Incarnate

Definition of "Incarnate" according to Dictionary.com:

Invested with bodily nature and form: an incarnate spirit
Embodied in human form; personified

The phrase "incarnational theology" has been pestering me lately. In common parlance, the fundamental understanding is that as God became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ, God calls us to become faith incarnate for the lives of others.

I get this.

On a simple, evangelical level, this makes sense to me. I understand it and can get my mind around it.

Then I try to live it.

Have you ever been faith incarnate? Really? If faith is gift, then is it equally wacky to assume that we can possibly ever become gift incarnate?

I'm not saying that we aren't gifts. But it is a little weird for us to make the leap to claiming that we are gift incarnate/faith incarnate.

All we can do is to strive and try. This is fraught with danger, however. How can we possibly believe that this is who we can be?

I'm equally made nervous when people tell us to "be like Jesus", or to try and figure out "What would Jesus do?"

I am not Jesus. How can I possibly know what Jesus would do? Much of human mischief throughout our history has been done in the name of Jesus. How could we possibly be so arrogant as to think that what we do is the same as what Jesus would do?

I'm not even sure that I can strive to be like Jesus.

I may have to be content to strive to strive...