Monday January 15
As Christians, we believe that Jesus was fully God and fully human. This union of the Divine and humanity makes His perspective unique as to what is important on earth and important for eternity. That we can’t understand how He could have a divine/human nature doesn’t nullify this truth any more than someone’s lack of understanding about aerodynamics could cause an airplane not to fly.
“Here are two mysteries for the price of one - the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus. . . . Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.” - J. I. Packer, Knowing God(Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1973), p. 53.
One reason Jesus came to this world was to show us just how loving and caring God is and how much He cares for each of us. Far from being some cold and distant deity, as some believed, Jesus revealed our heavenly Father’s true character.
Satan, however, has tried to separate humans from God. He has tried to depersonalize Him, characterizing Him as someone who doesn’t care about us. He does all that he can, through whatever means possible, to keep us away from knowing and experiencing the reality of God’s goodness and grace. An inordinate love of material things works well as one of Satan’s ploys to achieve this end.
Read Matthew 19:16-22. What does this story tell about how Satan can use our love of material things to keep us distant from the Lord?
Imagine Jesus Himself, God in the flesh, speaking to this young man who obviously knew Jesus was somebody special. And yet what happened? He allowed his great wealth, his love of material things, to separate him from the very person of God Himself. The love of the world and of material things so blinded him that even though he was sad, that sadness wasn’t enough to make him do the right thing. He wasn’t sad because he was losing his possessions (he wasn’t). He was sad because he was losing his soul over those things.
Whether we are rich or poor, how can we make sure we keep the right relationship to the things of this world?
