The Divine part 1
Have you ever eaten something and it was so good--so heavenly--that you said, "This is divine?" That feeling (and for me it's chocolate) is what I always think of when I see that word. But according to 2 Peter 1:4, "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust," the word "divine" is number 2304 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, literally, "godlike." It also states, "divinity, or godhead." Which, of course, takes us to Jesus. Colossians 2:9, "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." And, of course, if we're talking about Jesus we're talking about... us. "...because as he is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17). Jesus is the truth. The truth about God, and the truth about you. If it's true about Him, it's true about you. The fulness of the Godhead dwelt in a body when Jesus walked the earth. When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And not the fulness of the Godhead dwells in YOUR body because, through the cross, God took it a step further. Rather than just dwelling WITH us, He now dwells WITHIN us. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are the house that the carpenter Jesus built for Him to live in. In Him we live, and move, and have our being. In us HE lives, and moves, and has His being. And here's my point: "...if the firstfruit be holy, the lump also is holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches" (Romans 11:16). Divine means godlike. It is the godhead. Which lives in a body. The corporate body of Christ. Your body. My body. He is holy, and as He is so are we in this world. We are the righteousness OF GOD in Christ. His holiness IS our holiness. His divinity is our divinity. And now that I've said all that, and before I really get to my punchline, I want to say this: I have a lot of thoughts about God. I think about Him almost all day every day. I'm kind of obsessed. Which means I'm obsessed with love. Which means I think about love all day every day. Because God IS love. But before I put something out there and attach my name to it I always think to myself: Is this something really deep that I could have a conversation about it with certain people and that would be that? Or is this something practical that can help people where the rubber meets the road? Cuz that's what, to me, public ministry is all about. Not choking people with the Word. Not swimming down so deep that people drown. But giving people what they need, in a way they can handle it. And my answer to that question, for this Rant series, was yes. This is helpful. Because in order to partake of the divine nature we need to know what it is. And we need to know what it isn't. I think this idea we have of "holiness" is WAY off base. I keep saying, "The most holy thing you can do is let God love you and love others with that same love." But it seems like everytime I say that somebody always wants to start talking about sin. As if you can't be holy unless there's something "unholy" in the picture. As if you can't be divine--or godlike--unless you're doing something entirely UNgodlike. So what I hope to do in the next few days is help us all (me included) understand what it truly means to be divine...!