Devotionals by Dr. M. Craig Barnes
And the Word became flesh and lived among us. --
I have devoted much of my life to words, because I believe they are powerful. Words put together carefully can do a world of good and words put together in anger can do a world of hurt. When God first used the words, "Let there be," it was to push aside the darkness and chaos creating room for light and beauty. But just as the world continues to turn daily away from the light back to the darkness, so do we. In a hundred different ways every day our hearts turn back to the dark chaos.
The Gospel according to John portrays a God who could no longer stand to see us living with so much darkness. Especially the darkness of our own making. God knows, the only thing that could save us was a word as powerful as the words he spoke at creation. We needed a word that could help us be unafraid of the dark, a word about love and forgiveness.
But a word like that cannot just be spoken. We've already heard too many other words by now where people promised to love us but they weren't there when we needed them most. We've heard words about a promising job, a promising lab report, a promising move to a new city. But it turned out to be just words. Soon the darkness was back. If we were to believe God's word, this time it had to become flesh, and live among us. And so, as John tells us, God revealed the Word on himself -- named Jesus Christ.
-- Craig Barnes