Week 4—Monday Hebrews 6:1-3
Week 4—MONDAY
THE PERFECT BECOMES THE PROGRESSIVE
Since there is an “only Son,” then his Incarnation is the only Incarnation. By its very nature the Word became flesh can be only one—and once and for all, for all men. For if humanity is one, and God is one, then there must be one revelation for all humanity. To have more than one would blur the picture of God and what God is like, and blur the picture of us and what we can be like. The Son of God reveals the one God, and the Son of Man reveals the one humanity. The God-Man reveals both God and humans.
Does this perfect and final revelation stop progress? No, it begins it. In every realm of life we discover an ultimate which is the beginning of progress. In the realm of mathematics we discovered that two and two makes four. We do not improve on that—it is fixed. Does that fixed ultimate stop progress? No, it begins it, for on this fixed ultimate you build up your vast mathematical calculations. If you were not sure whether two and two made four or six, you would be blocked. The perfect becomes the progressive. In geometry, things equal to the same thing are equal to each other. That is fixed. But upon that fixed ultimate you build up vast geometrical calculations. Again the perfect becomes the progressive. In the realm of music we are adding no new notes to the scale, but within that fixed scale there is infinite range—the perfect becomes the progressive.
In the realm of character there has been revealed a Character Ultimate, the Word of Character has become flesh. The adjective Christlike is the highest descriptive adjective of character both for God and humans in any language. Beyond that revelation we will never progress. Does that stop character progress? It begins it. For now we know what the Norm is. Now we know where to head in; we know the goal. That fixed Goal is the starting point for infinite progress.
O blessed Redeemer and Savior, how can we thank you enough for showing us the Father, showing God in yourself? For we could never have known unless we had seen. But having seen, it suffices us. We want no other; we want nothing different. We want you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I see Jesus, and yet I see that there is more to be seen—and so forever!