Hi folks. I’m back from my
trip to
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On Fire is about faith and
character. The more our character becomes like Jesus’ character, the better we
are able to serve him and the better we reflect the image of Jesus within us. Its like the little girl who said to her parents, "If
Jesus lives inside of us, shouldn’t he show through?"
Over the next few weeks we’re going to look at faith and character issues in
Christmas. Today we look at the incarnation. Incarnation is the theological
term for the fact that Jesus, God the Son, became a man. John 1:14 says,
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." In Jesus it
is impossible to tell where God begins and ends, and where the humanity begins
and ends. The two are intertwined.
The incarnation means that
Jesus understands what we go through. The writer of Hebrews reminds us:
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we
are--yet was without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)
This should mean that we
can have confidence to take anything to Jesus because he understands. However,
the truth of this fact doesn’t
always translate into our daily lives. We may know with our minds that
Jesus experienced all that we go through, but in our deepest parts we often
doubt the reality of it. We often secretly think that, somehow, Jesus’ divinity
made it easier to get through life.
I want to remind us about a
few details of Jesus’ early life. We know them from the Christmas story, but I
want us to recall them so that we might trust him more with our troubles.
Jesus was born to a teen
mother in questionable circumstances. We tell the familiar story as if there
were nothing unusual, but it caused a lot of talk. Jesus knew what it was like
to be surrounded by gossip and rumours because they
followed him wherever he went. Can you hear the innuendo as some inquired about
Jesus’ family: "Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph,
Judas and Simon?" (Mark 6:3) Jesus understands when people judge us
unfairly.
Jesus’ family was poor.
Luke tells us that when Jesus was presented at the temple, Mary gave two doves
or pigeons for a sacrifice. (Luke 2:24) This was the sacrifice allowed for poor
families who could not afford a lamb (Leviticus 12:8). Jesus wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He didn’t know any advantage. He understands the day-to-day
grind of making a living.
Jesus was a refugee. Like
many in our time, he was caught by the geo-political events of his day. Herod
ordered all boys under two to be killed (Matthew 2:16), so Joseph took his
family and fled to
In the same way that being
human did not diminish Jesus’ deity, being God did not diminish his humanity.
Jesus experienced all the crud of life like we do. And so we can take all of
our problems and issues to him in faith and confidence that he understands.
Hope this helps. Be On Fire
ON FIRE is a weekly
letter of encouragement by
*All scripture
references from the New International Version, copyright 1973, 1978 by the
International Bible Society.
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Arrow Leadership Program is
a leadership development program started by evangelist Leighton Ford
(brother-in-law to Billy Graham) to train young leaders. It involves four
residencies with preparation assignments. In addition, there are regular phone
meetings and email contact with a peer cluster of 4-5 other participants and
monthly meetings with a mentor. Arrow aims not only for leadership growth and
instruction, but also spiritual growth, which makes it different from other
leadership seminars.
In this session, we studied
organization management, compassionate living, and the spiritual life of the
leader. Also, spouses joined us for the final session, marriage in ministry.
Graduation was Wednesday night.
The most powerful part of
the week was the commissioning service on Thursday. We gathered in a circle.
One by one, we were presented with an arrowhead. Then they laid hands on us and
prayed over us individually. This was incredible experience. After two years,
the staff know us well and are able to speak into our
lives with the wisdom of experience and spiritual insight. Its
hard to describe the effect.
I am incredibly grateful
for Arrow - for the staff and their commitment to us, for the instruction, for
the spiritual insight and growth, and for the friends we have made. Thank you,
Lord.