What would you do if you saw God walking down the hall of your school?
The answers were what you would expect:
Run up and give him a Hug
Bow down and worship him
All real demonstrative of what you would expect if you physically encountered God, right? Yeah.
But that Got me thinking... is that really how we would respond if God were walking down our hallways?
I mean, first off how would you know it was God walking down the hall? I guess you might expect him to look, I don't know, "god-like." You know, big flowing robe filling the hall behind him, powerful stride, light eminating from his being, angels surrounding him in a real regal way. But I got thinking about that and that's never how God has showed up. Well, I mean, in the prophetic books of the Bible where you see images of God's throneroom something like that is the picture
described. But on earth? The last time God showed up on earth he was a normal guy hanging out with normal guys. There was nothing to physically set him apart from anyone else who was living at the time. Most of the people he interacted with didn't think he was God until later on. He had out and out opponents who wanted to kill him. That doesn't sound like the kind of guy who, if he walked through your halls at school would inspire you to fall down and worship or run up and hug.
But that got me thinking further... Is God not walking down the halls of our schools? of our work place? of our grocery store? of our [insert place here]?
I propose: Yes, God is very much walking the halls, he is still physically on Earth.
It's a matter of Incarnation. (now, I need to be careful here cause if I say this wrong you may take me for a heretic, so please have some grace in reading this).
The Incarnation of God did not end with the Ascension, when Jesus physically left earth and went to heaven. God is still incarnate, in the flesh, in us. Am I saying that we are God? No. But we are the incarnation of God. For "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)" We are the Body of Christ, in a very real and literal sense! What a responsibility we carry! When people look at us they should see God! We are the incarnation of God where we live and work.
From another angle:
How you treat the people around you is how you would treat God if you saw him walking down the hall.
Think of it this way, Jesus said "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" and "whatever you did not do to one of the least of these, you did not do to me." (Matt. 25:40, 45) What this is saying is, if you ignore the people you walk past in the hall, you're ignoring God. If you belittle others, you belittle God.
So I'll ask again, What do you do when you see God walking down the halls of your school? Do you run up and give him a hug? Do you encourage and uplift him? Or do you ignore him and walk away?
Grace and Peace
