Immortal, Invisible

 

I’m nearing the end of a Philip Yancey book that I’ve been reading for some time now. It’s one of those books that bear pondering, and I’m sure I’ll want to read it again. It’s called The Jesus I Never Knew, and in this last chapter, the author addresses the simple yet profound idea that Jesus came to earth to show us what God is like.

He points out that we often describe God with words that tell what he isn’t: immortal, invisible, infinite. In other words, God isn’t mortal; he can’t die. He isn’t visible; we can’t see him, and he isn’t finite; he has no end. We, on the other hand, are mortal, visible and finite.

This is what I’ve been thinking about lately. We have a God who is so very different from us, superior in every way. Yet God made man in his own image. He wants us to be like him. In fact, we are exhorted in Ephesians 5 to “be imitators of God.” How can we ever achieve this standard?

When God created people, he gave them creativity, compassion, a longing for community, and he intended Adam and Eve to live in communion with him indefinitely. Their sin, however, brought death—mortality—to the world. So God’s plan to reveal himself in Jesus went into motion.

The immortal, invisible God became visible and lived in a body that could die. He revealed the love and compassion of his father to a world of sorry sinners such as you and me. He became sin on the cross so we could regain the eternal life God meant for people to have. In Jesus, we have freedom to be who God intends us to be. Our eternal life has already begun, and we can use all the gifts God gives us to imitate him each day.

There is so much about life and eternity that seems a mystery. Yancey notes, “When I speculate about such imponderables as the problem of pain or providence versus free will, everything becomes fuzzy. But if I look at Jesus himself . . . clarity is restored.”

In Jesus, we have both a deep, profound mystery and a simple, understandable directive. Jesus, “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15) is our model for godly living.

--Sherry Poff