Without a doubt the most influential person in history has been and is Jesus. His teachings have shaped every part of our modern society, from political systems and medical care to social welfare. He has more followers than any person ever and today more than one third of the world’s population align themselves with Him as Christians or Christ followers. Jesus is good and great but He is more than that.
According to John 1:14, Jesus became flesh and made His dwelling among us. Why is His humanity so important? In Hebrews 4:15, Jesus was tempted in every way, just as we are. As such, he can sympathize with our weakness as humans. How can we learn? According to 1 John 3:5, Jesus came to earth in human form so that He could die a physical death and take away our sins. He was pure and sinless and therefore the perfect and only acceptable sacrifice that could pay the price for man's sin once and for all. When He stooped to our level by becoming a man, He made it possible for us to relate to Him and for God to relate to us through Him.
Who is Jesus, and how was it possible that Christ’s human body held the whole deity and glory of God?
According to John 1:1-3, Jesus existed from the beginning. From the beginning, Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God. Here, the Bible establishes the inseparable nature of Jesus and the God of the universe. Jesus claimed to be God and showed His power as God. When He proved His deity by rising from the grave, He made it possible for us to have forgiveness from sin and a renewed relationship with God.
Acts 10:38 “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him”.
Jesus came to earth because He loves us. The Bible tells us and we can confirm, that we have all sinned and come short of Gods glorious standards. So we by ourselves cannot make our way back to a relationship with our creator God.
John 14:6, Jesus declares: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
He is the only religious leader to ever make such a claim. All others point to trying to do good works to become acceptable to God. We all know that we can't be that good.
Jesus cared so much He made a way because He knew we couldn’t get there ourselves. So ‘that all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved’ (Romans 10:13) and have eternal life in heaven.
Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
To be made whole, or to be saved is to submit to God and His plan and purpose for our lives. It is turning from our old ways and turning to Jesus, asking Him for forgiveness from our sins and to give us new life in Him.
Romans 10:9 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Salvation is God’s free gift to us and we become His children. It is an acceptance into the family of God and it is an empowerment to live life wholly and fully with the purpose of reflecting God to the rest of His creation.
If you are not sure whether you are right with God or you know in fact that you need Jesus in your life, you can choose to follow Him right now by praying a prayer of surrender to Jesus.
Dear Jesus, I’m praying this prayer because I know I’m a sinner needing saving. I have lived without You. I repent and turn to you today, and say sorry and I trust that You will forgive me. I accept Your forgiveness, love and grace and ask that You be my Lord. Help me believe in You and love You every day, and help me to show the world what You are like and how great Your love is.
In Jesus Name. Amen.
Congratulations! To pray these words with a surrendered heart to Jesus is the beginning of the most important voyage you will ever embark on: the journey to follow Jesus. Please let us know if you’ve just made a commitment to Jesus and prayed this prayer by clicking the button below.