Who is Jesus to you?
That is the question at the heart of our faith.
A Christian by definition is one who resembles or belongs to Jesus. A Christian is one who says, “Yes!” to Jesus’ call, “Follow me!” Thus, to answer what it means to be a Christian, one must know who Jesus is to him or her.
For some, Jesus is a Superman. He can leap tall buildings and answer your desire for a new bike in a single bound. For them, he is so divine that his feet don’t even touch the ground. He is so beyond our comprehension to be almost inaccessible from our perspective.
For others, Jesus is a great moral teacher. He is a man, maybe even a great man, whose teachings are profound. For these folks, those teachings may be out of touch, but they are profound nonetheless.
However, as Christians, we reject both of these extremes. Indeed, we see kernels of truth in them both. We do believe Jesus to be divine; at the same time, we also believe that he was a real human person that walked the earth. However, the key to understand Jesus might be to see what he did – healing the lame, proclaiming relief to the poor, or showing compassion for the hurting. It is here were we ultimately all see Jesus as we believe he shows the ultimate compassion for the hurting – even the hurts we express in our souls.
We all have hurting souls. None of us is perfect, and it is this imperfect defect in our souls that often causes us pain – both in this life and the life to come. Our imperfection, our sin, causes us angst and loneliness. Even in a room full of people, we can feel lost and alone. Most of all, our sin separates us from God.
Jesus is about the work of healing our souls. Through his death on the cross, he, one who lived a perfect life, offered his life for your life and the life of everyone else. He offers us the bridge to span the chasm of the distance our sin causes between us and God. In three days, God demonstrated his power, raising him back to life again. No power is greater than God’s. And no love is greater either. Jesus loved us enough to die so that we might know the love and power of God. His death and resurrection are the ultimate answer to the problem of the pains of life: Jesus was willing to enter the darkest pain with us, and he offers us freely forgiveness for that sin in the soul that ails us. Notice he offers it freely: It is the free gift of a Loving God.
As Christians, we believe we were created for intimacy with God through Jesus. You see, for the Christian, Jesus is not a distant deity; he is one who stands for us and stands with us in every moment. He is also not just a moral teacher though he did teach us about living for him. He is our Savior; he saves us from our selfish desires and pains.
As the people of God, we believe we have found forgiveness, love, and acceptance by God. We also have a purpose – to proclaim his love by our lives.
Who is Jesus to you? Only you can answer that question. We can say this: Jesus is the one who loves us – all the way to the end – and calls us to follow him. If you want to know more about Jesus or share your struggles about him, feel free to contact our ministerial staff. They will happily share more about the wonder of knowing Jesus as both Savior and Lord.
