The test of a true disciple of Jesus Christ is how willing he is to deny his humanity for the Lord’s sake. To know God personally is not to deny one’s humanity, but to fulfill it. Yet there are times when God calls upon me to set aside that which is basically human in order to fulfill His will.
Ezekiel is a good example of that. God took his wife, the delight of his eyes, in sudden death; yet Ezekiel was not to weep or mourn or eat the bread of mourners or cover his lips (Ezekiel 24:15–18, NIV). God forbade the expression of sorrow. What heartlessness! What callousness! Surely God is not that kind of a taskmaster.
That kind of denial of our humanity happens every day. Missionaries leave their loved ones to go abroad for Christ; they even leave their children in another country to be educated while they deny themselves parental love and joy. Where would the church of Jesus Christ be without the parahumans, the ones who leave all for His sake? There are times when God must ask us to give Him our simple human desires and instincts, which are not wrong in themselves, for the sake of His work. The point is: Am I willing to be parahuman for Christ?
The greatest sermons ever preached for You, Lord, are not the verbal kind given from a pulpit, but the kind in which the Word becomes flesh in daily experience. Only You could have given Ezekiel grace not to weep. It is that kind of grace that makes us not less than human, but more than human. Lord, I absolutely do not have that kind of grace in myself; but thank You, Lord, that You give grace in exchange for grace (John 1:16, author’s trans.).
Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face continually. Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels, and the judgments uttered by His mouth (Psalm 105:4–5).
Daily with the King 