Embody
Understanding the word ‘embody’ is crucial as it carries a significant meaning in our communication.
As a verb, it means to be an expression of or give a tangible or visible form to (an idea, quality, or feeling), or it can mean to provide (a spirit) with a physical form.
In the Thesaurus as a verb, it is defined as personify, incorporate, give human form/shape to, realize, manifest, express, concretize, symbolize, represent, epitomize, stand for, encapsulate, typify, exemplify; formal reify; rare incarnate, image.
Representation with accuracy and integrity is an embodiment of a declared truth by means of a lifestyle.
In the Bible, a highly esteemed leader of the apostles was rebuked for failing to embody the gospel.
Galatians 2:11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?
Peter distanced himself from uncircumcised Gentiles he had once befriended and led others to do the same because he cared a little too much for the opinion of some men who had come up to Antioch from Jerusalem. In that moment, Peter failed to embody the gospel in his behavior and instead embodied the fear of man.
Paul asked Peter, “Why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?”
Peter was not preaching circumcision, but his actions may as well have been. What we align with affects our choices and decisions, which in turn inform others. When a person caves in to fit in, they embody whatever it is they are trying to fit in with.
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
I never want to be found abandoning the gospel in my words or in my behavior. The gospel is for everyone, not just a select few who have achieved some sense of higher-level morality.
I intend to embody the gospel with a smile, loving others who are different from me, and proclaiming the truth concerning Jesus and what He did to set free anyone and everyone who comes to Him in faith. I make it a practice to ask myself if I am living according to the gospel or slipping into a deceptive means of righteousness maintenance based on another source other than Jesus. I want to embody the gospel!
