The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
(John 1:14 NIV)
The last few years have seen many company mergers — some successful, others disastrous. But imagine if some of these humorous possibilities became reality:
- Xerox and Wurlitzer: They’d produce reproductive organs.
- Polygram Records, Warner Brothers, and Keebler: Introducing Poly-Warner-Cracker.
- 3M and Goodyear: Simply MMMGood.
- Honeywell, Imasco, and Home Oil: Honey, I’m Home.
- Zippo Manufacturing, Audi, Dofasco, and Dakota Mining: Zip Audi Do-Da.
- Netscape and Yahoo: Net ’n’ Yahoo.
- FedEx and UPS: FedUp.
While those imaginary mergers are humorous, there was one “merger” in history that was no joke, and it changed the world forever. What do you get when the omnipotent God of the universe merges with human flesh and blood? You get Jesus Christ — the only one who could rightfully bear both titles: Son of God and Son of Man.
Through Jesus, God himself entered human history, taking on flesh and walking among us. John’s gospel describes it like this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:1,14 NIV). Think about that for a moment: the eternal Word — the One who spoke creation into existence — stepped into his own creation.
This was no ordinary merger — it was heaven joining earth, eternity embracing time, and the Creator uniting himself with his creation. In Jesus Christ, God bridged the unbridgeable gap between himself and humanity. He didn’t just appear in human form; He became one of us — fully God and fully man.
Through this divine “merger”, we see God’s heart revealed: He is not distant or detached but willing to enter our world, our pain, and even our death, so that we might share in his life. It shows us God’s relentless love for a broken world and his desire to reconcile us to himself.
Through Jesus, heaven and earth meet, and every time we look to him, we are reminded that God has forever joined himself to humanity so that humanity might be joined to God.
Prayer: Almighty God, thank you for humbling yourself in Christ, for entering our world and taking on our struggles. May we never take for granted the wonder of your love displayed in Jesus. Help us to live each day in gratitude for your presence in our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Alan Smith
Reprinted with permission from Alan Smith’s Thought For the Day