Tuesday, July 17

God Incarnate

Narrative Lectionary Daily Devotions written by Kace Leetch from Clergy Stuff.

1 John tells us that there are three that testify to the truth of Jesus Christ: the Spirit, the water and the blood. The Holy Spirit testifies to the truth of Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood, that is a man, born to flesh and died with blood. It is a testimony that the man, Jesus Christ, was God incarnate, God made flesh.

Jesus was not the only man to take on human form. The gods of Egypt, Greece, and Rome were all known to walk among humans looking like humans. But these were only pretending to look like humans; none actually became human. Until God. God was the only one to become human in every way -- to be born, to grow, to learn, to live, and to die human. God was the only one to know fully the depths of human suffering and the joy of human love. Only God was truly human in the man, Jesus Christ.

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Narrative Lectionary Text: 1 John 5:6-8

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree.