Resolved.
God became man so that we might become God.
~ St. Athenasius, Council of Nicaea of 325
He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature.
~ 2 Peter 1:4
The idea of our divinization is so astonishing, and so different from anything we ordinarily think that we tend to cast about for ways to weaken its force by giving it an attenuated meaning. That empties Christianity itself of meaning.
~ Germain Grisez
new years, 2
As we draw our first breaths in a new year, we are considering the “astonishing” expectation among the earliest followers of Christ that we humans would follow Jesus into incarnating God. In fact, the early church fathers and mothers used a couple terms—theosis or divinization—to describe the intrinsic purpose of every human to, not displace God, but become very much like God. The idea is that, in his incarnation, Jesus seeded the union of divinity and humanity into the entire human family, and it is our destiny, should we choose to accept it, to participate in the redeeming of the world by being more deeply redeemed ourselves.
How does this strike you? Is this possible? Is it desirable?
There are a number of reasons that we hold back from such a beautiful invitation, and I will explore those in a future post. For now, I would like to appeal to your imagination: What could your incarnation of God look like?
As we dare to consider the outworkings of Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col 1:27), I have to admit that I have been critical in past years of “New Year’s Resolutions.” They have often felt like a wish-list for Santa to drop down the chimney once more and bestow on us all the effects we might otherwise achieve through sustained effort. I have also resisted resolutions because of my reluctance to submit my freedoms to sustained effort… or even my suspicion over the sanctity of sustained effort in a spirituality of grace. Perhaps it’s time to open our hearts again to the role of resolution in our union with God.
To be genuinely resolved is far more than to wish, far more even that to merely believe something should happen. To be resolved is to catalyze alignment and convergence among divine vision (perceiving what God wants for and through us), unshakeable conviction (trusting God’s intentions for us), and authentic agency (releasing our legitimate strength toward these objectives). Can you see how divinity and humanity meet here for good and powerful purpose?
Assuming that such sacred union is both possible and desirable, what could we reasonably expect from this holy resolution?
I’ll take us back to how The Message Bible articulates what we call the “fruits of the Spirit” in Galatians 5, beginning with “affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.” Traditional Bible language has its place, but it often dulls or even deadens us to the explosive creativity embedded in the thoughts behind these words.
Are you resolved to liberate your affection in such a way that your attitudes and actions become comprehensively fueled and directed by a compelling goodwill for others?
Are you resolved to stop editing, managing, and otherwise attenuating your exuberance for life?
Are you resolved to tap into a subterranean current of sacred serenity that is undeterred by absolutely any external circumstance?
Sometimes the role of a spiritual friend is to believe for us until we can believe for ourselves. In that spirit, I believe that you are resolved. I believe that your vision, conviction, and agency are being laser-focused right now on these three practical manifestations of incarnating Christ in a world desperate for affection, exuberance, and serenity. Let’s rise to our divine calling!
growing your soul
Of these three manifestations of Christ-in-you, which one do you need most this year?
serving our world
Choose one tangible step to take in that direction now.
takeaway
Be resolved.