The Word Became Flesh - Devotion

The Word Became Flesh

-Intro about myself-

I want you to imagine for a moment that you have EVERYTHING you have ever wanted… the family of your dreams, the house of your dreams, the car of your dreams, the career of your dreams — the LIFE of your dreams!

EVERYTHING IS PERFECT!

Nothing ever goes wrong, there’s no stress, no midterms or final exams, nothing is hard AT ALL!

Everything is exactly as they should be, and as you always hoped they would be...

Pretty nice huh?

Now imagine as your are living the life you have always wanted, it is all gone in an instant! In fact you step out of this fantastic life into a living nightmare that is the exact OPPOSITE of what you wanted!

Every single day is a struggle!

Everything around you is broken or in the process of breaking.

Now if you had the choice between one of these 2 lives, which would you choose to live out?

The perfect life obviously!

But today I want us to quickly see how Jesus Himself had EVERYTHING and He willingly stepped out of all the riches of heaven and into the poverty of earth.

John 1:1–5 CSB

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

Jesus was WITH God… He was in heaven. He did not want for ANYTHING! He had it made right where He was, and He had been there for ALL ETERNITY! And He chose to leave all of that to come here to earth!

We can’t imagine ever doing that ourselves… Giving up EVERYTHING for poverty. But that’s exactly what Jesus did. and that’s what it means when the scripture says the Word became flesh.

And most importantly of all, He did not make this decision out of frustration nor did he hesitate about His decision… But He did it with joy… even when He knew what the end of His life would look like, torture until death on the cross.

Philippians 2:5–12 CSB

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Philippians 2:5–11 CSB

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

He left the rich royalty of heaven and came down to earth to die for us so that we can be rescued from this world and live forever with Him.

You see that first scripture we read said the He was with God in the beginning and all things were created through Him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.

So when God was creating the world and everything in and around it, He did so through JESUS!

So Jesus who MADE the light in this world then steps down to BECOME light to lead us out of the darkness of this world.

And guys, trust me, I get it. I understand where you are right now. I lived the life of working hard to achieve that first life we talked about. I wanted fame and fortune… the perfect life… or so I thought. And I just want to share briefly what changed the direction of my life.

My life had always been consumed with music. From a young age I began singing any time and anywhere I had the opportunity to do so. In 2008, I auditioned for a singing competition and won the whole thing… Now I don’t say this to brag on myself at all, but this is a very important part of my story.

Later that year, after multiple people telling me to go audition for the television show, American Idol, I finally gave in. I flew to Salt Lake City and auditioned… and you know what… I got a golden ticket! I was so excited! And this experience consumed me! A month later I had to fly back to Salt Lake City to continue the audition process… Round after round of auditions I got passed through to the next round… right up until I was going to be in front of the Big Dogs… This was back when Simon, Randy, and Paula were still judging… And in that round I got cut. Just wasn’t what they were looking for.

And I was devastated... almost to the point of depression.

In my mind, I was about to live my dream and in an instant it was all gone. And for months I wanted nothing to do with music and felt my life was drained of joy...

Until… One day God spoke to me. He showed me that true joy is found in Jesus. And I began to realize exactly what Jesus did for me! He left the dream life of heaven and willfully came down to the poverty of earth to ultimately DIE for me and for you… He chose to do that! And though I had been a Christian before this point, this is the moment I began to really live for Him! My goal in life was no longer for riches and fame… but to live for Christ and use my gift of music to honor Him!

And from that point on… there has been a certain old song that has been a motivation of mine to keep pushing through whatever life throws my way because of the beautiful gift God has given me… a relationship with Him! And I want to share that song with you today!