The Word Became Flesh

By Words of Hope, Sunday, March 16, 2008

Read: John 1:1-18

And the Word became flesh . . . (v. 14)

As I wrote this devotional my wife was in the doctor's office reviewing the most recent ultrasound of our second child. Kristyn is four month's pregnant. Today we saw that our baby's heart is beating at 130 beats per minute, lungs have developed, hands and feet wave around in the womb, and the umbilical cord reaches from the placenta to the child, nourishing and sustaining life.

It is remarkable to realize just what it means to say, "The Word became flesh." God was once connected to his mother by an umbilical cord, his heart beating 130 times per minute. The Word was with God in the beginning, and was God. The incarnation was not the beginning of the Son; the Son existed with the Father and the Spirit from the beginning. But it was the place where the Son began to feel our pain. As John Calvin wrote, ". . . by his birth he was made like us in all respects that he might learn to feel our pain." Because of the miracle of the incarnation, our little one with a heart beating 130 times a minute has a chance for something more than loneliness, monotony, and finally a grave. Our child has been marked for life abundant here and life everlasting here-after, and all because "the Word became flesh."

Prayer: Lord, I believe you became flesh, and I am grateful. Amen.

Used with Permission