Skip to main content

Fully Human

Luke 2:52 (NIV)
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

The word for stature is helikia, a word that implies maturity...growth in more than physical ways.  It implies formation of character, principles, values that serve to guide a person in living.

In a recent message surrounding this passage I mentioned that for some Jesus' growing up was not equal to our own - he was God.  But that is the fateful error (sorry to say, but heresy) of those who refused to believe Jesus was fully human, as well as fully divine.  In other words, we must not diminish his humanity in order to understand all that he is.
Being "fully human" is not just a way of describing Jesus; it is also an objective for each of our own lives.

Genesis 1:26-27 (NIV)
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.


God has made us in his image - that includes our physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual,and social dimensions.  Interestingly, scripture says that God has no physical form - he is a Spirit, not a physical body - thus we are told not to make a physical representation of him in the form of an idol.
So, our image-bearing is more those aspects of the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and social dimensions.
To be fully human is to know that God has made us with these.  To pay attention to those aspects of our being is simply "watching over our soul".

Jesus said,  "... I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."   John 10:10 (NIV) 

I am a man, a husband, a father, a pastor, a professor, among many things.  Yet my identity is mainly as a follower of Jesus, a disciple - "a learner" - which is what discipleship means.  I am learning how to live my life the way the Jesus would live my life if he were me.  God has been faithful to me for my 62 years to develop and "grow" me.

OH, there is so much more to go; but this one thing I do, I press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus has taken hold of me (that's Paul's words - Phil 3:12).

Fully Human...that's God's gift to us.

Peace

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Wednesday, Day 25: Christmas Eve - God Loves Us (So We Can Relax)

For Kids: There’s a lot of things we have to do each day. Get up from our sleep, Get dressed, Eat Breakfast, Get ready for School, Listen to the teacher, play with friends, eat our lunch, and after it’s all done, go back home. There’s time to play, Then we eat our supper… And eventually we have to get ready for bed and go to sleep! And then we do it all over again the next day. Sometimes there’s a vacation - like right now - and we get more time to play, to have fun and not have to do work at school. Our parents are good at helping us know what time it is and what we need to do next – even when we don’t want to move on to the next thing.  God is also good at helping us know what time it is, and what is next.  He doesn’t shout at us, or yell, or even scream…he does it peacefully, quietly.  He wants us to understand that he does it, most of all, for us. Christmas can be quite busy and there’s lots of things going on at once…but l...

Joy to the World - Help is On the Way

It’s the first day of Advent– while you prepare for Worship this morning at church take a minute to ask God to direct you through this season that you might be prepared to “receive your King”. In the first week of Advent we celebrate the PROMISE of His Coming. His promise is based on our need. We were made in his image, but there is emptiness in our soul that is the result of the Fallen nature of sin. But why did Jesus come? What in his coming announces God's heart? His desire for us to know and experience? 10 BUT THE ANGEL SAID TO THEM, "DO NOT BE AFRAID; FOR BEHOLD, I BRING YOU GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY WHICH WILL BE FOR ALL THE PEOPLE; 11 FOR TODAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID THERE HAS BEEN BORN FOR YOU A SAVIOR, WHO IS CHRIST THE LORD. GREAT JOY! Did you know that God is Joyful? 1 CHRONICLES 16:23-27 (NASB) 23 SING TO THE LORD, ALL THE EARTH; PROCLAIM GOOD TIDINGS OF HIS SALVATION FROM DAY TO DAY. 24 TELL OF HIS GLORY AMONG THE NATIONS, HIS WONDERFUL DEEDS AMONG ALL THE PEOPLES....

Wondering Out Under the Stars

A Reading: Colossians 1:9-20 (NIV) 9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether th...