So, this text (John 1,1-18) affirms, as do the ones in Matthew and Luke, that God became man.
John goes further than Matthew and Luke in defining the relationship between God and Christ, between the Father and the Son.
The Prologue also expresses more unambiguously the fact of the Incarnation, and anticipates many of the themes in the body of the Gospel.
All these texts then affirm our faith – and it is faith!
That God really became Incarnate in Christ, that the Babe in the manger, really was the Son of God, is the faith that we live by!
This is the historic Christian faith! And we stand on the shoulders of all saints who have gone before!
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE
The realities we are talking about are beyond the realm of knowledge as we normally use that word!
We cannot know in that sense – we walk by faith not by sight, to quote Paul (2 Cor. 5,7)!
I can say: “I know that Jesus lives”. By that I mean that he is real to me!
I can go further and say, Jesus is real to me! I have a knowledge of him in my life!
This is a type of knowledge. But it is faith speaking all the way!
And this type of knowledge – the type that comes through faith, is LIFE CHANGING!
The other type, the 2+2=4 type, is necessary, but not life changing in that sense!
But underpinning faith there needs to be sound Christian, biblical theology, which we need to get our heads around!
There will be more of this to come, in the new year!
But it is faith that releases the power of God in us, for him to do things in our own lives, and in the lives of our loved ones. The power of God in you, will touch the people around you! That is how things are changed.
And it is all by grace; not trying, just believing!
Ephesians 1,19, speaks of God’s power toward us who believe, being the power which God used to raise up Jesus from the dead.
And don´t think that you must experience electricity moving through your body, to experience the power of God in your life – or any other sensation!
We are not told to have sensations! It is not in the sense realm! We are just told to believe, to have faith, to trust. It is as we just trust him, that (whether we feel it or not) his power is released in us.
Nevertheless, there is a type of spiritual “sensation” which comes with believing, a kind of intuition. Hebrews 5,14, which speaks of powers of discernment! There are spiritual gifts!
They are trained by constant practice – and Christian practice starts with believing, which then leads to action!.
Here´s the test of whether the power of God is working in us:
If we know our own lives changing – being drawn to God – and we see the lives of the people around us changing as a result – we know that the power of God is at work in us!
If this is not real to you, read (again) my post: BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT!
GRACE NOT WORKS
It takes a long time for some of us to realise that it is by GRACE that we are changed.
NO AMOUNT of trying on our part will cause Christ to grow in us!
Trying to accomplish this ourselves is like trying to lift ourselves off the ground by tugging at our bootlaces. Have you noticed? It doesn´t work!
To express this mathematically: You are a closed system. It takes a force outside the system to shift things in your life! That is where the Holy Spirit comes in.
God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son (Romans 8,29). In this sentence, God is the active subject. We are the grammatical object being acted upon!
God acts upon you by his Spirit; with his grace, with his mercy, with his forgiveness, with his love, with his healing; and with anything else which is consistent with his good will for us in this life, and the next! This he does; but we need to give ourselves unreservedly to him!
And he gets the job done – in the end! But we won´t; in our own strength!
What he has started in you, he will complete. Notice Philippians 1,6!
INSTEAD OF A NEW YEAR RESOLUTION
Hebrews says:
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put our of joint but rather be healed. (Heb. 12,12-13)
What can we do?
What must we do?
Seek his face! Seek his presence!
Hebrews 11,6:
God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him (the verb “to seek”, is intensified in the Greek: Hence “diligently“)
Be filled with the Spirit!
I wish all my readers a happy and peaceful Christmas celebration!