Introduction
Every couple of years, I like to present a series of features on the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. There are many problems and issues that call for our attention, but ultimately, without Jesus, all insights and considerations fade to irrelevance. My bold assertion here is that, in the end, Jesus is all that matters. Paul tells us in the first chapter of his letter to the Colossians that “all things were made by Him and for Him.” It’s good to remind ourselves that we are not the central purpose of the universe, we are not even the central purpose of our own lives. When things happen to us, what matters is whether or not our response honours the Lord.
In this series of features, we’ll observe some of the characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ as revealed by His behaviour during His earthly ministry. Often when we look at Jesus we focus on His divinity - His miracles which reveal His power, His omniscience which reminds us of His deity, His suffering on the cross which speaks of redemption and reconciliation.
These are aspects worthy of study, but I observe that these things separate Him from us. We can’t relate to power which calms storms and restores sight to the blind. We struggle with limitations of intellect and memory, so forget about omniscience. We can’t even pay the price of our own sin, so bringing redemption and reconciliation to others is sadly out of the question.
These features will go in a different direction. They will look at things we observe in Jesus which lie within our grasp to some degree. The Bible urges us to be imitators, disciples, followers of Jesus - to walk in His steps. One of the ways we can do this is by spending time with Him, watching His actions and reactions, His motivations, His attitudes. Jesus’ great goal in life was to glorify the Father by doing His will, reflecting His likeness and revealing His personality and character to those around Him. Jesus came to give life and hope to the spiritually dead and hopeless. He brought the touch of God into countless lives and He wants to touch our lives, too.
In Psalm 17:15, we read: “As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” The spiritually alive person is a God seeker and a God worshipper. Though it doesn’t fit well with our natural outlook on things, we’ll see that true satisfaction in this life comes from being in God’s presence where we will be like Him.
While the reality of being in God’s presence without the impediment of sin still lies in the future for us, we can sharpen our appreciation for it now as we spend time with His Son. Please notice, the way I expressed that. I want these brief sessions to bring a sense of being with Jesus, not merely studying His life from a safe distance. As we spend time with Him, we will not only see areas where change is called for, we’ll be exposed to the power which is necessary to make that change a reality in our lives. Time is gone for today. I look forward to getting started with you next time as we think about what it means to be like Jesus.
Ron Hughes
© June 2009
