One idea brought up in the book is that God is a Spirit with no gender. The normal way humans view God is masculine. I had never thought about it any other way. To answer the main character's question about that subject, God said, "There are many reasons for that, and some of them go very deep. Let me say for now that we knew once the Creation was broken, true fathering would be much more lacking than mothering. Don't misunderstand me, both are needed--but an emphasis on fathering is necessary because of the enormity of its absence."
Psalm 68 tells us that God is the "Father to the fatherless". He manifests Himself in that way to show each of us how a father is to act. Most mothers are nurturing and caring because that is how God made them, but, especially in today's times, fathers fall way short of the original intent that God must be to His children what their earthly fathers can't or won't be.
A second idea touched on in this book is an expansion of what it meant for Jesus to become human. We all know He is fully God and fully human at the same time. In John 1, Jesus is shown to be the Word that was in the beginning and that created the universe along with God. In verse 14, "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." I realized that He came here in human flesh, but I really didn't think about all that He gave up. I know He gave up riches, power, etc, but what He really did was limit Himself to the finite human body and life. Here is a short excerpt from the book.
"Although by nature he is fully God, Jesus is fully human and lives as such. While never losing the innate ability to fly, He chooses moment-by-moment to remain grounded. That is why His name is Immanuel, God with us, or God with you, to be precise."
"But what about all the miracles? The healings? Raising people from the dead? Doesn't that prove that Jesus was God--you know, more than human?"
"No, it proves that Jesus is truly human."
"What?"
"Mackenzie, I can fly, but humans can't. Jesus is fully human. Although He is also fully God, He has never drawn upon His nature as God to go anything. He as only lived out of His relationship with me, living in the very same manner that I desire to be the relationship with every human being. He is just the first to do it to the uttermost--the first to absolutely trust my life within Him, the first to believe in my love and my goodness without regard for appearance or consequence."
"So, when he healed the blind?"
"He did so as a dependent, limited human being trusting in my life and power to be at work within Him and through Him. Jesus, as a human being, had no power within Himself to heal anyone."
WOW! Besides His coming to earth as our substitutionary atonement, He came to earth to show us how Man was originally intended to relate to God. He had so much faith and love in God the Father that anything he asked was accomplished through Him. Just as Jesus told us in Matthew 17, if we had faith the size of a mustard seed, we can ask a mountain to move anywhere we wanted and it would be done!
My faith needs more expansion. Open my eyes, heart, and mind, Dear Lord, so that I may become more like your Son.
A second idea touched on in this book is an expansion of what it meant for Jesus to become human. We all know He is fully God and fully human at the same time. In John 1, Jesus is shown to be the Word that was in the beginning and that created the universe along with God. In verse 14, "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." I realized that He came here in human flesh, but I really didn't think about all that He gave up. I know He gave up riches, power, etc, but what He really did was limit Himself to the finite human body and life. Here is a short excerpt from the book.
"Although by nature he is fully God, Jesus is fully human and lives as such. While never losing the innate ability to fly, He chooses moment-by-moment to remain grounded. That is why His name is Immanuel, God with us, or God with you, to be precise."
"But what about all the miracles? The healings? Raising people from the dead? Doesn't that prove that Jesus was God--you know, more than human?"
"No, it proves that Jesus is truly human."
"What?"
"Mackenzie, I can fly, but humans can't. Jesus is fully human. Although He is also fully God, He has never drawn upon His nature as God to go anything. He as only lived out of His relationship with me, living in the very same manner that I desire to be the relationship with every human being. He is just the first to do it to the uttermost--the first to absolutely trust my life within Him, the first to believe in my love and my goodness without regard for appearance or consequence."
"So, when he healed the blind?"
"He did so as a dependent, limited human being trusting in my life and power to be at work within Him and through Him. Jesus, as a human being, had no power within Himself to heal anyone."
WOW! Besides His coming to earth as our substitutionary atonement, He came to earth to show us how Man was originally intended to relate to God. He had so much faith and love in God the Father that anything he asked was accomplished through Him. Just as Jesus told us in Matthew 17, if we had faith the size of a mustard seed, we can ask a mountain to move anywhere we wanted and it would be done!
My faith needs more expansion. Open my eyes, heart, and mind, Dear Lord, so that I may become more like your Son.
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