The Incarnation

I was reading a book by Dr. Henry Cloud about theologies that will make you crazy and there was one that talked about that “you only need God”. If you’re struggling, then you aren’t praying enough or you aren’t spending enough time in the word or not fasting enough.

I was surprised that Dr. Cloud talked about this, but he was saying that God calls other people to show His mercy, grace, favor etc. and to be the hand of god to us all. Ignoring other people’s role in our lives is ignoring one of the main methods God uses to grow us.

It also minimizes the power of the incarnation - if God was sufficient, we wouldn’t have needed Jesus to take physical form! While on Earth, he ate with others, visited the sick, helped the poor, played with children… If Jesus did that, how much more do we need to be like that?

I thought it was fascinating, something I hadn’t thought about before. Most of the time I have a problem, I absolutely think that I’m not spending enough time in prayer or in the word. But sometimes Dr. Cloud is right - you need people! You don’t just need teaching, but you also need mercy, grace, and understanding. After my problem with the church, this was so clear to me. My relationship with God hadn’t faltered, but I really didn’t trust His people. What I needed in terms of healing, God didn’t choose to provide divinely, but through His people and through a couple people who went out of their way to help me even in my distress.

I was shocked in that time. The people I thought were my friends disappeared instantly when being my friends was the least bit of inconvenience. And there were gems of humans who risked everything for me. I was so bad at recognizing true faith in others. Now looking back, I wouldn’t have traded that experience for the world. 

Dr Cloud’s words make so much sense but I somehow missed it - we’re not supposed to be solo, and though brief times of solitude can be good for the soul, we also need to be searching for the Lord in the community and the people God’s placed in our life. Doing so is valuing the incarnation and Jesus’s way of doing ministry.

My grandpa was part of a cult that believed they were the only ones who were following the truth. Except slowly, he realized that the others in the church had problems. By the end of his life, he thought only he had the truth and everyone else was wrong. He died an angry and bitter man; when my dad finally tracked him down close to the end of his life, he was shocked.

It’s so strange… We either don’t get this at all or we’re in a community that preaches that community is everything, to the detriment of the word of God and other believers.

 

Guidance of the Holy Spirit

 

Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithnia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas. Acts 16:6-10 (NLT)

 

Fascinating situation… Paul and Silas were sent on a missionary journey. They showed up in a location, and the Holy Spirit forbid them to go there. Now, I don’t know how this happened exactly but I believe it was spiritual in nature - the rest of Acts is pretty clear about physical barriers like “this wasn’t safe” or “our boat was destroyed” so I don’t think this was a situational impediment. Probably a check in the spirit or in prayer.

 

The other interesting thing is how loosely Luke (the author) plays around with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus, using them almost interchangeably. This mirrors Acts 5 with Ananias and Saphira when it says in one place that they lied to the Holy Spirit, and in another they lied to God. It’s good indirect evidence for the trinity.

 

So here we have Paul and Silas sent by God to preach the gospel, stopped along the way from doing so. However, it wasn’t Satan impeding them but God. He gave an overall vision and then course correction along the way.

 

For me, this means I need to be ever more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. When we are listening, we understand the course corrections immediately. We quickly understand that it’s God stopping us and we don’t automatically think it’s Satan. I wonder how often we pray for God to go against His own will!

It Doesn't Take a Prophet to See Sin

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is - that she is a sinner.”

Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” 

"Tell me, teacher," he said. -Luke 7:39-40 (NIV)

I find these verses are a key paradigm shift for most people. Most of us think exactly the way Simon does - that hearing from God means seeing someone’s sin. That if you see with God’s eyes, then we are dirty, filthy, and dreadfully sinful. They are afraid of getting too close to God for exactly this reason. However, God is standing in the room, and he has different thoughts. Yes he sees the sin but he sees much more than that. He sees beyond the sin and into her transformation and love.

Simon thinks exactly like most people do today - that God sees us principally with our sin. That it takes God to see our sin. However, it doesn’t take a prophet to see sin - in fact, most people can see it and everyone in that room knew the kind of woman that was there. What does take God’s perspective for is to see deeper into the person, to see what God’s plans for them are and to call them to it.

This is my favorite part of being a believer - in Christ, we can pray and see things that do not yet exist in the physical. We can see what God is calling people to, not just what they are or what they’ve done. We can see with the eyes of heaven and have hope where others have none.