The Divine part 5
I want to end this Rant series by taking a look at what makes the divine so... well... divine. And the best way to say it is: "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:6-7). Or, to say it another way, "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). The divine nature--which, again, is not just what we DO, but who we ARE--is the love nature. And love is giving. Giving everything you have and everything you are, no matter what the (perceived) results are. Not loving someone because they "deserve" it, but loving someone because you are so full of love you couldn't keep it to yourself if you tried. Jesus, literally God, made Himself of no reputation. He took on the form of a servant. He washed His disciple's feet. He gave His very life for us, and to us. And look at Romans 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." When we had nothing to offer... Jesus gave it all. When we were dead in our trespasses and sins, Jesus gave us His life. He freed us from that bondage, and He equipped and empowered us to live a life of love. He gave it all... simply because He wanted us to have it. Simply because He loved us. That's how He SHOWED us His love. Jesus said the greatest love a man can have is to lay His life down for His friends. And then He went to the cross and did that very thing. He didn't just talk about love. He put His money where His mouth was. He even told His disciples, when they tried to defend Him when He was being arrested, "Thinketh thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26:53). My point being, Jesus gave His life willingly. He said in another place that no man could take His life. But that He laid it down so that He could pick it back up again. He did it... for us. Because we couldn't do it ourselves. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get ourselves out of the trouble with sin and death that Adam had gotten us into. And if we're being honest about it, we really didn't try that hard. We spent more time running FROM God than we ever did running TO Him. So He DREW us to Himself. He was lifted up from the earth on the cross. He did what we couldn't. And since He had drawn us into Himself, He didn't just do it FOR us, He also did it AS us. Justified doesn't mean, "Just as if I'd never sinned." Justified means I am a new creature in Christ and I HAVE never sinned. How can someone who is dead to sin live there anymore? Anyone born of Christ CANNOT sin because the incorruptible seed remains in Him. We have been completely transformed. From old to new. We have been CONFORMED to the image of God's only Son. As He is, so are we in this world. So now we CAN love God--by loving each other. Just as He loved us, we can love one another. Just as He laid His life down for us, we can lay it down for each other. If the root is holy, the lump is holy. When we partake of the divine nature, what we come to understand is that He is divine... and so are we!