We Are His Body

"For all mankind that shall be saved by the sweet Incarnation and blissful Passion of Christ, all is the Manhood of Christ: for He is the Head and we be His members."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Scripture uses very intimate images to describe the connection between us and Christ. John 15 says that Christ is the true vine and we are branches on the vine. 1 Corinthians 12 says that Christ is the head and we are members of His body. The connection we have to Christ is close, perfect and strong. We are truly part of Him! All that we need flows naturally from Christ to us. All His love and strength and goodness flows into and through us. We are an expression of Christ on earth, identified with Him in every way. Christ has joined with our humanity and considers us all parts of His body. Not all may see or know this yet, not all may experience this yet, but the truth of the union is there to be discovered. We have a secret reservoir of hope, joy, peace and love within us. We have a continuous connection to God. We are so close to Christ we are simply one. And all that is Christ's comes to us not just in abundance, but overabundance. This is resurrection life flowing through us! We are part of the risen Christ and therefore we are experiencing the victorious life right now in our everyday life on earth. We have the joy of eternity inside us, the peace that passes understanding. We have the mind of Christ, the power that raises from the dead, the hope of glory. We are more than conquerors through Him, carried along from blessing to blessing, all things working to good. We are light in the Lord, radiant with His beauty. Every day we walk around expressing Christ's life and love to this world. We are His hands and feet and we spread His encouragement and kindness everywhere we go. He is on display in these human bodies. It's an effortless thing for us, for He is taking care of everything, Christ living through us as we simply be ourselves and go about our days. It's the most natural thing in the world for it is how God always meant to live, in union with humans! We are simply His favorite place to be, and He loves living in and with and through us. Nothing is ordinary for us; everything is supernatural. Heaven has come to earth, and it's Christ in us!

"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."

1 Corinthians 12:27 (NIV)

"Discover God himself as your inexhaustible inner source."

Philippians 2:13 (MIRROR)

A Prayer: I love living life together with You!

Ready and Willing

"He is God, even with the Father as anent the Godhead. But in His foreseeing purpose that He would be Man, to save man in fulfilling of His Father's will, so He stood afore His Father as a Servant, willingly taking upon Him all our charge. And then He started full readily at the Father's will, and anon He fell full low, into the Maiden's womb, having no regard to Himself nor to His hard pains."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Why would He do it? Why would He, the Son of God who was equal to God and truly God Himself, give up all the privileges and rights associated with His divinity and take on the form of a servant, humbling Himself to become weak human flesh? Why would He submit to the pain, sorrow, suffering and death that came with His becoming human? Why? It was all for love! Christ was ready and eager to go do this work of saving humanity. He desired to go, He wanted to go. He willingly took up our cause, the cause of the lost and helpless ones, the failures and the ruined ones. He was ready to go, and ran to go complete the task with eagerness and vigor. He took on all our situation, bore all the pains that came with being human, even to the point of dying at the hands of the very ones He came to save, giving of Himself completely, giving all that He had to give.  Yet He had no regard to Himself. He only thought of us! That's what love is, that's what God is! Unconditional, selfless, other-centered love, always pouring itself out for us, no matter what! And that is the only way He is. He is only love and nothing else, and the Cross stands for all time to prove that is true!

"His being God's equal in form and likeness was official....His mission, however, was not to prove his deity but to embrace our humanity. He emptied himself into a physical human form; born in our resemblance, he identified himself as the servant of the human race. His love enslaved him to us! And so we have the drama of the cross in context: the man Jesus Christ who is fully God, becomes fully man to the extent of willingly dying humanity’s death at the hands of his own creation. He embraced the curse and shame of the lowest kind in dying a criminal’s death."

Philippians 2:6-8 (MIRROR)

A Prayer: Thank You for all the love You have for me, all the love You have shown me. Thank You for going through all You did to save me!

Brought Up to Heaven

"He would send Him to do that worshipful deed by which mankind was brought again into heaven."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 51)

Christ did not just take away the sin of humanity on the cross. He did not just die for us. He took us with Him in all that He accomplished. So when He died, we died. When He rose, we rose. When He ascended, we ascended. When He was presented in heaven, we were presented in heaven. He is our representative, the joining of man and God. In oneness and unity with humanity, He took us with Him through death to all our sin and shame, and into resurrection from death, and into heavenly glory and perfection! We have died with Christ to the old life, to sin and the law and condemnation and death. We have risen with Christ to a new life, to eternal union relationship with God, to holiness and goodness and love! Humankind is saved in Christ with an eternal salvation, pulled along with Christ into His resurrection life. Through Christ humanity is not bound to sin and death but freed to goodness and life. In Christ humanity has been brought up from earth to heaven! We are not struggling to get there or hoping to get there; we are already there! It is a complete work and a finished work that Christ has done, with nothing that needs to be added to it. Hallelujah, we are saved by His grace, by the free gift of God in Christ! God has saved us without our help. God has saved humankind! Now is the time to share this good news, so that more and more people can hear and believe this truth and start to personally experience and enjoy this this union relationship with God, this victorious, eternal life with God in Christ!

"He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own."

2 Corinthians 5:15 (MSG)

"But even though we were dead in our sins God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, gave us life together with Christ—it is, remember, by grace and not by achievement that you are saved—and has lifted us right out of the old life to take our place with him in Christ in the Heavens. Thus he shows for all time the tremendous generosity of the grace and kindness he has expressed towards us in Christ Jesus. It was nothing you could or did achieve—it was God’s gift to you."

Ephesians 2:4-8 (PHILLIPS)

A Prayer: Thank You for the wonder of Your grace, how You saved us as a complete and utter gift! May everyone know what You have done for us in Your death and resurrection!

No Blame

"And thus hath our good Lord Jesus taken upon Him all our blame, and therefore our Father nor may nor will more blame assign to us than to His own Son, dearworthy Christ."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Christ the Son of God took on flesh and became the Son of Man. Christ united with our humanity and became the union of God and Man in one Person. He is fully God and fully Man. By uniting with us, taking on a human body and becoming one with our human flesh, we are truly one with Christ, in intimate connection with Him. We are so close that we are one. In that oneness with us, Christ took on all the sin, shame, pain, condemnation and blame of our failures. He took it upon Himself and away from us, off of us. All our sin and shame and guilt and blame is done away with in Him. His purity, righteousness, goodness and holiness destroy all sin, dissolve all blame. He truly took away the sin of the world, taking it down into death so it is gone forever! And in that oneness with us, He gave us His righteousness. He gave us His purity. He gave us His goodness. He gave us His holiness! We are one with Christ. Can there be any fault found with Christ? No! Then there cannot be any fault found with us, either! God would no more assign blame to us than He would to His own Son! We are completely cleansed and purified in Christ, freed from all our sin and blame. And we are completely made righteous in Christ, sanctified with all the holiness of Christ Himself. He is our Righteousness. He is our Purity. In Him we stand perfect, complete, innocent and right with God for all time! What a Savior!

"For God caused Christ, who himself knew nothing of sin, actually to be sin for our sakes, so that in Christ we might be made good with the goodness of God."

2 Corinthians 5:21 (PHILLIPS)

A Prayer: Thank You for taking away my sin. I am innocent and blameless in You!

Held Up by Christ

"The virtue and the goodness that we have is of Jesus Christ, the feebleness and the blindness that we have is of Adam: which two were shewed in the Servant."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

We are one with Christ and always have been in God's eyes, for the incarnation united man and God and was an event that is beyond time (eternal) as well as seen in time (temporal). God sees Christ and humanity as one. So all the we have gone through, Christ has been right there with us, going through it with us. All our sorrows, sins, and sufferings He has carried and experienced. And all that Christ has gone through, we have been right there, going through it with Him. All His saving work and triumph we have been carried through and experienced. For each person, this means that no matter what my failings, Christ has been right there holding me up with His success. No matter what my thoughts or feelings of loss, fear, doubt or alienation, Christ has been right there keeping faith, never losing sight of God, always seeing the truth of heaven. In all my circumstances and sorrows, He has been holding me up with His strength, peace and joy. No matter where my journey has taken me, or how far away I have seemed from God, Christ has always been in fellowship with God, keeping me in God's presence. When I have felt unloved and angry, His love and tenderness has supported me. He has been pulling me forward in life no matter what struggle I have had. He has been holding my head high no matter what storm has come at me. He has been the silent partner that has kept me up at all times. His righteousness has continually overshadowed my sinfulness. His perfection has always surpassed all my imperfection. No matter what my trouble, unbelief, or failure, He has been the  purity, life and light shining forth from within. My humanity brings me weakness and blindness and death, but Christ's presence brings me goodness, purity and life! How beautiful!

"I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you."

John 14:20 (NIV)

"You are united with Jesus the Anointed. He is God’s wisdom for us and more. He is our righteousness and holiness and redemption."

1 Corinthians 1:30 (VOICE)

"Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ."

2 Corinthians 2:14 (NASB)

A Prayer: You are everything I need. You fill up all my empty places. Your love supports me no matter what. Your life carries me through in triumph!

Christ and Adam, One Man

"For in all this our good Lord shewed His own Son and Adam but one Man.

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

We can tend to think of ourselves as separate from Christ, estranged from Christ, far from Christ, needing to move closer to Christ. But according to God we are always found in Christ. He sees humanity and Christ as One Man, a single person before Him. We are one with Christ. We are one body of Christ, with Christ as the Head. There is no estrangement, there is no separation. There is only union. There is only oneness. There is only one. I am never alone in anything I face. I have never gone through anything alone in my life. I cannot sin my way out of Christ. I cannot fall out of Him. I am one with Him. My existence is wrapped up in Him. We are joined and united, we are one. Christ the Head of humanity takes care of His own body. The church father Gregory of Nyssa wrote, "Now the body of Christ, as I have often said, is the whole of humanity." There is one humanity, the humanity of Christ, and we partake in that humanity. There is one true human, Christ, and we are parts of that human. There is one human nature, and our human nature is sourced in that nature. Christ and Adam (humanity) are One Man!

"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."

1 Corinthians 12:27 (NIV)

A Prayer: Let me never think of myself apart from You!

The Son's Work of Salvation

"Adam fell from life to death, into the deep of this wretched world, and after that into hell: God's Son fell with Adam, into the deep of the Maiden's womb, who was the fairest daughter of Adam; and for this end: to excuse Adam from blame in heaven and in earth; and mightily He fetched him out of hell."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 51)

We see the Incarnation as happening at a certain point in time. But from God's eternal perspective, it happened outside of time, for Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. That means that even before Adam had a problem, Christ already was the solution. Even before Adam was lost here on earth, he was found in Christ in heaven. Because of the oneing of Christ and humanity from creation, when Adam fell, Christ fell. Adam fell into sin, corruption and death. Christ fell with Adam and was born from the virgin's womb to be the Savior and rescue Adam. Christ went to the extreme of becoming a human, with flesh and blood, to rescue humanity from sin, evil, loss, death and corruption. Christ who is God became Man in order to excuse Adam from blame and lift him up from death into eternal life! He rescued Adam (who stands for all humanity)! He vindicated Adam/humanity as worthy of God's help, as righteous in God's sight, as the recipient of honor and eternal life. Sin and death are defeated. Adam/humanity is shown to be blameless, innocent and pure. God is shown to be loving and kind, and stronger than death and all evil. Christ is shown to be the perfect God-Man uniting man to God forevermore. Adam/humanity is saved! Hallelujah, what a Savior and what a salvation!

"He embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep."

Isaiah 53:12 9MSG)

"I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness."

Isaiah 61:10 (NIV)

A Prayer: Thank You for excusing me from all blame! I am blameless before You! I am free from sin! I am saved!

God's Son Fell

"When Adam fell, God's Son fell: because of the rightful oneing which had been made in heaven, God's Son might not [be disparted] from Adam. (For by Adam I understand All-Man.)"

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Humanity was created in connection to God, tethered to God, founded in God. We are created through, in, and by Christ and cannot even be in existence without Him. He upholding us, is the source of our very nature, is our template. For we are made in the image of God and have innate connection to Him, having His very breath or Spirit within us sustaining us in life. Somehow, humanity is oned with Christ from the beginning. So when Adam, representing all humanity, fell, Christ also fell. Whatever falls or fails we have in life, Christ is right there with us. Whatever dark alley we end up on, Christ is our companion. Whatever hole or pit we feel trapped in, Christ is with us, never leaving us, never forsaking us.  He is always with us in all our sufferings, suffering along with us, and raising us up. No matter what dark night we have gone through, we have never been alone. We have never been separated from Him. He loves us so tenderly and would never let us go through anything alone. We have never been without help or hope. He is deeper than our deepest trouble and stronger than the strongest evil. Our Big Brother Christ is by our side, on our side, sustaining and saving us, bringing all of His strength, light and love to our every situation. We have an unlosable Helper, Supporter and Friend, for Christ cannot ever be separate from humanity. He is permanently with us, one with us, for us!

"If I make my bed in the depths, you are there....your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."

Psalm 139:8,10 (NIV)

A Prayer: In all the dark times, I have never been alone! Even when I did not reach out to You, You were holding me. Thank You for being there for me, no matter what.

Christ Is Rightful Adam

"In the Servant is comprehended the Second Person in the Trinity; and in the Servant is comprehended Adam: that is to say, All-Man. And therefore when I say the Son, it meaneth the Godhead which is even with the Father; and when I say the Servant, it meaneth Christ's Manhood, which is rightful Adam."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

In the Parable God showed Julian, she learns that the Servant represents both Adam and Christ. Adam represents all humanity; Christ represents the true, rightful Adam. In other words, the humanity of Christ is true humanity, what humanity was created to be and what humanity truly is in its identity. We often see ourselves as descending from Adam, yet going farther back, we see that Adam descended from God! So the source of our identity goes farther back than Adam to Christ.  We are sourced in Him, of the same family, in God the Father's image, so much so that Christ calls us His siblings. For Christ is the original blueprint of human life. So Christ is who we look to if we want to see what a true human is, what the original characteristics of humanity are. Christ shows us in His humanity that human nature is good, kind, fit for God. Human nature is not lowly or broken or incompatible with God; humanity is the perfect home for God to live in and for God's glory and love to fill and to flow from. We were unable to actively live out this holy purpose, because we were weakened and blinded by the fall, but Christ lived perfectly, filled with the Father's love and glory, being our representative Human.  Christ is the picture of true humanity and lived the true human life perfectly for us. He brings about our salvation from sin and death so that noble human nature can be freed to live as it was always meant to live, in union with God, invigorated by God, filled with the fullness of God, knowing and being known by God, for Christ Himself, joined with us, lives this wonderful holy life within us and keeps us filled with God.

Jesus, who makes people holy, and all those who are made holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus isn’t ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

Hebrews 2:11 (GW)

A Prayer: Thank You for being in me, living in me the holy life I could never live on my own!

Grounded in Love, Healed by Love

"That [treasure] was grounded in the Lord in marvelous deepness of endless love, but it was not all to His worship till the Servant had thus nobly prepared it, and brought it before Him in himself present.

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

We are always God's dear treasure, the ones He loves to show off, like a bride shows off her jewels or a king shows off his crown! We are grounded in God, securely rooted and sourced in His presence, His love, His life. The deepest and truest thing about our life is not sin or brokenness but endless love, love that holds all our thoughts, concerns and even failures in its gentle and accepting arms, love that holds our past, our present, and our future safely and securely. Our whole life is founded on God's forever love for us. That is the truth about our life, no matter what other things are going on with us. The parts of us that have lost sight of that love, that have been wounded by life's difficulties, that have forgotten what it is like to be unconditionally loved and accepted with no chance of rejection, those parts have been embrace and healed, rescued and restored by Christ. No matter how broken we feel we still are, no matter how we feel about ourselves right now, whether we see ourselves as ruined, or in process, recovering, or whole, Christ has already taken up our cause and healed our wound and presented us perfectly flawless and whole and complete in heaven. He has presented us sound, and strong, and beautiful, and alright, presented us in Himself so that we are secure in that condition, assured that it will never change and that we will never be lost or ruined ever again. We may not see it perfectly here and now on earth, but we will, because heaven's reality overwhelms and surpasses this world's reality just as heaven surpasses earth in glory and strength. 

Let's relax in His arms today, because no matter what we are going through, everything is perfect in Christ, and that's where we are today. We are enjoying heaven's bliss. We don't have any problems, hangups, or losses. All is healed, all is restored, all is well, and God is going to manifest that completely, whether now or later. But we will see it. There is nothing wrong with us and nothing wrong with our relationship with God. Every broken place in us we can embrace and love because we have found that we were never really broken to God. We have always been whole to Him. We have always been innocent. We have always been loved. Nothing on this earth could change that. Nothing ever did and nothing ever will! 

"You are God's special treasure."

1 Peter 2:9 (NIRV)

A Prayer: Thank You for showing me that brokenness isn't the deepest thing about me. The deepest thing about me is love!

To Be a Gardener

I marvelled and thought what it (the treasure) might be, and I was answered in mine understanding: It is a food which is delectable and pleasant to the Lord.... I beheld, thinking what manner of labour it might be that the Servant (now representing Christ) should do. And then I understood that he should do the greatest labour and hardest travail: that is, he should be a gardener....And he should never turn again till he had prepared this food all ready as he knew that it pleased the Lord. And then he should take this food, with the drink in the food, and bear it full worshipfully afore the Lord."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

In the parable that God showed Julian, the Servant in the story now shifts from representing Adam to representing Christ, and we see the work of Christ to help Adam who had fallen into trouble. In this part of the story, the work of Christ is likened to the work of a gardener, such as one who works in a vineyard, who brings forth plants from the seeds deep in the soil, waters and cares for the plants till they bring forth fruit, and then brings the fruit and its juice to the Lord. So one way to look at this treasure in the earth is to see it as a seed of a plant, waiting in the earth to sprout and grow and bring forth fruit. We can see Christ as the One tending the seeds so they sprout, caring for and watering the plants so they grow, and bringing the fruit of the vine to the Father. We are His little plants that He nurtures and cares for, doing everything to help us thrive, bringing out the fruit of the Spirit from within us. Christ's finished work has brought the seed of humanity to sprout from the earth, from death into life, to flourish forever and bear spiritual fruit. This work is not done by us but is already done for us and through us. This work is already finished and complete and we are presentable to God in heaven. The seed of humanity was always meant to grow and prosper through God indwelling humankind. Christ accomplished this plan and there is nowhere left to go but up and up with God, to thrive and flourish and be full of God's life forever!

"Sing about a fruitful vineyard: I, the Lord, watch over it; I water it continually. I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it...In days to come [it] will take root, [it] will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit."

Isaiah 27:2-3, 6 (NIV)

A Prayer: I love the way You tenderly care for me. Thank You for always nurturing me with Your love.

A Treasure in the Earth

"There was a treasure in the earth which the Lord loved."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

In the Parable God showed Julian, there was a treasure in the earth. A  treasure by definition is something rare, precious, valuable and greatly desired. This precious, greatly desired treasure is humanity, who has fallen into the depths of earthly existence with its pain and death, not fulfilling the full potential it was created for. It has become covered in the dirt and mud of sin and delusion and not visibly glorious. Yet the treasure remains beautiful even when covered over with dirt and grime; the treasure remains the treasure and never becomes the dirt. The treasure only waits for Someone to bring it out of the mud and remove the dirt to reveal its original beauty. This is the treasure Christ came to lift up, redeem and restore. He came to wipe humanity free of grime and dirt and death and not only bring it back to its original glory but fill it with even more glory, filled with Christ's own fullness of life and flourishing, and bring it up to heaven to present to the Father in beauty and splendor! We are what greatly pleases the Lord, what He loves and adores, what He considers precious and beyond price, the treasure He would do anything to have back in sweet relationship with Him, safe in eternal life with Him. Christ is the One who has done all the work to bring God's dear treasure home to Him, in glory and honor!

“The kingdom of heaven is like a [very precious] treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid again; then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field [securing the treasure for himself]."

Matthew 13:44 (AMP)

A Prayer: Thank You for seeing me as a priceless treasure in Your eyes, so that You would do anything to have me with You! 

Rejoicing for the Worshipful Restoring

"He hath, beclosed in Him, all Heavens, and all Joy and Bliss: and this was shewed .... I saw Him highly rejoice for the worshipful restoring that He will and shall bring His servant to by His plenteous grace."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Heaven is in God. Heaven is found in Him, for being in Him in a total way, fully experiencing the bliss of His presence, is true Heaven! In His presence there is no pain, sorrow or fear; there is only love, joy, and bliss. He has within Himself all the joy and bliss that is possible to know. To see Him fully, know Him fully, experience Him fully, is the highest joy, the deepest bliss, that is possible! His joy is in knowing that He will and shall bring His servant (Adam, all humanity) to 'worshipful restoring' by His abundant, all-surpassing grace. He knows that all will end well for us all. He knows that we will all be home with Him enjoying perfect love and endless joy in His presence. He knows that Christ's work was sufficient and restored all to wholeness and glory, and that all will experience that. It will happen, it shall happen, it has already happened in the eternal will of God, and we shall all see and experience it! Christ has made this a 'sure thing,' and what a relief it is to know this story has a happy ending only God could dream up!

"For the grace of God has appeared, saving all."

Titus 2:11 (NABRE)

"For God had allowed us to know the secret of his plan, and it is this: he purposes in his sovereign will that all human history shall be consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in Heaven or earth shall find its perfection and fulfilment in him."

Ephesians 1:9-10 (PHILLIPS)

"God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ."

2 Corinthians 1:21 (MSG)

A Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, for Your 'worshipful restoring' of us all!

God's Dwelling Place

"He made man's soul to be His own City and His dwelling-place: which is most pleasing to Him of all His works. And what time that man was fallen into sorrow and pain, he was not all seemly to serve in that noble office; and therefore our Lord Father would prepare Himself no other place, but would sit upon the earth abiding mankind, which is mingled with earth, till what time by His grace His dearworthy Son had brought again His City into the noble fairness with His hard travail."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Humanity has always been God's favorite dwelling place, the place He most wants to be. We have lost sight of that and not realized our value or the great purpose God had for us to just be His home, radiant with His glory. But God never lost sight of this! Christ came to bring the royal city of God back to its true radiance in all its glory. Now through Christ's work in the incarnation, death and resurrection, that vision of God for us is realized. We are the royal city of God, the seat of His throne. His glory radiates out from within us through His Spirit. Death is defeated, tears are wiped away, sorrow and pain are done away.  God's dwelling is with humanity not just in essence or spirit but also in earthly human experience. In God's eternal view, this is fact and reality, something already true for us. We are simply becoming more and more aware of what Christ has already done, of God already dwelling within us, of the victory over sin and death that is already accomplished. Heaven has been brought to earth, and it's within us. It will manifest more and more till all see the glory of the Lord here on earth, in His beloved humanity!

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

Isaiah 40:5 (KJV)

I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride dressed in beauty for her husband. Then I heard a great voice from the throne crying, “See! The home of God is with men, and he will live among them. They shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more, and never again shall there be sorrow or crying or pain. For all those former things are past and gone.”

Revelation 21:2-4 (PHILLIPS)

A Prayer: I am radiant with Your glory that shines from Your presence within me!

He Shows Himself

"Man is blinded in this life and therefore we may not see our Father, God, as He is. And what time that He of His goodness willeth to shew Himself to man, He sheweth Himself homely, as man."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

Living in this mortal existence, humans cannot fully see who God is using our human senses and faculties. We are limited in our understanding, also, and have been confused by false information about God. But God wanted us to know Him for who He truly is, so we could experience deep and meaningful relationship with Him. The second Person of the Trinity, the only-begotten Son, who is God and exists in the bosom of His Father, in closest and equal association to Him, took on flesh and blood and became human. Now we can see God right in front of us in the man Jesus Christ. God has revealed Himself, God is with us, God has spoken to us the final and truest word about Himself, in His Son! Everyone who came before had limited information about God, but the Son is the perfect and exact representation of God. All the thoughts and words that we heard before were incomplete; the Son is the final word about God, the perfect truth about Him. He shows us who God is, and we see that God is unlike some of the older pictures of God that people have had, even pictures found in the Old Testament. We can see now that even though these pictures had merit, they were incomplete pictures. Jesus shows the complete picture, being God in the flesh. Jesus shows us a God who is tender-hearted, gentle, forgiving, compassionate, and kind, who is all love and nothing else. He shows us a God who forgives His enemies, does good to those who rail against Him, and blesses those who hate Him. Every past revelation, every word that was said or written about God before, must cede to the final revelation of God, the Son Jesus Christ. If we don't see a trait in Christ, it is not in God. If we do see a trait in Christ, it is truly in God. He is the face of the Father to us, and we see it is a good, accepting, nonjudging, welcoming, understanding face. It is the face of pure love. God has appeared in human form to walk and talk among us, to show us the true nature of God, to experience what we go through as humans, to meet with us and relate to us in a way we can understand, to call us home to where we belong, home to His Father and our Father, too!

So the word of God became a human being and lived among us. ...It is true that no one has ever seen God at any time. Yet the divine and only Son, who lives in the closest intimacy with the Father, has made him known.

John 1:14,18 (PHILLIPS)

"In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word."

Hebrews 1:2-3 (NIV)

A Prayer: Jesus, thank You showing me the Father!

His Lovely Look

"And the lovely looking wherewith He looked upon His Servant continually,—and especially in his falling,—methought it might melt our hearts for love and burst them in two for joy. The fair looking ...was marvellous to behold: the one [part] was Ruth and Pity, the other was Joy and Bliss. The Joy and Bliss passeth as far Ruth and Pity as Heaven is above earth: the Pity was earthly and the Bliss was heavenly: the Ruth and Pity of the Father was [in regard] of the falling of Adam, which is His most loved creature; the Joy and Bliss was [in regard] of His dearworthy Son, which is even with the Father."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

If we could see the way God looks at us, especially when we fail or sin, it would melt our hearts and fill us with happiness. We cannot even begin to imagine the love and tenderness and sweetness of that gaze, which is upon us at all times! It is a look of compassion, feeling for us in all our troubles, but even moreso it is a look of pure bliss. God is so happy with us, so pleased and proud of us, so filled with awe and wonder at His beautiful little children. Just as a parent is with a small child, He adores us. Our failings don't change His attitude toward us or His expression towards us one bit. His tender heart is filled with joy over us, and the look of love He gives us always is just the same look He gives to His Son Jesus! In just the same way, with just the same intensity, as the Father loves the Son, He also loves each of us. It seems too good to be true, yet it is. 

As church father Hilary of Poitiers said in his book, On the Trinity, "God can never be anything but love, or anything but the Father." He has nothing but love to give us. He has no other attitude towards us than compassion and delight. Just as He would treat the Son, that's how He is treating us. Can we see Him now, smiling at us? Can we relax into that gaze of love and let it melt our cares away? Can we just stay for a moment in the embrace of that look, and forget our failures, realizing we are perfect to Him? What wonderful love is this, and what a wonderful God who is all love!

"His love for His Son is His love for us."

Ephesians 1:6 (MIRROR)

"Jesus, looking at him, loved him.."

Mark 10:21 (ESV)

A Prayer: One look in Your eyes, and I know I'm loved!

God Doesn't Punish

"Only Pain blameth and punisheth, and our courteous Lord comforteth and sorroweth; and ever He is to the soul in glad Cheer, loving, and longing to bring us to His bliss."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

One of the most life-changing things we can find out is that God does not punish us! Though some Old Testament verses seem to say that God punishes, Jesus came and gave the fuller picture of God. Jesus never punished a single person, whether tax collector or Pharisee. And on the cross He prayed for all who harmed Him to be forgiven. He showed that God's way is forgiveness and release, not punishment. He showed us God is grace, not law. He gave us the true picture of God, a God of compassion, mercy, forgiveness and love, a God who does not judge us but saves us. It is not God who causes us pain and suffering. It is not God who punishes or harms us. It is pain itself that hurts us, evil and death that do us harm. It is fear and loneliness and depression and tragedy that hurt us, not God! These things are brought on us through the presence of evil, not the presence of God. God comes to us not to cause  pain but to relieve it. He comes not to punish sin but to remove it. What a relief to know that when we fail, God isn't looking on us harshly with judgment, ready to beat us or make us suffer to learn some kind of "lesson." Instead, He is looking on us with compassion, tenderness and kindness, suffering all our pain with us and being so moved in His tender heart that He wants only to comfort and encourage and heal us, or rather to show us Jesus already healed us! He has only one look towards us, the loving look of joy! He is bringing us into joy, the joy of heaven, and He doesn't think, talk or get concerned about our sin. It's not on His mind at all; it is already dealt with and removed by the cross anyway! He is only thinking about how happy we make Him just by being His kids. He always has a smile on His face for us. He is only thinking about the joy He wants to bring into our lives. For God only looks at what is, not what isn't. Sin and punishment are what ISN'T. Sin is gone, and there is no condemnation, shame, judgment or punishment at all coming to us, never from God anyway, but not from any other source either! It was all taken away by the death and resurrection of Christ! God only looks at what IS. He only sees new creations in Christ, perfected and holy, pure and clean, flawless and beautiful, beloved and honored! He is always seeing this reality and is bringing us to get our eyes off the sin we already died to with Christ, so we can look at the resurrection reality we have been brought into by Christ! What a glorious thing to know, that God doesn't punish us, He has simply healed us by love through Christ!

"The Lord lifts up all who fall, and he supports all who are bowed down."

Psalm 145:14 (EHV)

A Prayer: When I fall down, You always pick me up. You never shame or blame me. You just encourage and help me. Thank You!

Seeing Through His Eyes

"For neither doth he see clearly his loving Lord, which is to him full meek and mild, nor doth he see truly what himself is in the sight of his loving Lord. And well I wot when these two are wisely and truly seen, we shall get rest and peace here in part, and the fulness of the bliss of Heaven, by His plenteous grace."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 51)

Humans ask certain "big questions" to find meaning in their lives. Two of the biggest questions are "Who am I?" and "Who is God?" If we can find good answers to these questions, we can find meaning, joy and peace in our lives. One of the effects of the Fall is that these two truths, of who we are and who God is to us, are in a sense forgotten by the human race. We have suffered a memory loss or blindness regarding these most important things. We have been deluded into believing ourselves and God to be different than the truth. We have mistakenly attached the attributes of evil to both ourselves and God, thinking that we are bad, selfish and hurtful, or thinking that God is vengeful, angry or destructive.  These false attributes don't belong to God or to us, His children! We have been deluded and have mistakenly lived under these delusions, living out a false identity and beliveing a false identity of God.

Christ came to show us the truth. Being both God and Man, He shows us the face of God, for He is one with the Father; He shows us God is loving, meek and mild.  He shows us the face of man, for we are considered Jesus' siblings and part of His family; He shows us we are in the image of God and precious enough to die for. He gives us His eyes to see, His mind to think clearly, freeing us from confusion and healing our blindness. And He simply asks us to side with Him, to align with His viewpoint about us and God. Let's dare to believe in who He says He is: humble and lowly of heart, compassionate and nonjudgmental, kind and all-forgiving, wanting nothing more than to give us His whole kingdom. Let's dare to believe what God believes about us, too: that we are His dear ones, for whom He has great compassion, forgiven of any and all our wrongs, welcomed into His arms like little children. Knowing these truths gives us freedom to love ourselves as basically good people, as well as the confidence to be ourselves before God without fear, opening us up to a wonderful relationship with Him. And we start experiencing the peace and joy of heaven right here on earth!

 "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." 

John 14:9 (NIV)

"Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters."

Hebrews 2:11 (NIV)

A Prayer: Let me see who You are clearly, and let me see myself through Your eyes. 

Seeing Our Good Will

"This man (Adam) was hurt in his might and made full feeble; and he was stunned in his understanding so that he [was] turned from the beholding of his Lord. But his will was kept whole in God’s sight;—for his will I saw our Lord commend and approve. But himself was letted (hindered) and blinded from the knowing of this will.."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

When Adam fell, it wasn't that he suddenly became a bad person. His God-given nature or identity was still intact. But he was made weak in might and lacking in mental clarity. He was hindered from living out His good nature. He was in an environment and trap of sin and death that kept him from fulfilling his natural God-given potential. So we humans have been born into a world where we are subject to sin, corruption and death. In this broken world humans are weak and lacking sight of spiritual reality, so that we are not able to see God or see ourselves clearly. 

But God sees us clearly, He sees that our good will that He created us with is intact. In fact, God Himself is keeping it safe and whole in Himself so that it is undamaged and never lost. Yet we cannot see this clearly, and sometimes we may wonder what our true will or motivation is deep down. We may wonder if we are basically bad or basically good. But God never forgets or loses sight of who we are as good creations made in His image. And He seeks to show us this truth about ourselves. Christ came to show us our inherent created goodness and value. He is like a mirror showing us who we are, for we were created in the likeness of His nature, meaning we are like Him by nature. We see in Christ the very blueprint for human nature, for we were created in and through and from Him, and we see that human nature is inherently good with the very goodness of God. God never lets go of that good inner nature and He wakes us up to see it, too. 

We can confess that we are basically good. We don't have to put ourselves down or hate on ourselves. We have inherent goodness and value that will never change, no matter what our confused attitudes or actions. We naturally want what is good and right, and choosing that is most fulfilling to us and most comfortable. We are "love beings" deep down, even if we cannot see this truth! It's true that humans have been weakened and lost in confusion and could not live out that truth. But Christ has freed us so we can see this truth and live according to it, having lives full of love and fellowship with God and one another.

"Deep within my true identity, I love to do what pleases God."

Romans 7:22 (TPT)

A Prayer: I love knowing my will deep down inside is aligned with Your will. I love knowing that is my real, true self. 

One in Adam, One in Christ

"The Lord that sat stately in rest and in peace, I understood that He is God. The Servant that stood afore the Lord, I understood that it was shewed for Adam: that is to say, one man was shewed, that time, and his falling, to make it thereby understood how God beholdeth All-Man and his falling. For in the sight of God all man is one man, and one man is all man."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

In the Parable of the Lord and the Servant that God gave Julian, she sees that the Lord represents God and the Servant represents Adam, and in a sense, all of us. For in God's eyes we are all one in Adam and he stands for all men. Adam is seen as head of earthly humanity. So how God sees Adam when he fell tells us how He sees us when we fall. Yet we also know that we humans are created by God in God's image and thus have our source in God Himself. So in one sense the head of humanity is Adam, when speaking of our earthly, bodily existence. But in another sense, the head of humanity is God in Christ, who is the source of our spiritual nature. What happens to Adam affects us, but also what happens to Christ affects us more. And even though we have an earthly, fleshly connection to Adam, we have a prior, heavenly, spiritual connection with Christ. Christ took on human flesh in the incarnation, and as He has a prior claim on us before Adam, all that He did affects us in both a spiritual and a bodily way and trumps all the effects of Adam's fall. Christ's salvation extends from our spiritual and mental state even to our bodies that die, saving us from death and the grave! In the Parable, the Lord is sitting in rest and peace. God is at rest and peace about us and about what Christ did on our behalf. He knows the work is finished, complete, and perfect. It is a perfect salvation that has perfectly saved us, for just as all were affected by the fall of Adam and suffered corruption and death, all were affected by the work of Christ through His death and resurrection and given eternal life! How wonderful that He thought of everything in this great salvation work. Sin may have been devastating in its consequences, but it was no match for God. His grace and love did a work in Christ that far outweighed the effect of sin. It abundantly saved us and gave us overpassing grace and life. So before, sin reigned and brought death, but now grace reigns and brings life through Christ our Lord! 

"Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right."

Romans 5:18-19 (MSG)

"But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Romans 5:20-21 (NKJV)

A Prayer: Thank You for Your salvation work that overrules and erases all the effects of Adam's fall!

Reward for Our Suffering

"The Lord’s meaning descended into my soul: in which I saw that it behoveth needs to be, by virtue of His great [Goodness] and His own worship, that His dearworthy Servant, which He loved so much, should be verily and blissfully rewarded, above that he should have been if he had not fallen. Yea, and so far forth, that his falling and his woe, that he hath taken thereby, shall be turned into high and overpassing worship and endless bliss."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)

We are God's dearworthy ones - precious and highly esteemed - that He loves so very much! He sees all the suffering we go through just living in this world, all the brokenness and hurt from the corruption, trouble and wrong that is in the world. He hurts for us, He hurts with us, and because of how good and loving He is, He says that it must be so that we be rewarded for all our suffering and hurt down here! He rewards us far more than if we had never suffered from the Fall. He rewards us far more highly and greatly than our trouble and sin has brought us down. Christ has turned every wrong into right by pure grace. Yes, it is by pure grace and love that Christ has come and healed us, saved us, and repaid us for all our loss. What He gives more than makes up for all we have lost through sin. You can be sure that every pain, sorrow, and hurt we've known here through the brokenness of this world is already healed and recompensed through Christ and will be brought to us in our experience. Every pain will be wholeness, every hurt will be wellness, every broken relationship will be reconciled, every sin will be goodness, every condemnation will be honor. It's already that way in heaven and Christ will bring that heaven to earth and we will know it, live in it, experience it, and be filled with joy because of it! There will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more evil, no more wrong! Joy is coming and peace will reign, and we will be happy in the happiness of God, happier than we could ever imagine. And all shall be well!

"Though sin is shown to be wide and deep, thank God his grace is wider and deeper still! The whole outlook changes—sin used to be the master of men and in the end handed them over to death: now grace is the ruling factor, with righteousness as its purpose and its end the bringing of men to the eternal life of God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Romans 5:20-21 (PHILLIPS)

"In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us.... in the end the whole of created life will be rescued from the tyranny of change and decay, and have its share in that magnificent liberty ...[of] the children of God!"

Romans 8:18,23 (PHILLIPS)

A Prayer: Thank You for turning all the bad times we've had here into the most amazing good times with You!