The ultimate version of "If" would be this: If I were God, what would I do? How would I display my awesome power, my infinite knowledge and dominion over the universe?
As we celebrate Christmas we see the reality of God playing "If" when we reverse the equation, imagining God asking himself: "If I were human, what would I do, how would I act, what would I say?"
Scripture says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" - John 1:1,14 -
The fact that God chose to become a human being holds many wonderful mysteries. These have fed theologians for 2,000 years, causing them to ponder just what it means that God was a human being - and a human being was God!.
Among these mysteries is the reality that Jesus was not a power player. He did not smite his enemies. He did not destroy cities. He did not rule.
But at the same time he showed his supremacy over evil, his dominion over sin, his triumph over Satan and his total power over death. And he did all of this without using the awesomeness of his divinity; he used the depth of his divinity.
Jesus showed us that evil, sin, Satan and death are not defeated by force, power or might but by concern, kindness and love.
If I were God, my temptation would be to confront the powers of evil on their own terms, following a motto of "Fight fire with fire".
And I would fail because the source of evil's strength rests precisely on the idea that might, force and strength are what really matter.
What Jesus did to show his mastery over evil, sin, Satan and death was never to even enter into the fight. He just went around them, isolated them, and showed them to be the hollow, worthless manikins that they are.
When confronted with "For I was hungry and you gave me food" - Matt. 25:35 - Satan has nothing to say. When met with "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do" - Luke 23:34 - sin has no room. When evil meets "Love your enemies" - Matt. 5:44 - evil evaporates. And when Jesus rose from the tomb "just as he said" he would - Matt. 28:6 - death is destroyed.
The most divine thing Jesus ever did was to kneel down in front of the apostles at the Last Supper and wash their feet. This was the ultimate act of God being God by loving and serving his fellow man. This humble act also teaches us that our role in life is not to try to placate God, to be ruled by God or to be afraid of God. Our role in life is to act like God. We are to go out and play "If" all of the time in imitation of God.
We are to see the hungry and feed them, see the imprisoned and visit them, see the person without a coat and give him one, and see the woman at the well in our day and time and give her living water. We are to find those who need help, confidence and love and tell them by our actions that they are our brothers and sisters and, as such, are loved.
As we celebrate Christmas it is the perfect time for us to act like God, showing the ultimate divinity of Jesus Christ being lived out in the world today.
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Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
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Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
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Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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