Incarnation

Ok, so I didn't title this one "Part 2"... 'cause it's not very catchy and maybe you wouldn't have read it... But I'm still reading The Divine Mentor, and I'm still being challenged by it and heartily recommend it!  Here is an excerpt from what I read today:

     Conversely, when you ask, "How will I live differently because of what God has just said to me?" then incarnation has begun.  Incarnation is what changes the world.  Incarnation transforms your family.  Incarnation rewrites your future.  When God's Word bleeds out your fingertips and toenails---when you treat it as fresh bread, to be consumed daily---that's when it makes you a disciple.

** Just in your head: information.

** Just in your heart: inspiration.

** When it bleeds out of you: incarnation.

     When it's just in your head, it makes you pharisaical.  (And inside each one of us is a Pharisee just waiting to grow up!)

     When it's just in your heart, it makes you a fanatic.

     When it bleeds out your toes, it makes you authentic.

 Are you ever amazed when God repeatedly brings up the same material... gently yet persistently nudging you in a particular direction?  That's been happening to me a lot... I guess some in hindsight.  I don't know...  Teachings from our pastor, books I've read, conversations I've taken part in... sort of all coming together and making sense (more sense anyway)...  Things like:  a disciple being someone who "hears from God and does what He says," doing the right thing, even when it's hard, and being brave enough to consistently ask "what is the wise thing to do?"...  Ok, so this isn't rocket science, and I guess most of these things I've always known...  But I think it really does maybe come down to the enormity of the gap between "knowing" something, and "bleeding it out your toes and fingertips"!  So many times, I've "understood" things at head level... or "experienced" things at heart level... My absolute deepest desire is to be able to "incarnate" what I know in my head and feel in my heart... authentically... with my life, so that people can see Jesus living through me and bring glory to my Father.  I know I say this a lot, and perhaps it sounds overused, but I am so so thankful for grace.  I screw up so so often.  Sometimes just terribly.  If God were going to be just, he would have incinerated me long ago.  It seems like a miracle to me when a seed sticks in my heart a little better today than it did yesterday.  I do not deserve that kind of grace, but that is God, seducing me, enticing me, luring me.  Isn't that amazing?  That is a God worth living for.