Chapter 2 – Birth: The Visited Planet

This book is so different from the previous two that I blogged. The first had a study guide that I worked my way through. The second definitely dared me to admit to my abnormal brain. They were both self-help books.

I like this book better. It isn’t about me. It is about Jesus. It’s not depressing. It’s uplifting. It doesn’t say I am doubtful, unbelieving, confused and selfish. It says Jesus, and ultimately God, is humble, approachable, an underdog, and courageous.

HUMBLE – I have this idea for a picture book in my mind. I have some of the words and cadences figured out. And I suppose you could say I have the middle, but need to find the beginning and end. You’ll get the idea if you have read I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean.

Is God bigger than a whale? Yes, He made the whale. Is God bigger than a mountain? Yes, He made the mountain. Is God bigger than the Earth? Yes, He made the Earth. Is God bigger than the sun? Yes, He made the sun. Is God bigger than the universe? Yes, He made the universe.

There are like 70 sextillion stars in the sky! according to scientists’ best guesses. But God became a human egg inside of a scared, unwed, teenage girl – out of LOVE for US.

APPROACHABLE – This isn’t about God asking us to come to Him in prayer. This isn’t about us trusting Him to meet our needs. This is about the God of the Old Testament becoming the God of the New Testament to capture our hearts.

The Old Testament God is to be feared. Looking among Him brought death. Touching His Ark of the Covenant brought death. Approaching the inner Holy Temple meant death. The people begged Moses to be their mediator. They were terrified of God and rightly so. He could have the earth open up and swallow you as punishment. But scared Israelites still didn’t obey.

Who is afraid of a baby? A baby is dependent upon its mother for food, drink, shelter, clothing. Jesus became a mammal not just so He could relate to us … but so that we could relate to Him. “I am in this with you”, “I understand”. And in the end, He became a God that we could put to death.

UNDERDOG – Jesus was born homeless. He was a child of an unwed teenage mother. His paternity was questionable. He was forced to live as a refugee away from His native land. He couldn’t even return His family’s home, but grew up in another district. He spoke a language, Arabic, that wasn’t His nation’s tongue. His chosen people did not recognize Him.

Jesus was given the worst of circumstances with which to start. He was made to be the lowest of the low. As He came into His ministry, He remained there.

COURAGEOUS – And God gave up His power and glory and left the majesty and security of Heaven to enter a world in turmoil in desperate need of a Savior. The Helper willingly becomes the Helpless.

Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:6-8 (ESV)