Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth

The incarnational way of life is not about conversion. It’s about adoption. The book of Ephesians strongly implies that Jesus followers are always to be viewed in the context of the family. We are a part of His body, members of God’s household, bride and groom. This understanding is so important because if you miss it, you’ll head out your door in

I was thinking of a God who left divine utopia and came into a cesspool of brutal human misery. Why? Because of people. People matter. You matter. God’s reason for coming in the flesh, or better yet for sending His beloved Son in the flesh, is us. It’s me. It’s you.

“Jesus teaches you to live your life as He would live your life.”

I’d like to expose the main reason why I still struggle to stay true to the incarnational way of life. Here it is. I know that if I do, people will find Jesus, and then I’m going to have to walk with them … for a long time!

God designed us to be transformed primarily inside a community. There is no such thing as a personal relationship with God. Although you are a person and can relate with God without anyone around, you are not designed to grow by yourself. God inspired every word of the New Testament to point to a community of Christ followers whom He was intending

Incarnational living isn’t about trying to deny our humanness and appear godly. It is about humbly walking among our friends and letting them see how God is changing our humanness.

Therefore, to have skin is to be human, and that’s why flesh becomes the single most important theological, cosmological, and practical essence of our faith. Here’s why. God as Spirit intentionally put on skin for us. This is called the incarnation—a word that means “to take on flesh.”

Here’s the deal. People are not looking for doctrine. They’re looking for a God with skin on, a God they can know, speak with, learn from, struggle with, be honest with, get straight answers from, and connect their lives to.

Here is what goes through my head: • I rarely feel like I’m doing enough. • I almost always feel that I could do more. • I’m failing in the opportunities that God brings my way. • I tend toward cynicism and apathy because I don’t think my little efforts will do much for the kingdom anyway. But the more I study Jesus and see Him letting God dictate