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.