The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
John 1:14a

"Stop saying 'I'm only human'," admonished the guest preacher at church on Mother's Day. "To be fully human is to be like Christ."

The thought spun me into a whirlwind of Gospel-sized pondering.

In the beginning, God created man in His image. Not long after, man was tempted into eternal separation from the Being in whose image he was made by a fruit that promised a likeness to God, the ability to know good and evil.

Image. Likeness. Life. Death.

Skip over several thousand years of fruits born by the knowledge of good and evil to a human baby born to a simple girl in an unlikely place. The incarnation - fleshly, tangible presence - of God. God became human.

This human - Son of God, Son of man - lived human-ness flawlessly. He alone could balance the knowledge of good and evil with perfect submission and unthinkable humility.

And then, He who became human, suffered and died that we, who forsook the One whose image we bore, could finally be united with God Himself. This, not to be like Him, knowing good and evil, but to know Him and to house His Spirit.

Jesus Christ was the ultimate human. And the Gospel truth is that God redeemed our reaching for glory by a glorious reaching of God to us that we might be transformed into the likeness of Christ - the Glorious One Himself.

There is no "mere human", for we are all image-bearers. And for those that know Christ Jesus and the power of His resurrection, to be human is to be like Christ - glorified in humility, magnified in service to the Creator, whose image we bear.


In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

  Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
  rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
  And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!
  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
   that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
   and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11

I'm expecting to give birth to our first child in a few short weeks. From what I've heard, due dates are silly things, but they do help give a sense of structure to a very fluid and indefinable sort of experience.

I cannot explain the joy that my husband and I have. I cannot express the feeling that God has knit together a new human life inside me - a little boy with a soul and a purpose designed by the Almighty since the dawn of time. That God would grant me the blessing of being host to such a miracle leaves me speechless.

When my husband and I found out I was pregnant last July, we knew parenting was part of the picture, but really all we could think about were the tiny hands and toes and nose that would surely be the most perfect combination of the two of us.

We started taking labor and delivery classes and the reality of the pain of childbirth set in, but also the reality of the moment when we would first hold our little gift from God in our arms.

We received a parenting book for Christmas and began thinking about how we would communicate with our little one to best guide him into making right choices.

We began ooh-ing and aah-ing over the miniature clothes gifted to us at baby showers but realized this little one would not be little for long.

Our naivete has yet to be fully replaced by enlightenment, but as we continue stumbling at this incredible pace toward our baby's birth date, we come that much closer to exposing this precious, innocent little one to the cold, hard world outside the womb, a world filled with hate, violence and lies.

What kind of reception is that?

That thought has taken over my heart at times. Why have kids if they're just going to experience pain and heartbreak and disappointment? Is that loving? Is it good to birth yet another child to feed and clothe and try to keep from harm when so many children are lacking the most basic human needs?

The answer is a resounding yes.

Our Creator knew full well what would be the result of our free will before He breathed life into Adam and commanded the first man and his woman to be fruitful and multiply. Yet He made us anyway. He made us so finite beings could share in His infinite love. And what is love without the choice to love? Thus, our will, and our fallen state.

And with that fallen state comes the curse of the pain of childbirth. I'm not sure that babies could have been birthed much differently before the Fall, but in some inconceivable way, the process would not have been painful. No sin, no suffering.

No turning back. Now every woman who has birthed a child - C-section, epidural, water birth, pain meds, med-free, home birth, hospital birth, or on the side of the road - knows there is no possible way to bring a child into the world without pain.

Here's what I learned, however:

A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.
John 16:21

The words of Jesus. It is a joyful thing when a child is born into the world. This truth is written on our hearts, which is why we burst with joy to celebrate the pregnancy and delivery of a child. Not only are children a gift to the world, the world is a gift to children.

Yes, each child will experience pain and the effects of the Fall, of their own free will and the choices of others to varying degrees. We grieve over this rightly. But not every mark of the Creator's hand was lost that day in the Garden. We still see traces and even sweeping brushstrokes of His splendor and beauty all over this earth, from humanity itself as a collective of His image-bearers, to birdsongs rejoicing in their Maker and sunrises declaring His mercies, new every morning.

So I rejoice in bringing my baby boy into this world, knowing that he will see the glory of the Lord in the Creation around him and that he will change the landscape of this world with his innocence and childlike faith. What a gift.

Gotcha!

We're not actually physically moving, at least not that God has told us yet. But last night I was mulling over the parable of the hidden treasure and the parable of the pearl of great price from Matthew 13:44-46 and asking myself



We know for one thing that we can't actually purchase the kingdom of heaven. Salvation comes from faith in the perfect sacrifice of Christ alone, and there is nothing we can do to earn our place in the kingdom (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Yet Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to treasure and pearls, things of great financial value on earth, things that can be purchased, but only at a very great price.

What does one do with pearls and gold and precious gems?

Perhaps the first use that comes to mind is jewelry. A string of pearls is a lovely accent to a dress, and the exchange of gold rings is a common symbol of unending love at a wedding ceremony. We value these items, but styles of jewelry only last so many years before they're no longer in vogue.

Investments, however, never go out of style. Many people invest in gold and gemstones because there will always be a limited quantity, so they will always have great value. Supply and demand and all. Investments, while still temporal, have a more lasting impact than an item of jewelry. Financial investments can not only enrich your life but your children's and grandchildren's and many others' lives, as well. They multiply if executed wisely.

I absolutely believe God calls every Christian to invest financially in the kingdom of heaven through tithing and giving to the poor and supporting missionaries and ministers of the Gospel. However, while I believe each one of us should hold loosely to the things of earth and acknowledge they are all on loan from the Lord, I don't think God has called all of us to sell all of our material possessions.

Selling everything to invest in the kingdom of heaven always means that we abandon all rights to our time. It is not our time, it is God's, and if we value the kingdom enough, we will be willing to invest every moment of every day in living out the Lord's Prayer:

My house is a mess. I'm a mess. I have a baby coming in March and a million things to do before then. My list of organizational projects is long. My list of new habits to develop is longer. It would be great if I could learn a foreign language before this baby pops out, too.

All of these plans are good. They honor God. He is a God of order and peace, and that's what I'm trying to accomplish. But I'm tackling the problem from the wrong side.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42

I always feel bad for Martha here because she just looks so, well, unspiritual. We always pick on her in sermons and lessons. But she, like Mary, wanted to honor the Lord. She just chose the wrong plan of attack.

We can never really do good things for God unless we seek His face first. And while I believe strongly that being orderly and disciplined honors the Lord, being able to organize our time around the stuff of this earth is second tier. Those things will be taken away.

What can never be taken away, never messed up again, is time in the presence of God. When we pursue Him with our best, our first, our priorities in this world, it is only an investment for the real deal of being in His presence continually for eternity.

You see, Martha was not all wrong. It is good to serve people with food and clean. But Mary had the order of things figured out. She chose to first fill up her soul on Jesus, so she could then serve Him and the others with them.

Time spent with the Lord can never be taken away from us. So as much as my desires to begin meal planning, maintain a cleaning schedule, and develop a writing routine glorify God, none of these things carry the weight of a lifestyle of sitting in God's presence, unhurried and unhindered.

This year, I will choose the better thing.

During a political discussion on The View in November, Whoopi Goldberg interjected Candace Cameron Bure's call for the people of the United States of America to humble ourselves and pray for our country with the comment, "God says a lot of wonderful stuff. And I like God a lot, but..." The laughter from the audience was telling.

Can we "like" God?

Is likeableness even part of the equation when it comes to the existence and rule of an all-powerful Being?

I would argue that if there is indeed a god, we have no place to decide whether we like said god or not. Nor are we in a position to make comments about what such a god says or does.

God would demand our worship and respect whether God was good or kind. God is God. End of discussion.

Or is it?

Would God be God if he wasn't good?

I don't think so. And here's why.

Because God is God, you know, the Almighty Supreme Creator and Sustainer of everything, He has the right to define Himself. And we know from the book God has chosen to write for us to help us learn who He is that God describes Himself as,

“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin..."
Exodus 34:6-7a

And because God has chosen to define Himself in this way, He would cease to be God if He did not display this character. He would also cease to be God if He no longer lived up to the following statement:

"Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation."
Exodus 34:7b

This is when we start to think we can "dislike" God. We don't "like" judges. We don't "like" punishment. We think goodness means grace without judgment. But how could God show mercy if He did not first judge?

So we come to Christmas. The birth of a baby who is God Himself, humble. The humble God. Willing to become weak because He judged our sin and saw that we could not handle the weight of it, so He showed mercy by taking the punishment on Himself.

What kind of God is this?

If I could paraphrase John 3:16, I would tell you that,

God judged the world, and He saw we were incapable of taking the punishment we deserved for slapping Almighty God in the face and rejecting and disrespecting Him again and again. Then because He loved us in spite of our appalling condescension, He had mercy on us and decided to show the utmost humility by becoming human so He could bear the weight of the price of our rebellion. In doing so, He made a way for everyone who surrenders to His love to live forever and ever and enjoy His presence just like He wanted us to do in the first place.

That's what I would say to you. Because at Christmas, more than ever, we see God live up to His Name. That is who God is. He is Judge. He is Righteous. He does punish sin. And He is Merciful. He is Humble. He is Love. Both seemingly opposite qualities perfectly married in this one Beautiful Savior and King.

Surrender to His love today. Fall on your knees and praise His Name forever! O Night Divine when God became man so man could be with God forever!

Merciful Christmas to you.