My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
Psalm 42:2
The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and men became living beings (Genesis 2:7). Only life can produce life. Try as they may, scientists have never produced life from non-living parts. Every living thing on earth got its life energy from the Living God, but humans were the only creatures to receive the direct, life-giving breath of God. We’re special.
Sin brought separation between people and their life source. Because of that, birth kicks off the aging process, and everybody is slowly growing old and dying. Something inside every person wants to reconnect with the one who gave them their first breath. Call it a “God-shaped vacuum,” or call it a “hunger for righteousness,” but there’s something in our spirit that desires to know the Living God and eternal life.
The problem is that it’s not easy. In fact, it can be frightening. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). He’s Holy; we’re not. He’s sinless; we’re mean and disobedient to the core. We dare not approach Him in that condition.
A Living God who is invisible and intangible doesn’t seem real or approachable. Since we can’t go to Him, He came to us. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The Living God also became a living, breathing man with skin on the outside and muscle, bone, and blood on the inside. While we were dead in trespasses and sins, he took the death that should have been ours to give us His unending life.
The establishment executed Christ because He challenged the powers of the ruling class and upset the status quo. Although the death sentence was served, death never really took hold. How could it? He is the Living God.
January 7
