Fully human - Fully ALIVE.

I absolutely loved N.T. Wright's thoughts on Heaven and Hell from Wednesday. If dehumanization is uniting Hell and earth, Father, I want to become fully human! So often we say, "Well, I'm only human," as an excuse for moral failings. But the truth is that the only one to ever be fully human, to do this whole human thing right was also fully God!

Father, would I embrace that identity. Allow me to become a part of bringing heaven down by embracing my humanness - in the ways You've ordained. I don't want to be "just human" - I want to finally come to understand how you intend for me to live out my humanity.

The way the Message phrases Romans 2:14-16 has always expressed this idea really well for me:

"When outsiders who have never heard of God's law follow it more or less by instinct, they confirm its truth by their obedience. They show that God's law is not something alien, imposed on us from without, but woven into the very fabric of our creation. There is something deep within them that echoes God's yes and no, right and wrong."

So while I feel like I've "known" that concept for a while, the Following Jesus chapters are showing me that it's not just something that pertains to the fulfillment of the Law. It's everything about who I am (because of who I AM is, was, and will be) - including my brokenness and weaknesses. Things that I would have said detract from my ability to become more like my Abba actually draw me nearer to His heart when they are grounded in full dependence on Him.

"My power was made perfect in human weakness on the cross. My power will be made perfect in the human weakness of your life, Pearl." -Abba.