waking up

One of the greatest mysteries is the Incarnation. Christ was the incarnation of God in human flesh.

If this is true, I believe there are implications far greater than I had ever dared to believe. And I think Jesus talked about it all along.

He told Nicodemus that we have to be born again to come into the Kingdom… to be born of the Spirit. But what is the Kingdom? Is it not merely life under God’s reign? A citizen of the kingdom is simply one who lives as God says.

This bothered me for a long time. For over 15 years of my life, these questions plagued me: “Is it possible to become like Christ while I’m still living? Can I be someone who consistently obeys the heart of God? Is it just vanity, or will the striving someday pay off? What does it take to become like Christ?”

To answer these questions, I had to deal with a lot of assumptions I hid deep down. I assumed that the key lay somehere in the fact that my heart wanted to please Him. My thoughts soon became–”I should be content with my sanctification all-throughout the process… I should be satisfied at any given point, because the Word says that God’s glory will be fully revealed in us one day.”

While I haven’t great scholarship to tackle these statments directly, I have come to believe that this attitude I once came to unwittingly accept isn’t right. It can’t be… or else, Christianity (in this respect), looks no different from any other belief system.

I’m not even talking about other world religions… the fact is that every single person on the planet wants to be a better person in some way or another, no matter what their standards are. It’s simply in our nature to recognize life as a challenge, and I argue, one to be conquered, at that.

So what of this talk of us becoming the “righteousness of God,” “holy ones,” or “more than conquerors”? Where is the heavenly identity we so long for? …The state of being that so reflects and even reveals the image of God for all to see and give Him praise?

Look at all this confusion:

***

1 Corinthians 15:48

New American Standard Bible
As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.

New Living Translation
Every human being has an earthly body just like Adam’s, but our heavenly bodies will be just like Christ’s.

New International Version
As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.

New Revised Standard Version
As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.

The Message Paraphrase
The First Man was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly.

***

Guess which one I’m arguing for.

I’m convinced it’s utterly hidden. This confusion is all around. Today we think that we’re all just spiritually crippled… like we need to wait for God to be in the right mood or something to allow us to grow.

Paul says every spiritual blessing is ours in Christ–EVERY blessing. For growth, service, and freedom. It is all ours… in this very moment. But what keeps us from living like we know we have the fullness of God?

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

For Paul, it was an actual event. Something he could refer to in the past tense.

Stepping into the likeness of Christ, spiritual formation, putting on mind of Christ, dying to self, abiding in Him, remaining in the Vine, walking on the straight and narrow path, “Your will, not my will, be done” … they’re all talking about the same thing. Life, truly lived in Christ, comes with a decision.

I’m not saying that in one second, it all changes so that we don’t ever have to commit to growth, to living a Godly life after this point, but I am now thoroughly convinced that one must come to a certain point to receive the power to live it.

Just like in the moment of Salvation–once the words are uttered, reality breaks into our self-centered dream-world.

And with this decision, the Kingdom life is unveiled as walking free and breathing–heart-beating, smelling, tasting, touching, seeing Him everywhere. The Kingdom is coming, yes, but the Kingdom is already here. It’s at work in those who receive Christ (the “life-giving Spirit”) as life… not just a ticket out of damnation.

I’ve heard this in several different places now (maybe it’s confirmation?), so I won’t bother citing:

If you were to die tonight, where would you go? Now if you don’t die tonight, do you have the assurance of the power to live in/for God’s kingdom tomorrow?

Paul labored that the Laodiceans would “know the mystery of God, namely, Christ…” He is God made manifest in human flesh. He lived the way God intended for us, filled with the Spirit. We have this same Spirit in us. God made it possible through Christ, and gives His Spirit without measure…

But we must believe to receive.