In Philippians 2, it says Jesus gave up the glory He had in Heaven in order to come to earth to save us. He arrived as a baby, fully dependent upon the Father for His care. He humbled Himself to do so, just as we are to humble ourselves before the Father and become like a little child to enter the Kingdom. As Jesus was, we are to be born again into a new destiny, a better destiny, than staying where we are. He could have stayed in Heaven among the glory of God, but instead He humbled Himself and became dependent in order to enter into an even yet better plan, the plan of salvation for man. It was the more difficult road, the humble road of dependence for His care and destiny, giving up control and surrendering Himself, but yet it is the model we are to follow to enter the Kingdom as well. Like Nicodemus discovered, the crowd with the child was shown, and the writer of Philippians learned, humble dependence upon God for our destiny is the best plan and the one that leads us into Him forever.

The other day I was reading the discussion of Jesus with the Jews in John 8. The final question of the Jews is, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" To this Jesus replied, "Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am."

It hit me when I read this that the verb "to be" is very foundational in God's declaration of who he is. When He said, "I AM" in revelation at the burning bush to Moses, that's all that needed said. Then here in John 8, Jesus references this once again in his declaration to the Jews. It's throughout Scriptures. The very basis of who God is, who He claims to be, and how He reveals to us these things of Himself, are all referenced to using the verb "to be."

And (this is the cool part), there is not one language I know of that doesn't have "to be" as the very central, most crucial verb in the language. I'm not a linguist, so there could be room for correction here, but it's amazing to me that when God divided the languages at Babel, He still included as the very core of each language the very verb that He needed to indicate just who He is.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is what is freely offered us through the atoning sacrifice and resurrection of Christ in light of the divide caused by sin between man and God. This is to say that although we as humans screwed up and did what didn't please God, He chose to offer a way to come to him again. He accepts us with open arms if we accept His terms of the offer. The offer is this: believe in my Son who I sent to die for you, believe I forgive you through Him and I will receive you freely. Those are the terms: believe in His Son. That is the offer: to be cleansed (forgiven of sin) and come into His presence. This is an everlasting offer, with everlasting terms. This can always be entered into at any point by anyone. He never changes, and will never change this, we only have to believe to receive.

And why would we want to do this? Who wouldn't want to be in the presence of and be friends with One who knows us inside and out, yet loves us, who knows our name, the number of hairs on our head, our thoughts, our concerns, out joys, and cares genuinely about each and every one? A One who offers unending love, unending joy, unending peace, a companionship and friendship that lasts forever, and who helps us to reach our fullest potential and our greatest destiny? Who offers advice, gentle correction, a close-knit family, and life eternally?

It does cost - it costs the anger of the world that will hate that we've entered into a perfect relationship that they have yet to discover and cannot offer themselves. That cost is worth it. His love, His forgiveness, His presence is worth it more than any other thing there will ever be.