Jesus is love
personified. He is God come to earth to demonstrate God's
love, care, and concern for each of us. Jesus came as a
humble servant to show us that God loves us and is "the door," "the
way" for us to be in relationship with God. That relationship
is good for us.
Jesus IS love because He is God and
God is love (1 John 4:8,16). That's fundamental to knowing
Jesus.
The
name "Jesus" means "The Eternal (God) who saves," in short,
"Savior." Jesus is the Savior, the prophesied Messiah -- He
is the Christ, the Anointed One, but he wasn't recognized as such by
those He came to save in Judea. That was because He didn't
meet their expectations for a savior who would come in might and power
to rescue them from Roman rule and oppression. Instead He
came as a humble servant -- willing to add humanity to His divinity, to
wash His disciples feet, and to die for each of us in order to save us
in a different way -- where we need it most -- in the core of our
beings -- the place from where our attitudes and actions spring. In His
love for us He wipes away our sin and guilt. He wants us to
live in, grow in and thrive in the positive and joyous atmosphere of
His gracious unconditional love for us. He is our savior, and
He is the "I AM" who wants us "to be." Jesus wants us to have
the fullest, most meaningful life possible now, but even more
importantly He promises Eternal life to those who live in relationship
with Him.
It is also important to understand that Jesus is the Creator.
When we know Him as Creator we begin to comprehend the depth of Jesus'
sacrifice for us and we begin to glimpse the immeasureable love that
God has for us -- the Creator caring for His creation -- for His
children. Scripture in John 1:1-4,14 makes it clear that
Jesus was the Creator, "In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was God.... Through Him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life,
and that life was the light of men....The Word became flesh and made
His dwelling among us."
Jesus came to live among us, His created beings, to manifest God's love
to us. He as the Creator God willingly loved us to the point
of dying for us in order to show the depth of the love He has for us --
in order to show us that God loves us with a love that far eclipses the
best of human love.
We will not know Jesus fully unless we also know that He will one day
reign as King of kings and Lord of Lords. And as the lines,
quoted from scripture, in the oratorio, The
Messiah,
continue, "...and He shall reign forever and ever!" In that
kingdom God will wipe away every tear, there will be no more death or
mourning or crying or pain. (Revelation 21:4) Jesus
is the door to that Kingdom and to Eternal Life.
He is worthy! He is worthy of our attention, He is worthy of us calling Him Lord and He is worthy
of our love. |
