The word became flesh
Not satisfied with Old Testament books
The word became flesh
Not satisfied with Prophets, Patriarchs and Psalmists
The word became flesh
Not satisfied with Temple Worship
The word became flesh...
...And lived for a while among us
Not satisfied at being in a high and holy place
...And lived for a while among us
Not satisfied at being in the Holy of Holies
...And lived for a while among us
Not satisfied at shouting from a distance
John 1 : 1, 2 & 14
“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning...
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
There are so many lessons to be learned from the great truth that “the Word became flesh.” The first is that God’s most eloquent means of communication was not to shout from a far away heavenly place or even through words written in the 39 books of the Old Testament. God knew that the best way to speak was in the flesh. Actions speak louder than words was what was happening here. It remains the best way to communicate truth as the apostle James realised too.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:22-27)
In a book called Amusing Ourselves To Death about the influence of an image dominated age Neil Postman concluded with powerful insight that if you were taught mainly by words on a linear page then the objective side of your brain was the main filter for information. In the last 50 years with the omnipresence of television, and all that followed, this generation filters information through the subjective side. That impacts all efforts to communicate truth. For this generation objective truth needs to be proven experientially. Telling this world that God loves them will only become a strong reality for them when those telling them they are loved actually love them!
This seemingly recent phenomenon is not so new after all. Those words that we have been thinking about for a few days in these Advent Reflections shows that for God it is not a new idea at all. When the Word became flesh and moved into the neighbourhood it was about people finding the truth in an experiential way. God trump cards post modern existentialism. God is relational and experiential.
Again... actions speak louder than words. That’s how God has always done it!
PRAYER: Lord may the words we believe about you never become more important than the actions they call for. Maybe we always be more about actions than words.
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