by Tyler Berkley

Created on: January 13, 2009

A long time ago, in a land that is about 12 hrs flight from O'Hareairport in Chicago, IL, a people existed. These people claimed to know a God who did not desire sacrifice, but obedience. This God did fight other gods to create the world, but created out of nothing. This God wanted a people to bless so they could bless other peoples, and the other peoples would come to know this God. This God shaped human beings out of fragile dirt and then breathed God's image and spirit into them, making human beings a paradox of dirt and divine. This people claimed that to be human is to be spiritual; because of this aspect of humanity, they were able chase after anything they could achieve, but they would not be fulfilled by their own achievements.

Today I yelled at my wife. She called me at work and for some reason it put me on edge. I had to repeat myself several times to her and that was all it took for me to lose it. I am so brittle.

I regularly stay up at night to play video games. I spend hours controlling the character on the screen, making it do this or that, search here, shoot there. I go to bed in the early hours of the morning knowing that I wasted time, that I could have been writing, reading, spending time with those I love. I am so brittle.

I am alright. I live by the moral rules. People put me in the Christian category by how I handle myself in many situations. Why do I need Jesus?

There was a debate in the early Christian church about what percentage Jesus was human or divine. Was Jesus fully God? Well then how could He be fully man? Was only half man and half God? You see for Jesus to be able to forgive sins, He had to be fully God, but to be the genuine article, the Messiah, the Ultimate sacrifice, the Ultimate example, He had to be fully human. Many said one, and others said the other, but when the Church leaders came together they realized Jesus embodied the paradox that is humanity. They realized that Jesus was fully God and fully human.

Jesus once made this outrageous statement. He said (in essence), "I am the bread of life. If you don't partake of me, you don't have eternal life." Many of us immediately assume that "eternal life" means we start talking about infinity and eternal joy or damnation, but I, along with people smarter than me, think that "eternal life" is the life that comes about when you are fully experiencing the paradox of humanity. Jesus is saying that to take His lead, to follow after Him, to take part in what He is doing is to live that eternal life.

To put it simply, I am not alright. I am brittle. Jesus shows me that I can experience eternal life now, I can live like I was created to live, I can take part in the paradox of humanity being both dirt and divine. That is why I need Jesus.

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