Attempts at Honesty

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Thoughts on the Incarnation of Christ

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IncarnationOn the way to church this morning, I heard a woman on the radio say, “isn’t it amazing that Jesus came to die for us?” After hearing this, it occurred to me that you could shorten the question to “isn’t it amazing that Jesus came?”

If Christian tradition is correct and Jesus is God incarnate, then the fact that Almighty God would subject himself to the limitations of human existence is truly amazing.

My point is not to detract from the importance of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. These events are the culmination and the purpose of Jesus’ incarnation. It just hit me that even before these important events took place, the incarnation itself is an amazing thing.

As a baby, Jesus willingly allowed his physical existence to depend on the care of Mary and Joseph. The creator of the universe had to limit his ability to communicate to crying and the other means of communication available to a newborn baby.

Did Jesus ever get frustrated with his limitations? It seems sacrilegious to think so, but I wonder. I do not know if Jesus was aware of his divine nature from infancy. Perhaps he had to grow into the knowledge. But if he had any consciousness at all about his divinity, he would have been aware of what he “emptied himself” (Phil. 2:7) of when he set aside his divinity to fully experience humanity. That he did this willingly can only be as a result of his great love for us.

That Jesus loved us enough to “tabernacle among us” (John 1:14) should blow our minds. That his did so for the purpose of dying to redeem us adds to the “amazingness” of the whole plan.

The incarnation itself is something so wonderful that the only proper response is to worship.

More than you can handle

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I would like to comment on one of the phrases that is found in the article highlighted in this Tweet:

On the surface, it seems correct to say that “God will not give you more than you can handle.” Paul does tell us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to escape the situation. But it is a huge jump to infer from this that God will not allow you to encounter situations that you cannot handle.

By Pete Sandbach from Manchester, UK (Weight of the world) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
By Pete Sandbach from Manchester, UK (Weight of the world) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
On the contrary, I would go so far as to say that God will certainly give you more than you can handle. The point is that until we come to the end of our own abilities, we cannot learn to trust God for the outcome. All of the great heroes of the Bible were put in difficult situations. Daniel, Joseph, Moses, David, Elijah and Paul all come to mind. Their faith was tested and strengthened by the difficulties that they faced.

Furthermore, anyone who is in any relationship will have more than they can handle. Unless you are a complete narcissist and ignore the people around you, relationships will make you aware of situations that are beyond your control.

We all bring dysfunction with us when we interact with friends, family and acquaintances. I have limited control over my own dysfunction and no control over yours. Relationships are messy and are sometimes more than we can handle. Yet, we are called to be in them and how we function in relationship is to be an evidence to the world that God is working in our lives. Jesus said that the mark of the church is to be love (John 13:35).

This platitude also ignores the truth that there are evil people in the world who get their kicks from hurting others. Belief in Jesus doesn’t prevent one from encountering evil. Or there are those who feel the need to force their own beliefs on others. Just ask Christians under Communist governments or in Islamic States about how much control they have over their circumstances.

We must not forget, however, that Jesus promises to be with us through any ordeal that we encounter. He said, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). God can give us the grace to bear up under the trial, but that grace has got to be a work of God to be effective.

In the face of real danger, persecution or any other trial that threatens to overwhelm me, I don’t need a platitude to shore up my inner strength. I need a Savior to come beside me and lend me his strength.

Between the hammer and the anvil

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Hammer and Anvil
“Blacksmith at work02” by User:Fir0002 – Own work. Licensed under GFDL 1.2 via Wikimedia Commons.

The blacksmith uses heat and force to transform the iron into the desired shape. The iron goes into the fire to be heated and is then moved to the anvil to be hammered into the desire form. The process is repeated until the smith is satisfied with the result.

This is a fitting analogy for how God uses trials to transform us into tools he can use to accomplish his purpose. The trials are like the heat that soften the metal and make it malleable, shapeable and transformable. The trials are not enjoyable but they are a necessary element in our spiritual progression.

Regarding trials, James tells us:

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4, ESV)

The hard part is that we are commanded to count it a joy when we encounter trials. To be happy about the difficulty would be disingenuous. The enjoyment of pain is considered a pathology. James is not suggesting that we find pain and difficulty pleasurable.

What he is commanding us to do is to look beyond the pain to the inevitable result. God uses the trial to build endurance into us which will then result in our spiritual completeness.

I understand that this is easier said than done. I’ve done more than my share of whining to God about different circumstances, many of which were beyond my ability to influence or control. But the difficulty does not relieve me of the responsibility to do it.

James does not here issue advice. He is not offering a suggestion. He is delivering a command. Reckon, count, consider are the words used by various translations. It speaks of an intentional direction of mind. It speaks of a choice to view the difficulty in a certain way.

Like the iron between the hammer and the anvil, we are being shaped by God and prepared for an eternity with him. Over this I can learn to be joyful.

On going back to Egypt

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Melon“Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”” (Numbers 11:4–6, ESV)

With the exception of a few adrenaline junkies, most of us are somewhere on the continuum between petrified to a little unnerved when facing change. Change involves risk and risk is scary.

Yet, very few of us are in situations that are completely bad. We may joke about the only way from here is up, but in reality, for most of us things could get a lot worse or a lot better.

In the Exodus story, we often find the Israelites complaining to Moses about all the good things that they left behind in Egypt. One example is shown in the passage that I have quoted above. They are tired of mana and are remembering some of the good things they had to eat in Egypt. They are in the process of change, having left Egypt they are on the way to the promised land. They do not yet know what they will encounter when they get there and they are sure that they don’t want to continue living where they currently are. They are uncomfortable and irritable.

On the surface it would appear that Scripture is indicating that it is wrong for the Israelites to desire these things.

But, these things are good things in themselves. Who has ever had a sweet, ripe melon in the summer and not enjoyed it? A quick Google search turned up many recipes for cucumber-leek soup, so I assume that many people find the rest of the list tasty. There is nothing wrong with desiring nice things to eat.

What then is the problem?

Part of the problem is that the Israelites have displayed selective memory. They were crying out for deliverance when there were in Egypt and now that it has come, they are crying out to be returned to where they started. The Israelites are choosing to ignore the bad things which forced them to desire change.

Another part of the problem is that they have forgotten the miraculous way that they were delivered from the Egyptians. Not only did God deliver them, He did it in such a way as to leave no-one in doubt as to who is in charge. Egypt was shown the impotence of their gods and Israel came away with the wealth of Egypt. In addition, God had provided supernatural shade during the day and fire at night to keep the Israelites safe on the journey.

The Israelites should have been confident that the God who had delivered them, the God who was delivering them, would also be the God who would bring them to the place of His choosing. Rather than looking to go back, they were supposed to be looking forward. Instead of being driven to complaining, their circumstances should have driven them to worship the God who was delivering them.

For the Christian, the words of the old Gospel song come into play, “this world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through . . .” We are on a journey from death to life. Like the Israelites, we begin in bondage (Eph. 2:1) and are progressing to a promised existence that is free from the wreckage that is caused by sin (2 Cor. 4:17). Also like the Israelites, we know that God promises to be with us on the journey and see us through (Matt. 28:20; Phil. 1:6).

The point is that it is easy to look back on former situations and remember them as better than they really were. It is also easy to lose sight of the fact that God remains in control and promises to use every circumstance in which we find ourselves for his glory and our benefit (Rom. 8:28). It is easy to let our circumstances drive us to complaining rather than worship.

As I write this, I’m painfully aware that there are some, perhaps even some who will read this blog, that are in very difficult circumstances. I’m not trying to trivialize the difficulty or danger of that situation. But in this I have to trust that the righteous judge of all mankind is even more aware of the situation and it does not fall outside of his concern or oversight.

At a worship time last evening, we sang the song “Oceans” which contains the line, “I will . . . keep my eyes above the waves.” When Peter was looking at Jesus, the waves didn’t seem so daunting, it was when he looked down that the panic set in. The author of Hebrews encourages us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:1-2).

If we focus on the promised land and who will dwell there with us, even the good things of Egypt will not be attractive in comparison. As we look to God and allow him to shape our desires and guide us in our decisions, we may encounter difficulty along the way, but we should not lose heart. The end will be better than we can even imagine.

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