by Tank Tankersley
Father, your word tells me that I should think on things that are true and honest, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of good report. But sometimes I think on other things, things that are none of these, things of which I am ashamed. Father can the word be more than words? Can you provide an example? Can you show me how?
“And the Word was made flesh.”
Father, your word tells me that I should prefer the eternal to the transient, the heavenly to the earthly. It tells me that I should embrace your values, not the world’s. It tells me that I should keep myself unspotted from the world. But the world is so alluring, and too often I yield. Father, can the word be more than words? Can you reveal the word lived out? Can you show me how?
“And the Word was made flesh.”
Father, your word tells me that you will never leave me nor forsake me. It tells me that you will be with me always. It tells me to put my faith in you. But sometimes I put my faith in other things – in a job, in things accumulated, in medical science, in imagined abilities. Forgive me father, for that, I know, is sin. Father, can the word be more than words? Can you demonstrate the word put into practice? Can you show me how?
“And the Word was made flesh.”
Father, your word tells me to love you with all my heart, and soul, and mind. And it tells me that I should love others as myself. Father, I do not love like that. I give some, but not all. I love myself too much and others too little. Father, can the word be more than words? Can you show me someone who loves like that? Can you show me how?
“And the Word was made flesh.”
Father, your word tells me that I should tell others of your love. It tells me that I should tell them of Jesus, the perfect embodiment of that love. But I falter. I shrink back. I lose courage. I sense my powerlessness and do not claim your power. Father, can the word be more than words? Can you bring the word to life? Can you show me how?
“And the Word was made flesh.”
Father, can a man embrace your word? Can he make it part of him? Can he love it? Know it? Feel it? Think it? Speak it? Live it? Father, is that something a man can do?
Father, I know that one man did. “And the Word was made flesh.”