(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.)
“I don’t deny… that there should be priests to remind men that they will one day die. I only say… it is necessary to have another kind of priests, called poets, to remind men that they are not dead yet.” – G.K. Chesterton
Jesus didn’t go around cursing his flesh all the time. He sanctified it by the way he lived. He came not to negate life, but to live it. Jesus was connected to the Spirit of God and to his own humanity at the same time, and he found no conflict. If Jesus Christ was not fully human, then we cannot be fully saved and there is no ultimate hope for our humanity but to discard it completely and try something else. This is not what Jesus did. There is no “something else.” This skin I live in is it for me, and it is what Jesus came to redeem.
This remarkable fact is echoed many times throughout Scripture: Jesus Christ came in the flesh; Job declared that “in my flesh I will see God”; a man and wife become one flesh in marriage; and Paul declared that the life he lives in the flesh he lives by faith in the Son of God. These are arresting statements when you consider how much it has been taught in evangelical circles that “in the flesh” was synonymous with sinning.
In truth, when the Bible talks about the negative aspects of the flesh, it is referring to the weaker element in human nature – the unregenerate state of man, the lower, fallen nature. It is not talking about skin. Flesh as a principle to live under is wrong; flesh as the skin I live in is right. It’s the body I’ve been given that will be raised with Christ. It’s the very image of God that I bear along with every other human being who’s ever lived on this earth. It’s the mortal body that can be given life through the Spirit. The flesh is me, and should I choose to have it so, it can become the very temple of the Holy Spirit of God.
I was ordained a number of years ago in a small private service with family and a few friends. During the service, the minister asked anyone who had a word from the Lord to speak up. I was surprised that a ten-year-old Chandler had a word, only it wasn’t a word, it was two words: “blood” and “skin.” That was it. Quite profound, really. I’ve thought back on those two words often and have found different meanings over the years, but my main take is that blood represents life and faith, and skin is what is real about me in this world. When Chesterton says we’re not dead yet, he’s saying that life in this skin can be sanctified. It can be made holy. Not pious, but sacred.
This is me. This is all me. Grab me; pinch me. This flesh is me. This spirit is me. When I sin, it’s me sinning. When I glorify God, it’s me glorifying. It’s me here and I am choosing all the time what I am going to do with me. I am responsible. Cut my heart open and you won’t find a throne room with a miniature devil and angel playing musical chairs, you will find a heart beating for whom it wants to beat.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit living in us.
John Fischer The Catch 
Enjoyed Today’s Catch!
Jesus said “Tear down this temple and I will rebuild it in 3 days” They didn’t know He was speaking of the temple of His…body! Jesus compared his body to the temple and Paul says our bodies are also to be thought of as temples. Remember that silly thing we were taught as children? Behave when you enter church because God lives there. How about when you enter someone else? That should be entering a temple. Sexual promiscuity isn’t wrong because the flesh is bad. It’s wrong because the body is good and should be treated with more respect. In the same way you don’t grope or touch someone in a way that is not welcome because to respect their body is to respect them. I think the idea that sex is dirty and bad leads to more temptation than if we all remembered that the body is sacred.
Chandler’s words remind me of what Jesus said at the last supper. He didn’t say He would offer His heart and soul for humanity but His body and blood. If Jesus compared His body to nourishment like bread, why do so many, in His name compare our bodies only to something bad? When my body dies, the Spirit will leave it but till then this is His address. Don’t forget who lives in us.
Well done, John. “Blood and skin” is just another way of saying the body and blood of Jesus on the cross.
I can remember at times hearing a child shall lead them. Chandler showed some great wisdom at an early age and thank the Lord for that. Many adults sometimes have a difficult time with the right words and thankfully this is something we can hopefully all relate to now and forever. Take care, God Bless, and have a great evening.
Yes. Chandler said it all in two words.