What Does It Mean That “the Word Became Flesh?”

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14).

Today’s big question: what does it mean that “the Word became flesh”?

Have you ever noticed that it’s sometimes easier to show someone what you mean than just to try to use words to explain it? For instance, it hasn’t always gone well when I’ve tried to describe to my son how I want him to mow the lawn. But when I went out there in the yard with him to demonstrated how to mow; trim; and edge, he then quickly grasps what I’m trying to teach him.

The Christian life is often like that. Through the Bible, God has given us extensive details regarding reality, spirituality, and godliness. But He didn’t want to stop with that. It’s sort of like one day God said, “I’ll tell you what—let me put it like this . . . .” And then Christ was born, and He lived a perfect life as the archetypical picture of what He meant by what was said in the Scriptures, which was necessary for Christ to be the perfect sacrificial lamb (1 Peter 1:19).

Through the life of Jesus, we can see exactly what God meant by loving, forgiving, serving, worshiping, praying, and so many other aspects of the Christian journey. God gave us the ultimate “word picture”—the life of Christ in this world.

The life of Jesus was the culmination of the entire message of the Scriptures. By studying His life, we can “get” what it is that God wants us to know about living a godly life.

Today’s big idea: the life of Christ gives us the ultimate demonstration of how we should live in this world.

What to pray: as you study the life of Jesus, ask God to help you to imitate the life that He modeled for you (1 Corinthians 11:1).