Continuing the Incarnation

About two years ago I received an article that used the phrase "becoming by grace what Christ is by nature." The phrase itself is beautiful; the goal overwhelming. I always appreciated the fact that it describes the journey as a process--and the fact it can't be done without grace (amen to that). As I mentioned in an earlier post, one of my "crosses" is insecurity, and as a result of that insecurity, when I make mistakes (especially large mistakes) I become sullen, quiet, and grumpy (also how I am without a Tim Horton's in the morning). And I usually have a good dose of false Calvinist guilt (another story).

The author of that aforementioned article is a man I've never met, Jason Zaharides. I've never met Jason but have commented on his blog and emailed with him in the past. He is one of the few blogs that I check regularly. I founds this paragraph in something Jason wrote last week. A good reminder for me that none of this is about me or about you, but that it is about us and "making it on earth as it is in heaven." I love the phrase "continuing his incarnation."

Truly as we become more and more like Christ from the inside-out, heaven and earth do merge in and through our lives. But we must always keep in mind that our formation into Christ's likeness is for the sake of the world. As we train in his grace and experience his transformation, we become in actuality God's temple, the place where God dwells and thus the place where heaven and earth come together. But again, this is toward a greater and grander goal than our own transformation. We become the embodiment of Christ, continuing his incarnation, in order that through our being, our living, our speaking, and our doing, we may implement the reconciliation of heaven and earth that he began, anticipating the finale when God's presence and love flood and overflow upon the earth.