“Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.” Hebrews 10:5-7
When I was on my Labor and Delivery rotation in nursing school, one of my first assignments was the nursery. I admit, I did not have the same enthusiasm for the assignment as my fellow students. They “oohed and aahed” and spoke in the singsong voice adults use with babies. As the father of three teenagers, I issued them a warning. “You know those things grow up and then they aren’t so cute anymore.”
I am going to make a spiritual point here. The “he” referred to in this passage from Hebrews is Christ. His helpless innocent appearance has worn off. He’s a man who speaks as never a man spoke before and what he has to say drives people from Him.
He tells people that God is more interested in how people live than in ritual—even heartfelt ritual. Their sacrifices and observances were only reminders that doing the will of God was supreme. Every Christian can say with Christ that they have become flesh for the purpose of doing the will of God. In fact, that may be our sole (and soul’s) purpose.
We are created in the likeness of God so that we might fellowship with Him. That is the design behind the entire multiverse. There are some who say the plan went wrong, but that is not so. Christ is the lamb slain “from the foundation of the world”. It was always to happen as it has.
God made us like Him with a will and having a will of our own we have the power to let that will run amok. We also have the power to place that will back in God’s hands. Alas, even when we try our best, we don’t always succeed. God, in a single offering for sin, built that into His plan too.
Walking by faith and doing God’s will while wearing this body is very much like walking on water. It can be done when God allows it but lose your focus for a moment and you must be rescued. One of the many things I wonder about is how Peter got back in the boat. Was he miraculously transported back? Did Jesus carry him? I like to think he walked back holding Jesus’ hand.
My personal performance in this body is far from spectacular—most of the time, I’m not happy with it. Heaven knows my fellow humans find plenty of faults. How then can God be pleased? Because this too, was His plan from the beginning. He knows me, and yet He loves me. My hope is that means He will make something out of me one day. God’s ways are past finding out.
The baby grew up and it was said of him: “he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”
