Immanuel – “God with us,” or “God with you,” to be more precise.
Although Jesus is also fully God, he has never drawn upon his nature as God to do anything. He has only lived out of his relationship with God, living in the very same manner that God desires to be in relationship with every human being.
- Jesus is just the first to do it to the uttermost – the first to absolutely trust God’s life within him, the first to believe in God’s love and goodness without regard for appearance or consequence.
Humans are defined not by their limitations, but by the intentions God has for them; not by what they seem to be, but by everything it means to be created in God’s image.
- The God who is – the I am who I am – cannot act apart from love!
Not being able to grasp the wonder of God’s nature is rather a good thing. Who wants to worship a God who can be fully comprehended?
- God is one God and is three persons, and each of the three is fully and entirely the one.”
- Jesus is the best way any human can relate to God or the Holy Spirit. To see me is to see them.
- The love you sense from Jesus is no different from how they love you.
- They want to share with you the love and joy and freedom and light that they already know within themselves.
- They created you, the human, to be in face-to-face relationship with them, to join their circle of love.
- As difficult as it will be for you to understand, everything that has taken place is occurring exactly according to this purpose, without violating choice or will.
It’s not the work, but the purpose that makes it special. It’s the only kind God does.
- The choice to hide so many wonders from you is an act of love that is a gift inside the process of life.
- For any created being, autonomy is lunacy. Freedom involves trust and obedience inside a relationship of love.
Re-source: Relationship
the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected
Relationships are never about power, and one way to avoid the will to hold power over another is to choose to limit oneself to serve.
- Humans often do this – in touching the infirm and sick, in serving the ones whose minds have left to wander, in relating to the poor, in loving the very old and the very young, or even in caring for the other who has assumed a position of power over them.”
Jesus didn’t hold on to any rights. He willingly became a servant and lives out of his relationship to God.
- He gave up everything, so that by his dependent life he opened a door that would allow us to live free enough to give up our rights.
The force God’s will on us, is exactly what love does not do.
- Genuine relationships are marked by submission even when our choices are not helpful or healthy
The God of the universe wants to join in relationship.
- God doesn’t want slaves to His will; but wants brothers and sister who will share life with.
- And that’s how God want us to love one another, in any relationship.
- When God is our life, submission is the most natural expression of our character and nature, and it will be the most natural expression of our new nature within relationships.
It is so simple, but never easy for us: re-turning.
- By turning back to God.
- By giving up your ways of power and manipulation and just coming back to God.
Jesus’ life was not meant to be an example to copy.
- Being his follower is not trying to ‘be like Jesus,’ because it means our independence is killed.
- Jesus came to give us life, real life, His life.
God lives life inside us, so that we begin to see with God’s eyes, and hear with God’s ears, and touch with God’s hand, and think like God does.
craving and resource from “The Shack” by WM. Paul Young
