other religion, if the people have any interaction at all with the deity, it’s to offer sacrifices the god. Quite often, the sacrifice to the false gods, was human.

In his gospel, the Apostle John tells us, in the beginning, Jesus was God and he was with God the Father. Nothing was created without Jesus. Before Jesus was born on earth, he was already God. After he was born, he was still God, but he didn’t use his divinity as something to be asserted. He humbled himself to the point of allowing the very same people he came to serve, torture and kill him. That is astounding when you stop to think about it. He loved us so much he willingly went through that horrible death to save each of us. Not just the, so called, good people, not just blacks or whites, not just Jews or Gentiles, but all of us. Why does an all-powerful God do that? Why didn’t he put a stop to it, showing everyone his power, and demand to be worshiped?

He could have called down a legion of angels to rescue him from the cross. Because he was being obedient to God the Father, he went to the cross. He willingly shed his blood, paying the price for the sins of man. Sin came into the world through Adam, the first man. Redemption from sin came into the world through the only perfect and sinless man, Jesus Christ. He obediently took all our sins upon his shoulders when he died on the cross. When he rose from the grave three days later, he gave us the hope for eternity. He shows us the path to redemption from all our sins. All we have to do is confess his lordship over our lives and repent from our sinful ways.

Prayer Time

Heavenly Father, you have no equal. You are who we look to as our fortress, our rock, and our refuge during the storm. You offer us the only path to salvation and patiently wait for us to turn to Jesus. We’re grateful that Jesus put aside his divinity to submit to your will. We bow to the lordship of Jesus Christ over our lives and therefore will always thirst for the good news. We can’t imagine the pain he suffered during the hours of his persecution, including being separated from you on the cross. Thank you for the plan of redemption that pulls us out of the darkness that we were born into. Thank you for considering us more important than the punishment justice demands. Thank you for Jesus, who was willing to pay for our sins. Remind us, daily, to attend to our spiritual needs, just as we do for our physical needs. We know, Lord God, when we seek you we will find you and be fed. In Jesus’ name, we pray with hungry hearts. Amen!