He Became One of Us
Bible Reading: Romans 1:1-5
It is the Good News about his Son, Jesus, who came as a man. Romans 1:3
“HUMAN TRANSFORMED into Ant.”
That headline was the theme of a Christian film several years ago. No, it wasn’t a horror movie about a missionary subjected to a curse. It was a parable about Christ’s incarnation-his being born in the flesh as a human being.
As the film opens, a man and his adult son are tending a lush jungle garden at the top of a mountain. From the base of the mountain they hear faint cries of anguish and distress. The gardener and his son realize that the ants on the desert floor below are in deep pain from generations of conflict, hatred, and war. Father and son yearn to bring peace to the ant colony. But how? They decide that they need to visit the colony in a form the ants will understand. The gardener’s son agrees to leave the beautiful garden, descend to the desert, and enter the ant colony as an ant.
When he arrives at the base of the mountain, the son is transformed into an ant through the use of special effects, of course! This one-of-a-kind ant enters the colony and begins to teach the ants about the gardener’s love for them. Many listen and are changed, but eventually the gardener’s enemies kill his son. He rises from the dead as a winged ant and returns to his father in the garden. All the ants who believe in him sprout wings like his and continue to spread his message of the gardener’s love and peace.
Bizarre as it sounds, that’s a graphic illustration of what Jesus did when he came into this world. Romans 1:7 says that God loves us and calls us to belong to his family. Romans 1:17 informs us that nothing we can do qualifies us for God’s family-we become his children by faith alone. Romans 1: 19 says that our loving Father has equipped us with the capacity to know him and relate to him. And Romans 1:23 teaches that our loving father deserves top priority in our lives and is worthy of our worship.
So what do those Bible verses have to do with ants? Well, we couldn’t have become members of God’s family if his Son, Jesus, hadn’t left heaven, put on human flesh, and entered the human race as a man. His sinless life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection smashed sin and opened the door to new life through faith. And because Christ came to our world and provided forgiveness for sin, those of us who trust him can enter God’s world as his beloved children. The next time you see an ant crawling down the sidewalk, squat down and contemplate this life-changing truth.
REFLECT: What hits your heart hardest about the price Jesus paid for your sins?
PRAY: Spend some time thanking Jesus for the steps he took to get close to you.