Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Tuesday April 11, 2006

I often comment on what I believe to be a misunderstanding at best and heresy at worst as I read the many ideas concerning the Incarnation. I know this is Easter Week, but if I fail to grasp who Jesus really is, I then also fail in God 101.

God did not clothe Himself in human flesh in order to know anything, and to assert such is to deny His omniscience.

If God already ‘knows’ then the question 'why' becomes even more important.

The Incarnation involves many things, but one thing that is seldom mentioned is the truth that He became flesh and dwelt among us as John says, in order that we who suffer can know that He knows, that He in fact feels our pain, He knows how we feel. In His earthly walk we see Him experience many of the things that we take very seriously and in witnessing His normal pain along with 'awful' agony the fact of His feeling how we feel gives us courage to stand up to the pain and disappointment of life.

The scriptures assure us that Jesus was hungry, that he knew rejection, even or His own family and His own nation, He wept at the tomb of the beloved Lazarus, that He was thirsty, forsaken by God and man, that he felt the excruciating pain of Calvary. These are just a few of the evidentiary reasons for knowing that He knows, about us and our daily bout with pain of some kind.

Samuel Johnson, the grand old man of English Literature wrote:

"Those who do not feel pain seldom think it is felt."

If God just sat 'up there' on His throne it would be much harder to believe that He feels our pain.

Knowing that He knows frees us to let others know that it is okay to weep, to comfort others who are going through it and to do all that we can as children of the Lord to avoid as much as possible inflicting pain on others out of a desire for vengeance, or gain. This last phrase does not sound like a big deal but I assure you that if the principle of vengeance or gain is removed you will see a marked drop in the number of attacks by brother on brother. I have been watching a 'Christian battle' for truth recently and the two mentioned principles are flashing like neon signs on an Irish Pub. And the accusations and fighting for 'right' closely resembles the many battles I witnessed and participated in a few 'Irish Pubs' in days of yore.

As one man said, "Larry, Christian principles to guide our conduct are fine, but in this case there is money on the table." Such is life.

Because Jesus knows how we feel, it is okay to suffer loss to maintain biblical principles.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2006 Use with credit.

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