Seeing Jesus

John 1:1-5
In the beginning the Word (Jesus) already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone.
The light (the life of Christ) shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

Sometimes a certain thought just washes over me. It's almost like a cleansing is taking place in my heart and in my mind. It purges out old thoughts and concepts that I have created as to who Jesus truly is. You see, it's really easy to construct these mental images and so-called truths as to who Jesus is and what He is capable of doing. But when this thought  that I mentioned in the first sentence comes to me, it's almost like a divine gift to reset my focus and my heart.

Jesus actually stepped out of eternity to become one of us. You can dress such a thought up in religious garb. You can place that thought in a Hallmark Christmas card. You can spin it in such away as to make it something far beyond the reality of what took place in that manger the night of His earthly coming. But the reality of what He did changed everything and everyone. The truth of His earthly life all pointed to a cross. He became a babe so that He could grow to manhood. Once there, He would go about teaching and demonstrating the truth that the Kingdom of God had come, but was not complete or finished. He backed up such proclamations with demonstrations of power. 

He healed the sick....
He gave the blind back their sight...
He made deaf ears hear again....
He fed the poor....
He made the cripple walk again....
And...
He raised the dead.
Not a bad set of credentials if you ask me....
Bottom line is that Jesus really did come to this planet with a purpose and His Father's plan that would defeat the power of the enemy.
Everyone of those conditions I listed above is a direct result of the entrance of sin into the hearts of people. God never intended for sickness, disease, and death to be a part of His creation. And He was not going to sit idly by to watch it decimate humanity. So with the ultimate authority and power, Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil ( I John 3:8).  And more than destroy those works, Jesus became the door through which we could enter into relationship with God again. No longer would we need to cart livestock down to our local Temple or synagogue for a priest to sacrifice. No longer would the blood of animals be poured out to cover our sin and atone for our wrong. Jesus became THE Lamb slain for the sin of the world.

All that was required on my behalf was to confess and acknowledge my part in all this mess. Confess my sin.... Own them....take responsibility for what I have done by rejecting God and chasing my own will and my own inner desires. Let it be made perfectly clear, those desires that I claimed were not good. I sinned against an eternal God, therefore the penalty for my sin is an eternal penalty. Jesus took my sin and personally paid my sin/debt that I owed. I acknowledge such a transaction took place on my behalf. I acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior of my life. Now this acknowledgment involves placing myself in submission to Jesus. In other words, I lay aside my will to embrace His will. I give Him my life in order to take up His life. When such takes place, He places in me His Holy Spirit. I do not know or understand how this works. I just know it does.

Of course the thought comes to me, "Why me? I'm not special. Why would Jesus do this for me?" Not sure that there is an explanation other than "God so loved the world (humanity) that He gave His one and only Son (Jesus), so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him."

All the miracles of Jesus were, and are, pretty cool.
All the walking on water, and feeding the masses with Happy Meals  get me going.
Messing up funerals and wakes by raising the dead is way beyond what I can wrap my brain around. And as incredible as those things were, the very thought that love motivated God to action on my behalf makes all those others pale in comparison. 
Nailed to a Roman cross.......because of love...
Beaten and flogged, being reduced to human rubble......because of love....
Watching all His followers run away, save for a few women who followed all the way to Calvary......because of love....
And the ultimate....
Having the complete weight of sin placed upon Him, so that He became the target for God's wrath to be poured out....because of love....is more than I can bear.
He did all of that for me.
He went through all of that for you.....
Now the question is....
"What am I going to do?"

God on you....
mb